BUTLER COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of vehicle break-ins that occurred in Rose Hill late Sunday night and early Monday morning.

At least 11 locations and 14 vehicles were broken into with various losses, according to a media release.

After a Rose Hill Police officer spotted and individual acting suspiciously, they booked an 18-year-old suspect into the Butler County Jail in connection with these break-ins

He is being held for Burglary to Auto and Theft, according to police.

The department is also exploring the possible involvement of other suspects as well as whether or not this suspect is connected to recent vehicle break-ins that have occurred in area communities.

RENO COUNTY – A very small earthquake shook Reno County Monday evening.

The quake at 9:36p.m. measured a magnitude just 2.0, according to the Kansas Geological Survey. It was centered two miles southwest of Partridge.

A pair of earthquakes shook portions of Kansas on Sunday.

The first, just before 8 a.m. measured a magnitude 2.5 and was centered approximately 3 miles southwest of Cheney, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The second at 10:42 a.m. measured 2.6 and was centered approximately 6 miles southwest of Cheney.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported 5 Kansas earthquakes last week and 18 so far in June.
They reported 9 Kansas earthquakes in May, nearly a dozen in April, seven in March and six in February.

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

RENO COUNTY -A Kansas man suspected of being the shooter in the killing of another man early Saturday in Hutchinson made a first court appearance Monday where he was read the formal charge against him.

On Sunday evening, Leo Wells, 19, turned himself in at the Reno County Law Enforcement Center and was told that the state has charged him with murder in the second degree. 

Just after 3:30 Saturday, officers of the Hutchinson Police Department were dispatched to the 100 block of South Elm Street in reference to a shooting and located the victim, Kenneth Thompson, 24, lying in the street with a gunshot wound.

Thompson was transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center where he succumbed died, according to police.

In court Monday, Wells asked for a bond reduction which was denied by District Judge Joe McCarville who set the $350,000 bond when police asked for the warrant.

The case against Wells now moves to a waiver-status docket on July 12.

By Rocky Robinson

SALINE COUNTY -A thunderstorm quickly turned severe early Monday evening on the northeast edge of Saline County causing wind damage and one public report of a tornado east of Salina.

“One storm spotter did call in and report a rogue tornado but we are still working with the National Weather Service,” said Hannah Stambaugh, Saline County Emergency Management director. “I am not saying there wasn’t a tornado but can’t confirm it yet. I would say the worst damage was caused by high winds.”

Stambaugh said rogue tornados are usually small and skinny.

The Saline County Emergency Management Office reported a semi flipped over on Interstate-70 near Ohio Street about 6:20 p.m. There were no injuries.

At 6:35 p.m. the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for a report of a confirmed tornado seven miles east of Salina or six miles northwest of Gypsum. The thunderstorm moved southeast out of Saline County by 7 p.m.

Tree damage was reported near the Salina Country Club and according to the Westar Energy outage map, just under 800 costumers lost power.

The same storm prompted the National Weather Service to issue a tornado warning for northeast Marion County due to radar indication of rotation.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man has admitted to driving a getaway vehicle from the scene of a convenience store robbery while wearing a monitoring device from a previous crime.

The U.S. attorney’s office says 26-year-old Christopher Allen Bush, of Topeka, pleaded guilty Monday to aiding and abetting a commercial robbery.

Bush had past convictions that included aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery. He was on post-release supervision and wearing a monitoring device when co-defendant Marsoleno Devon Ryland robbed a Casey’s General Store in Topeka.

Data from the GPS device showed that Bush picked up Ryland near the store. Bush then drove until reaching an area where police located the two men. Ryland pleaded guilty earlier this month.

Sentencing is set for Sept. 25 for Bush and Sept. 18 for Ryland.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The winter wheat harvest has almost reached the halfway mark in Kansas.

That is the word Monday from the National Agricultural Statistics Service. The agency says the 48 percent now harvested in the state, about average for this time of year.

Harvest activity is now in full swing across Kansas.

About 87 percent of the wheat grown in southeast Kansas is now in the bin, with about 81 percent harvested in south-central Kansas and 64 percent in central Kansas.

Cutting has now started in the northwest part of the state where 2 percent of the crop has been cut.

The agency rated wheat condition as 23 percent poor to very, with 31 percent listed as fair. About 40 percent is in good and 6 percent excellent condition.

