KANSAS CITY —The Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children have announced that 84 minors were recovered and 120 traffickers arrested as part of Operation Cross Country XI.  It was a nationwide effort focusing on underage human trafficking that ran from October 12-15.

Over the course of those four days the FBI Kansas City Division, along with its local, state and federal law enforcement partners conducted the operation in 10 cities throughout areas in Kansas and Missouri, according to a media release.

The results of the combined operation led to the recovery of three minors ranging in age from 16 to 17 and the arrest of 10 traffickers.

Junction City Police Chief Dan Breci confirmed his department assisted the FBI in the human trafficking operation last Friday night in Junction City. “They set up at a local hotel, last count I saw was 30 plus people from around the state including Junction City, Grandview Plaza, Geary County SO, and FBI agents out of Kansas City and their task force. From my understanding they did this operation in several cities, and while here they arrested six individuals last Friday.” Breci confirmed there were various charges against those arrested, ‘but they all had to do with the sex trade. ”

Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf said his department supported the entire operation with a couple of deputies from the Sheriff’s Department assisting in the investigation. “It was kind of like a prostitution sting situation where individuals were caught that were soliciting the sexual favors from minors.”

The 11th iteration of the FBI-led Operation Cross Country included 55 FBI field officers and involved 78 state and local forces across the nation, including hundreds of law enforcement partners. There were coordinated operations with international partners including Canada, the United Kingdom, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines.

As part of the operation, FBI agents and task force officers staged operations in hotels, casinos and truck stops as well as on street corners and internet websites. The youngest victim recovered during this year’s operation was three months old, and the average age of victims recovered was 15 years old.

Multiple law enforcement agencies partnered with the FBI Kansas City during Operation Cross Country XI including those from  Kansas City, Independence, Lee Summit, Riverside and North Kansas, Missouri plus Overland Park, Olathe, Topeka and Wichita.

DOUGLAS COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating the October 1 fatal shooting on Massachusetts Street in Lawrence. and have a third person in custody, according to a media release.

On Wednesday, the United State Marshals arrested Anthony Laron Roberts Jr, 21, Topeka, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Upon extradition to Douglas County, Roberts will be booked in on an arrest warrant from Douglas County District Court for one count of 1^st Degree Murder, two counts of 2^nd Degree Murder, and one count of Attempted 2^nd Degree Murder. It is not known at this time when Mr. Roberts will be extradited, according to police.

Two additional suspects are in custody and identified as Ahmad Malik Rayton, 22, and Dominique Jaques Mcmillan, 19, both of Topeka. Rayton is charged with Attempted Second Degree Murder and Criminal Possession of a Firearm by a Felon. McMillon is charged with Aggravated Assault and Battery, according to Officer Drew Fennelly.

Three people died in the shooting including Leah Elizabeth Brown, 22, Shawnee, Colwin Lynn Henderson, 20, and Tremel Dupree Dean 24, both of Topeka. Two victims were treated at area hospitals for non-life threatening injuries.

 SUMNER COUNTY — Another small earthquake shook Kansas Thursday.

The quake just before 4:30a.m. measured a magnitude 2.7 and was centered eleven miles west of Belle Plaine in Sumner County, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The agency reported four quakes in Kansas last week including in Saline and Jewell Counties and two in Harper County. They measured a magnitude 2.6-3.1.

There are no reports of damage or injury from Thursday morning’s quake.

DICKINSON COUNTY — Four teens were injured in an accident just before 8:30p.m. Wednesday in Dickinson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1999 GMC truck driven by Benjamin J. Shafer, 18, Abilene, was traveling at 2400 Road and Eden Road three miles West of Abilene.

The driver failed to stop at the T intersection and drove into hay bales that were in a field.

Shafer and passengers Angel G. Garcia, 17; Hayden J. Ricker, 16; and Emma E. Allen, 15, all of Abilene were transported to Memorial Hospital. Garcia was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

RANDOLPH COUNTY, MO —   A woman from Kansas is in custody in Huntsville, Missouri after an arrest Tuesday night, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Just after 8p.m., Danielle J. Harvey, 26, was jailed on a felony fugitive warrant in connection with the alleged charge of parental kidnapping of a minor child.

She is being held without bond awaiting extradition to Kansas.

 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is acknowledging that it illegally diverted specialized fees to help cover general government spending as part of a 2009 budget fix to settle a lawsuit filed by a legislative leader.

Former Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal said Wednesday that the settlement is a victory for businesses and individuals who pay fees to cover the costs of state regulation. Shawnee County District Judge Franklin Theis approved the settlement last month.

O’Neal was House speaker when as an attorney he filed the lawsuit for providers of workers’ compensation insurance coverage that paid annual fees.

The settlement declares that the diversion of nearly $3.1 million in fees from workers’ compensation, bank regulation and real estate regulation funds was illegal. Legislators paid those funds back in budget legislation approved earlier this year.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State University officials say they are developing a plan to cut $12 million because of a drop in enrollment.

Fall enrollment at the university fell by nearly 1,000 students — or 4.1 percent — compared to last fall. It was the first time in 15 years Kansas State enrollment fell below 23,000 students.

University officials said Wednesday the $12 million budget reduction would come from administrative and academic units.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Kansas State President Richard Myers said an enrollment management consultant will be hired to review current operations and make recommendations to increase enrollment.

Pat Bosco, the school’s dean of students, said aggressive recruiting of out-of-state students didn’t compensate this fall for fewer international students. And he said the in-state pool of potential students had declined.

BY ROD ZOOK

HUTCHINSON— If you’ve been in the downtown Hutchinson, you’ve noticed the major renovation going on at the the old Decor building along Main Street. The store will become the future home of Queen Bee Marketing.

Recently during the demolition, they found an interesting item: a very old black handbag. According to Carissa Jackson with Queen Bee, the purse sat at a desk for several days before they decided to see if they could find the owner of the lost bag. Inside the purse was a collection of certificates, bank records, love letters, keys, a wallet and photos, along with a number of miscellaneous items dating back to 1948.

Eventually, a relative of Elaine Klatt discovered the purse and made contact with several other relatives who confirmed the purse belonged to the now Elaine McKenna. She had worked in the building when its was a Sears just after graduating from high school.

On Tuesday, McKenna and several members of her family came to the site of the old Sears and reclaimed the purse after nearly 70 years, getting a chance to rediscover old memories and share stories of when she worked and lived back in the 1940s.

 

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A man who helped kidnap a 9-year-old girl in Wichita and help her killer is up for parole for the fourth time.

The Prisoner Review Board is taking comments Wednesday in Derby on the parole bids of 54-year-old Donald Wacker and 16 other prison inmates. Wacker was convicted of helping Doil Lane kidnap Nancy Shoemaker near her south Wichita home on July 30, 1990.

After the abduction, the men drove Nancy to a Sumner County field where Lane raped her and strangled her with a belt. Her body was found more than six months later.

Nancy’s father, Bo Shoemaker, said Tuesday that the “goal” is to keep Wacker in prison. Shoemaker’s family lives in Florida but traveled to Wichita for the hearing.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a train has struck and killed a pedestrian in Topeka.

Police were called Wednesday morning after the body was found. The discovery was made in a southern part of the city, just west of the Landon Nature Trail and Betty Phillips Park.

The identity of the person who was hit wasn’t immediately released.