KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a Catholic priest charged in Kansas with child sex crimes has been arrested in Maryland.

The Wyandotte County, Kansas, prosecutor’s office announced Tuesday that the Rev. Scott Kallal was charged Friday with two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. Online court records show the 35-year-old was arrested Monday in Rockville in Maryland’s Montgomery County.

Prosecutor’s office spokesman Jonathan Carter said he didn’t know whether Kallal had an attorney. No details were provided about the allegations.

The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas announced last week that Kallal was pulled from public ministry duties after two sources accused him of “boundary violations.” The archdiocese said its preliminary investigation revealed violations of guidelines governing youth interactions.

The archdiocese said in a follow-up statement Tuesday that it would continue to cooperate with law enforcement.

SEWARD COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a robbery and have six suspects in custody.

Just before 4a.m. on Tuesday, July 4, officers responded to a robbery at Love’s Country Store located at 208 W. Pancake Blvd. in Liberal. Following an investigation, an arrest warrant was issued for 26-year-old Codies Antonio Montgomery, according to a media release.

Just after 5:30p.m. on Monday, the Liberal Police Department Special Response Team served a search warrant at a residence in the 400 block of North Pershing Avenue.

Officers found Montgomery hiding in the residence and was taken into custody without incident.

Police also arrested three other men and two women at the residence for outstanding warrants and charges of aiding a felon. No injuries were reported. All of the suspects are being held at the Seward County Jail.

Montgomery has a previous conviction for aggravated battery in Seward County, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

FORD COUNTY –Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and searching for an alleged suspect.

Just after 2:30 a.m. Monday, Officers from the Dodge City Police Department were dispatched to a mobile home at 201 E. McArtor for a shooting, according to a media release.

When Officers arrived they found two adult men suffering from gunshot wounds. During the investigation Detectives determined the victims were standing outside the trailer when they were shot.

Detectives were able to identify a suspect and an arrest warrant has been issued for 20-year-old Xavier Alejandro Maestas for Attempted Murder in the First Degree, Attempted Murder in the Second Degree, Aggravated Assault – Use of a deadly Weapon, and Criminal Discharge of a Firearm – Shooting into an occupied dwelling.

Maestas should not be approached if seen and should be considered armed and dangerous. If you have information on the location of Maestas please call Ford County Communications at 227-4646, the Dodge City Police Department at 225-8126, or call anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 227-7867. A photograph of Xavier Maestas is attached.
The criminal case has been filed with the Ford County Attorney’s Office.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A former Kansas Legislature candidate who was charged last year with sex crimes has pleaded to less severe charges.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that 27-year-old Nicolas Vanwyhe of Lawrence pleaded no contest to two felony counts of aggravated battery Friday in Douglas County District Court.

Vanwyhe originally was charged with one count of aggravated criminal sodomy and one count of aggravated sexual battery. Court documents say both crimes occurred in November 2015 and involved the same alleged victim, who couldn’t consent because of mental deficiency, disease or the effect of alcohol or drugs.

Vanwyhe unsuccessfully ran for the Kansas House District 10 seat as a Republican in 2014.

His attorney, Casey Meek, declined to comment, citing the ongoing case.

Vanwyhe’s sentencing is scheduled for September.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A formula that Kansas lawmakers have used to determine which state workers would get raises this year has sparked confusion and resentment among employees.

The Lawrence Journal-World  reports that state lawmakers approved a budget in June that gives some employees their first pay raise in several years.

The method leaves out employees who have received raises under separate contracts and divides the rest into two categories.

Workers who’ve been employed over five years and haven’t had a raise since at least 2012 were to get a 5 percent raise. Those who’ve been on the job less than five years would get a 2.5 percent raise.

University of Kansas employee Sara Vancil is excluded from the raise. She says it’s “kind of a slap in the face to longer-serving workers.”

BARBER COUNTY – A Kansas man died in an accident just before 5:30 a.m. Tuesday in Barber County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2002 Peterbilt semi driven by William L. Pelzl, 68, Medicine Lodge, was traveling northeast on Kansas 42 at First Avenue.

The semi was unable to avoid a collision with a 2004 Ford Crown Victoria driven by Allen B. Babb, 59, Hazelton, that was as traveling southwest and made a left turn toward 1st Ave North.

Babb was transported to the Kiowa Hospital where he died. Pelzl was not injured.

Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a man has died after he was found in a Kansas apartment where a fire was intentionally set.