KANSAS CITY -A Kansas City man has been charged with robbing a Kansas bank.

Steven D. Lavy, 55, Kansas City, Mo., was charged in federal court in Kansas City, Kan., with one count of bank robbery, according to U.S. Attorney Tom Beall.

A criminal complaint alleges that on June 21, Lavy robbed Bank of the West at 12080 Blue Valley Parkway in Overland Park. He placed a blue bag on the counter and showed the teller a gun.

He was wearing a polo shirt, khaki pants, a fake mustache, a hospital mask and a straw hat. When Lavy left the bank with the money, a bank employee took a picture of his license plate. When officers of the Leawood Police Department spotted the car, Lavy led them on a chase that lasted several minutes. Lavy’s car rammed a Leawood police car two times before he was taken into custody.

If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on the robbery charge.

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The Latest on a fugitive arrested in Kansas and an investigation into a series of bank robberies. (all times local):

2:55 p.m.

A jailhouse phone call transcript shows that a man suspected in a string of bank robberies and of shooting at a police officer asked his mother to clear his Montana home of guns after his arrest.

The transcript of the call between 39-year-old Richard Gathercole and his mother, who is unnamed, was submitted to a judge by federal officials seeking a search warrant for the Roundup, Montana, home.

Authorities found numerous homemade explosives inside the home on Saturday. Gathercole is in jail in Nebraska and is accused of shooting at a Kansas state trooper with an AK-47 rifle a week ago.

According to the transcript, Gathercole tells his mother to get all the guns out of the house. She agrees, then reminds him that the call is being recorded.

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1:05 p.m.

Federal agents say a weekend search of a south-central Montana residence that turned up homemade bombs was connected to a bank robbery investigation.

FBI Los Angeles spokeswoman Laura Eimiller says numerous agencies were investigating whether evidence found in the search in Roundup, Montana, was connected to a series of bank robberies in California, Washington state, Idaho and Nebraska.

In 2012 and 2014, a man the FBI called “the AK-47 bandit” robbed several banks. The robber shot and wounded a police officer in Chino, California.

Officials with the Musselshell County sheriff’s office in Montana say the weekend search was linked to 39-year-old Richard Gathercole, who was arrested last week in Nebraska. He was wanted after someone fired shots at a Kansas trooper. The trooper wasn’t injured.

Officials did not say how Gathercole was connected to the residence where the bombs were found.

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Montana authorities say they found homemade bombs in a home after the arrest of a man accused of shooting at a Kansas state trooper.

Richard Gathercole of Roundup, Montana, was arrested Tuesday at a gas station in Lexington, Nebraska, a day after a man fired at the trooper on Interstate 70. The trooper wasn’t injured.

The Musselshell County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Monday that deputies assisted FBI agents and officers from California and Idaho in searching a home in the town of Roundup on Saturday.

They found numerous improvised explosive devices that were removed by a bomb squad.

A dispatcher who answered the phone at the sheriff’s office’s Monday could not immediately confirm that it was Gathercole’s home.

Gathercole is being held in Nebraska on charges of theft and possession of stolen firearms.

REPUBLIC COUNTY – A Kansas man was injured in an accident just after 1p.m. Monday in Republic County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2011 Ford F250 driven by Mark Duane Fleming, 53, Courtland, was eastbound on U.S. 36 three miles northeast of Courtland.

The pickup entered the south ditch, vaulted over a field entrance drive, landed, struck a power pole and came to rest in a creek.

Fleming was transported to the hospital in Belleville. He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

SEDGWICK COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas woman on charges after a child was reported missing.

Just before 11 p.m. Friday, police responded to a home in the 2500 block of South Pattie in Wichita after a report of a lost child, according to Officer Charlie Davidson during a media briefing.

A 24-year-old woman told police her 5-year-old son Jeremiah Marshall and her child’s babysitter Celeste Culver, 49, were missing.  She was also unable to contact her son or the babysitter.

Police sent out information on social media asking for the public’s help with information on the case.

During their investigation, Police located a vehicle in connection with the case near the intersection of Lincoln and Hydraulic in Wichita.

The vehicle was stopped officers questioned Culver. She was booked into jail for interference with parental custody and child endangerment.

Police located Jeremiah at a residence in the 1600 block of East Galena. He was safe.