KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City  man who played a leading role in a plot that helped African nationals evade immigration laws by arranging fraudulent marriages has been ordered to spend three years in federal prison.

Forty-nine-year-old Delmar Dixon was sentenced Thursday in Kansas City. He pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy and falsely swearing in an immigration matter.

Dixon admitted he arranged 30 to 40 fraudulent marriages, including his own. He charged the African nationals $1,000 upfront and another $1,000 after the wedding was complete. The nationals were asked to pay their spouses $250 a month until the immigration process was complete.

Five co-defendants also have pleaded guilty. Two of them have also have been sentenced to prison.

LEAVENWORTH COUNTY -A Kansas business owner has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of theft from an employee benefit fund, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.

Brenda Wood, 48, Leavenworth, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of theft from an employee benefit program. In her plea, she admitted the crime occurred while she was owner of PCI, a building cleaning service, and CDM, a construction and property management service.

She set up a 401K plan, encouraged PCI and CDM employees to participate and began withholding employee contributions. In 2011, employees learned that no contributions had been deposited in their accounts. Wood falsely assured employees that their funds were being held in escrow. In fact, she used their contributions for her own benefit and without their permission, according to Beall.

Sentencing is set for Oct. 24. She faces up to five years in federal prison and restitution.

A separate trial is set for Dec. 5 on 21 other counts including bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, wire fraud and committing a felony while on supervised release.

EL DORADO, Kan. (AP) — A published report says an emergency log book suggests the Kansas Department of Corrections perhaps downplayed an inmate disturbance last month at a prison.

Kansas prison officials had reported that no violence occurred and no weapons were accessed by inmates during the June 29 incident at the El Dorado Correctional Facility.

But The Kansas City Star reports a log book shows there were two fights involving separate groups of inmates, at least one inmate had a weapon and at least one fire broke out.

The head of the union representing prison workers has said inmates, while refusing to return to their cell houses, controlled parts of the prison.

Corrections spokesman Todd Fertig says he hasn’t seen the log, and that no department weapons ever were possessed by the inmates.

BROWN COUNTY- Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on allegations of Electronic Solicitation of a Child.

William Buehler, 69, St. Joseph, MO., is being held in the Brown County, Kansas Jail on a $150,000 Bond, according to the Sheriff’s Department web site.

Prosecutors allege Buehler communicated with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old girl between May 1 and July 10, in an effort to commit an unlawful sex act.

When he arrived in Hiawatha, Kansas for a prearranged meeting, he was met instead by officers.

A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled July 19

WASHINGTON — The Latest on the Republican effort to replace the Obama health care law (all times local):

The United States Senate released a revamped Republican health care bill Thursday, and it seeks out conservative support by letting insurers sell low-premium policies with skimpy coverage.

The bill is aimed at repealing much of President Barack Obama’s health law. But the GOP plan remains in deep jeopardy because of divisions within the party.

Kansas Senator Pat Roberts supports the changes to the revised draft. In an email he said, “Kansans are losing choices in care, and their costs and premiums are still rising. If we are going to finally reverse the damage of Obamacare – we must act.

“I will support a motion to proceed. To amend and improve the bill, you have vote to get on the bill, which is the only way to begin the process of addressing Obamacare’s failures and making further improvements on behalf of our nation’s health care.

“Since the first draft was released, as a member of the Senate Finance Committee, I have continued working with Senate leadership to make further improvements to lower the cost of care, ensure Kansans have more coverage options, and to support providers in rural areas.

“Kansans don’t like mandates or taxes. This bill rolls back both.”

Senator Jerry Moran has yet to make a comment on the bill. It’s unclear whether the measure will survive a showdown vote next week.

The revised legislation includes added money for states to help insurers curb consumers’ increasing premiums and out of pocket costs. And it has $45 billion to help states combat drug abuse.

The bill retains a plan to cut Medicaid, the health care program for the poor. GOP moderates have fought to ease those reductions.

 

 

 

 

 

SHAWNEE COUNTY- The owners of a Topeka home involved a “padlock” case decided to sell the residence in the 2400 Block of SW Beverly and settle their difference with the city.

After police were involved in 84 incidents at a home including many involving drugs, the Topeka City Attorney announced June 22, the city was going to court to “padlock” the residence for up to two years.

The owners of the property, Randy and Peggy Patton responded swiftly once the lawsuit was filed by finding a buyer for the property and asking the residents to go elsewhere, according to a media release from Topeka City Attorney Lisa Robertson.

