KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a Filipino woman has pleaded guilty in Kansas to stealing nearly $100,000 from a U.S. Naval base in Japan.
The prosecutors announced Monday that Cynthia Lopez Creseni pleaded guilty Friday to theft of public money. She stole $99,068 from the Morale Welfare and Recreation Center at the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan.
At the time of the thefts, Creseni was lead cashier of the game/slot room.
Prosecutors said Creseni was placed on administrative leave after reporting the funds missing when she returned from a U.S. vacation in February 2015.
She sold her home and returned to the Philippines. Agents learned she entered the U.S. in July 2015. She was arrested in January 2017 in Overland Park, Kansas, for overstaying her visa.
Interim Secretary of Commerce Nick Jordan, Susan Neupoth Cadoret, Acting Director of the Business & Community Development Division of the Kansas Department of Commerce, and Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, with the Silver Shovel Award received from Area Development Magazine in recognition of economic development wins in the State of Kansas.
TOPEKA–The Kansas Department of Commerce is pleased to announce that the agency has been recognized by Area Development magazine with one of its 2017 Silver Shovel awards. The Silver Shovel award honors state economic development agencies that drive significant job creation through innovative policies, infrastructure improvements, processes, and promotions that attract new employers and investments in new and expanded facilities.
The Silver Shovel awards are presented annually to states that have achieved significant success in terms of job creation and economic impact.
For this year’s award, the Kansas Department of Commerce was recognized for the scope and breadth of its Top 10 Projects which resulted in significant job creation and investment within the state.
Based on the number of high-valued added jobs per capita, amount of investment, number of new facilities, and industry diversity of the 10 submitted projects, Kansas qualified for a Silver Shovel award in the “Fewer than 3 Million Population” category.
Economic development projects submitted to the magazine for consideration included:
Additionally, the Amazon projects in Edgerton and Kansas City were recognized by the magazine as e-commerce “Projects of the Year.”
“The states and communities receiving 2017 Shovel Awards have compiled impressive lists of new and expanded facilities,” says Geraldine Gambale, editor of Area Development. “As with many other states, Kansas’ win of a Silver Shovel was in part due to jobs being created by Amazon.com fulfillment centers. It’s strong aerospace/aircraft and logistics/distribution industries also contributed to the state’s Silver Shovel win.”
A report on the 2017 Shovel Award winners is published in the Q2/2017 issue of Area Development and posted online at www.areadevelopment.com/shovels.
Kansas has been previously honored by the magazine, having received a Gold Shovel award in 2013 and Silver Shovel awards in 2006–2008, 2010–2012, and 2014–2016.
Tipton addressed the court prior to sentencing on Tuesday-photo courtesy KCCI
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge has sentenced a lottery computer programmer to up to 25 years in prison for rigging a computer program to enable him to pick winning numbers in several lottery games over six years.
Eddie Tipton pleaded guilty earlier this summer to ongoing criminal conduct, and on Tuesday he received the prison sentence.
Judge Brad McCall also ordered Tipton to repay more than $2 million that the scheme paid Tipton and others.
Tipton’s brother, Tommy Tipton, is serving a 75-day jail sentence on a theft charge. A friend of Eddie Tipton’s, Robert Rhodes, of Sugar Land, Texas, will be sentenced Aug. 25 on a computer crime charge.
Tipton worked for the Multi-State Lottery Association in Iowa. He fixed lottery games in Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas, Iowa and Oklahoma between 2005 and 2011.
MIAMI COUNTY —A Kansas man died in an accident blamed on the flooding in the Kansas City area.
Early Tuesday, deputies reported seeing a car northbound on U.S. 69 at 363rd Street drive through standing water, according to a media release from the Miami County Sheriff’s Department.
The car hydroplaned off the highway into a ditch of rushing water.
First responders found the vehicle about 45 minutes later approximately 150 yards south of where it originally went into the water.
No one was in the vehicle.
Just before 7:30 a.m., authorities recovered the body of Robert Dean Schoenhals, 56, Pleasanton, 75 yards from his car.
He was the only occupant of the vehicle, according to the sheriff’s department.
DICKINSON COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on felony drug charges.
Deputies executed a search warrant Monday at a residence in the 600 Block of South Cedar in Abilene, according to Sheriff Gareth Hoffman.
They arrested Sabrina Dianne Beardslee, 41, Abilene, on felony counts of suspicion of Possession of Methamphetamine With the Intent to Distribute Within 1,000 Feet of a School, No Drug Tax Stamp and Aggravated Child Endangerment plus a misdemeanor count of Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
During a search of the residence, law enforcement officers seized more than 10 grams of methamphetamine and more than 20 pieces of drug paraphernalia. During the course of the investigation authorities learned several suspects were allegedly selling methamphetamine from the residence.
Beardslee has a previous conviction for drugs in Dickinson County from February of 2017, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and US policy in Afghanistan (all times local):
Reversing his past calls for a speedy exit, President Donald Trump recommitted the United States to the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan, declaring U.S. troops must “fight to win.” He pointedly declined to disclose how many more troops will be dispatched to wage America’s longest war.
In a prime-time address to unveil his new Afghanistan strategy, Trump said Monday the U.S. would shift away from a “time-based” approach, instead linking its assistance to results and to cooperation from the beleaguered Afghan government, Pakistan and others.