KSNT-TV reports that 37-year-old Derrick Anthony Williams was found Monday while crews were putting out the fire in the ground floor apartment in Junction City. The fire department said in a news release that Williams was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

His cause of death wasn’t immediately known, pending an autopsy.

The fire damage was limited to the one apartment, where officials have determined the blaze was intentionally set in the kitchen. Some surrounding apartment units had smoke damage.

Authorities aren’t seeking any suspects, and no suspects are believed to be at large. The estimated amount of damage is $20,000.

By JIM MCLEAN

Staffing shortages at the El Dorado Correctional Facility are creating unsafe working conditions, according to the head of the union that represents state workers.

Robert Choromanski, executive director of the Kansas Organization of State Employees, has filed a formal grievance with Secretary of Corrections Joe Norwood, alleging that prison officials are “coercing” guards to work a weekly 16-hour shift to ensure adequate staffing.

“They (prison officials) are doing it behind the scenes,” Choromanski said. “The majors, captains, lieutenants and sergeants are all pressuring the line officers to work those extra four hours.”

Guards at the facility, which houses medium- and maximum-security prisoners, were required to go from eight- to 12-hour shifts earlier this month in an effort to beef up security after a June 29 disturbance when inmates briefly controlled portions of the prison.

That was permissible under the union’s bargaining agreement with the Kansas Department of Corrections, but 16-hour shifts are not except in emergency situations, Choromanski said.

Currently, 73 of the prison’s 360 positions for uniformed correctional officers are vacant, said Todd Fertig, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections. In addition, seven of the facility’s 125 non-uniformed security positions are unfilled.

In recent weeks, the department has stepped up its recruiting efforts, mailing flyers to virtually every household in Butler County, where the prison is located.

Poor working conditions, low pay and the need for more protective equipment, such as vests that protect guards from stabbings, top the reasons for high staff turnover and vacancy rates, Choromanski said.

“They are worried about going to work,” he said of his members. “They’re worried about their safety.”

The Wichita Eagle reported Monday that the number of disciplinary cases against inmates has increased sharply in recent months. As of mid-July, there were more than 2,400 cases. In 2016, 2,841 were reported for the entire year. The rise in disciplinary actions coincided with an increase in the inmate population.

To compensate for staff shortages, prison officials emptied one cell house by transferring inmates to other facilities across the state, Fertig said in an email Monday.

“The professionalism of the EDCF staff and their practice of sound correctional procedures ensures that the facility operates in a manner that is safe and secure for both employees and offenders,” he said.

To gather more information, Choromanski has scheduled two days of meetings this week at the prison. However, because the room he was assigned is in the prison’s administrative offices, Choromanski is concerned that some employees may be reluctant to show up.

So he is also hosting an after-hours session at an El Dorado bar frequented by prison workers.

“They can show up there and talk to me one-on-one if they don’t want to do it at the facility,” he said.

Several lawmakers have said they would support a substantial pay raise for corrections workers in next year’s budget.

In the fiscal year that ended June 30, the state spent $5.1 million on overtime pay for prison workers, according to the Eagle, above the $3.2 million that had been budgeted.

Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of kcur.org, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.  

SALINE COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities continue investigating a reported theft of over $2,200 from the Central National Bank last week and have released security camera photos of the suspects.

Just before 3:30 p.m., a bank employee told Salina Police that a man entered the bank, located inside Walmart, 2900 South Ninth, and asked to exchange $4,800 in $20 bills for $100 bills, according Police Captain Paul Forrester.

The man then asked to exchange the $100 bills for Canadian currency.

When the bank employee told the man that the bank did not do currency exchanges, he asked for the $20 bills back.

While the clerk was collecting the $4,800 in $20 bills, the man pocketed $2,200 from the stack of $100 bills. He and a female suspect then left the bank with $7,000.

The suspects left in a white or silver GMC Acadia, according to Forrester.

TROY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas judge has ordered a competency evaluation for a homeless man charged with killing a man whose body was found in the Missouri River.

Proceedings in the Doniphan County case against 40-year-old Christopher Colhour are on hold until the evaluation is completed. Colhour is being held without bond on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and felony theft in the death of 64-year-old Daniel Purvis, of St. Joseph, Missouri. Colhour’s defense attorney says Colhour previously has been diagnosed as being schizophrenic, bipolar and suffering from auditory hallucinations.

Law enforcement in Missouri and Kansas searched streams and rivers for Purvis after he disappeared around May 22. The Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department in Missouri recovered Purvis’ body May 27 just south of St. Joseph.