The Pattons agreed to a payment of $10,000 to the city, secured the home, cleaned up the yard, and submitted documentation of the sale of the property.  Since all city utility payments were current, the city agreed to dismiss the case against the Pattons.

This was the first ever nuisance abatement case in Topeka, commonly referred to as a “padlock” case, is authorized under Kansas statutes when real or personal property is being used to carry on certain types of unlawful activities.

SALINE COUNTY  – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on numerous charges after a confrontation with police.

Just before 5:30 Wednesday, police were dispatched to the Econo Lodge, 636 Westport in Salina. The desk clerk told police that a man identified as 27-year-old Ngamo Debo wielding a samurai sword broke a computer monitor and a cordless phone in the lobby, according to Police Sgt. Brent Rupert.

Debo allegedly squared off with police in the parking lot. He was asked to drop the weapon but began approaching the officer, allegedly waving the sheathed sword. Sgt. Rupert said the officer pulled out his Taser, again instructing Debo to drop the weapon.

To defend against the Taser, Debo grabbed a trash can, using it as a shield. Sgt. Rupert said that the officer deployed the Taser when Debo lowered the trash can but it was not effective.

A backup officer finally tackled Debo.  Police booked him into the Saline County Jail for criminal damage to property, disorderly conduct and obstruction. Sgt. Rupert said Debo has no known address.

By JIM MCLEAN

The head of an organization that represents Kansas state employees is criticizing Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration for using a state agency to deliver a political attack on the Legislature.

Robert Choromanski, executive director of the Kansas Organization of State Employees, said it was inappropriate for the administration to send an email to employees of the Kansas Department for Children and Families that criticizes lawmakers for raising taxes.

“It was such a hyperpartisan email,” Choromanski said, adding that politics belongs on the campaign trail, not the inboxes of state employees.

Choromanski said complaints from several KOSE members who work for DCF alerted him to the email, which he shared Tuesday with several legislators and media outlets.

Read the email sent to state employees by Gov. Sam Brownback’s communications director.

“They were appalled that they (the administration) would be so political,” he said.

The email, written in the form of a memo with a subject line of “Smaller paycheck, bigger government,” also went to a general audience, including the media.

Written by Melika Willoughby, communications director for Brownback, the memo stated: “The 2017 legislative session is now over, but the pain to your pocketbook is just beginning. This legislature made history to the tune of a $1.2 billion tax hike on working Kansans.”

The memo went on to say that “spend happy” lawmakers misled the public by saying the tax increases were needed to address shortfalls of more than $900 million in this and next year’s state budgets.

“That is simply false,” it states. “They chose to spend brand new dollars, more than $200 million, on a legislative wish list.”

That wish list included $26 million to provide raises for state employees — their first across-the-board pay increase since 2008.

“State employees thought the governor’s office would maybe be more positive about the budget and pay raises,” Choromanski said. “Instead they decided to take a hyperpartisan turn and basically attack state employees indirectly.”

Despite having concerns about “excessive spending,” Brownback signed the budget the day before the memo was sent to avoid disrupting core functions of government and because he said it provided state workers with “well-deserved pay increases.”

The bill authorized $6.3 billion in state general fund spending in the current fiscal year and $6.6 billion next year.

Willoughby defended the memo, saying in an email Tuesday that state workers “deserved to know” how the tax increases would affect them.

“Many state employees will actually see their paychecks decrease due to the legislature’s historically large tax hike of $1.2 billion,” Willoughby said.

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. 

RENO COUINTY — A Kansas man has been formally charged for allegedly attempting to set a fire and threatening the homeowner with a screwdriver.

Joseph Burton Jr., 52, Hutchinson, is now charged with attempted arson for bringing containers of gasoline into the residence with the intent to start a fire. He failed in that attempt.

He is also charged with threatening the homeowner with a screwdriver and criminal threat for threatening to burn the house down.

While Magistrate Judge Cheryl Allen started to set the case for a waiver-status docket, the Regional Public

Defender’s Office was assigned and immediately requested a date be set for a preliminary hearing.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a third-grade Wichita teacher has been arrested on suspicion of being a drug dealer after a two-month investigation.

Booking records show Heather Jones, a 48-year-old teacher was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on Tuesday. Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Lt. Lin Dehning says she was arrested on suspicion of seven counts of cocaine distribution. She is being held on $57,500 bond.

Wichita School District spokeswoman Susan Arensman says she is a teacher at Enders Open Magnet Elementary School. The school’s website lists her as a third-grade teacher there.