“America will work with the Afghan government as long as we see determination and progress,” Trump said. “However, our commitment is not unlimited, and our support is not a blank check.”
One member of the Kansas congressional delegation offered thoughts on the President’s speech.
The President insisted it would be a “regional” strategy that addressed the roles played by other South Asian nations — especially Pakistan’s harboring of elements of the Taliban.
Still, Trump offered few details about how progress would be measured.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities have rescued more than a dozen stranded drivers after heavy rains soaked parts of Kansas City, Missouri, and its suburbs.
Flash flood warnings have been issued across the area. Local television station KCTV reports that police and fire crews plan Tuesday to go door-to-door in one area of southern Kansas City, asking residents to voluntarily evacuate.
The National Weather Service says as much as 9 inches of rain fell in one city neighborhood, while a large swath around the city saw between 4 and 6 inches of rain.
OPFD helping numerous people out of high water. Please don’t drive into water over the roadway! pic.twitter.com/mC68U7nkyZ
In the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas, the local fire department says it responded to over 16 water assist calls as drivers found themselves stalled in high waters. Water rescues also were conducted on the Missouri side of the metropolitan area, in Kansas City and Riverside.
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KANSAS CITY — Portions of Kansas City are under a flash flood emergency after storms brought over 7 inches of rain to Johnson County overnight, according a social media report from emergency management.
If you see water over the roadway, don’t try to go through it. Turn around don’t drown. pic.twitter.com/h8opCWPwnY
Early Tuesday, Indian Creek area at State Line did crest higher than it did in July when businesses were inundated and cars washed away, according to the National Weather Service.
Thousands are without electricity, a number of roads are blocked and fire officials have worked to rescue many people from the high water. In addition to the blocked roads, a number of schools are delayed or closed Tuesday. A number of businesses are also closed, according to the National Weather Service.
SEDGWICK COUNTY– Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect in connection with an alleged armed carjacking in Derby.
Police issued an arrest warrant for 26-year-old Kenan C. Leamon from Texas for the carjacking that occurred in Derby early Friday, according to a social media report from police.
Deputies arrested him near Oklahoma City and booked him into the Oklahoma County Jail just before 2p.m. Monday, according to booking records.
Leamon-photo Oklahoma Co. Sheriff
Authorities released no additional details on the arrest.
RAWLINS COUNTY — A Kansas man died in an accident just before 8p.m. Monday in Rawlins County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2005 Dodge Ram 1500 driven by Demetrius Edward Tomlin, 23, Atwood was southbound on County Road 19 three miles west and two miles south of Atwood.
The pickup left the roadway into the east ditch. The driver overcorrected, the pickup rolled into the west ditch and came to rest on its top facing south.
Tomlin was pronounced dead at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.
A former employee of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office said Monday in federal court that she was fired in part for not attending church. Her lawsuit does not name Kobach as a defendant. FILE PHOTO / KPR
A former employee of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office said Monday in federal court that she was fired in part for not attending church, which left her confused and depressed.
Courtney Canfield argues her firing amounts to religious discrimination.
Her lawsuit doesn’t name Kobach as a defendant, instead targeting Assistant Secretary of State Eric Rucker, who initially hired her.
Kobach’s office in the past had hosted prayer meetings after work, although attorneys say many employees chose not to attend them. Religious pamphlets were distributed weekly.
When she was fired from her administrative job in late 2013, after less than a year in the office, Canfield didn’t learn it from Rucker. Instead, she got the message from her grandmother, Margie Canfield, a longtime employee of the Kansas Republican Party who knew Rucker.
Courtney Canfield said she avoided the prayer meetings and didn’t read the religious pamphlets.
“I didn’t think it was appropriate for the workplace,” Canfield said of the religious pamphlets. “I always threw mine away.”
Canfield testified that her grandmother had indicated one of the reasons for her firing was because she didn’t go to church. She said the firing left her humiliated.
“(It) was very upsetting,” Canfield said in court. “I cried.”
Attorney Terelle Mock, representing the secretary of state’s office, said Courtney Canfield had been hired by Rucker as a favor to Margie Canfield. Their agreement was that if the younger woman didn’t measure up, the elder Canfield would have to tell her granddaughter that she was being let go.
“This case is about Ms. Canfield’s inability to keep a job,” Mock said during an opening statement. “This case is not about religion.”
Office staff talked with Courtney Canfield about work issues, Mock said. They told her she needed to stay at her desk and not use her cell phone.
“They tried to counsel her on these things,” Mock said. “It didn’t work.”
Mock said Rucker never told Margie Canfield that the firing was related to church attendance.
The trial continues Tuesday.
Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for Kansas Public Radio, a partner in the Kansas News Service.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A former employee of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s office has testified in federal court that she was confused and embarrassed by her 2013 firing after being told that her lack of church attendance was a key reason.
Jurors began hearing ex-employee Courtney Canfield’s lawsuit against the office and chief Kobach deputy Eric Rucker on Monday in Topeka.
Canfield alleges that her firing in November 2013 after 9½ months at the secretary of state’s office represents illegal religious discrimination. Attorneys for Kobach’s office say she was fired over performance issues.
Canfield testified she was told of her firing by her grandmother, who was friends with Rucker. Canfield said her grandmother told her that Rucker emphasized that Canfield did not go to church.
Rucker strongly disputes the grandmother’s account.
