HUTCHINSON – A 26-year-old Wichita man was arrested early Sunday after he allegedly led Hutchinson Police on a chase.

Antonio Contresas faces possible charges of felony flee and elude, being a felon in possession of a firearm, being in possession of metal knuckles, felony interference with law enforcement, driving while a habitual violator, driving while revoked, and having no insurance.

The arrest happened in the 400 block of North Ford around 4:40 a.m. Sunday morning. It was described as a slow chase when it was discussed in court.

Bond in the case remains at $6,500, and Contresas is scheduled to be back in court next week.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Nearly two years ago, Reno County District Judge Trish Rose ordered the state to give 30-year-old Paul Stotts an offer that was originally given to his attorney before trial in his 2007 case.

Stotts was convicted of attempted manufacture of methamphetamine, aggravated battery and several other charges.

He entered a plea to the original offer and was sentenced to 13 ½ years as opposed to the original sentence of more than 24 years.

In his appeal, Stotts argued that his lawyer, David Holmes, never told him about an offer from the state that would have granted him less prison time. The state argued his attorney did inform him about the offer. The state said Stotts turned the offer down.

Currently, Stotts is serving roughly 25 years for the case that included a 24-minute high-speed chase through both South Hutchinson and Hutchinson. That March 26, 2007, chase ultimately ended with a crash on what is now the old K-61 Highway.

With the new sentence, Stotts could be released from prison in the near future.

TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas Supreme Court Friday ordered the suspension of a local attorney for a year and a half after a complaint was filed by the office of the Disciplinary Administrator.

In April of 2015, the court suspended Sam Kepfield’s license to practice law for one year for violating Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct. However, that action was suspended and he was placed on supervised probation for three years.

In May of 2018, a hearing panel convened after another complaint was filed. Before that, Kepfield stipulated to certain facts and rule violations against him in the complaint. The panel ruled that he had not violated any rules and continued the three years of probation.

The disciplinary administrator then filed a motion with the Kansas Supreme Court to revoke that probation.

It was found that Kepfield misled the attorney assigned to investigate his conduct. Kepfield led the investigating attorney to believe he deposited unearned fees from a client into a trust account. However, Kepfield did not have a trust account at the time. Accordingly, the hearing panel concluded that Kepfield was dishonest with the investigator.

The panel also indicated that Kepfield suffers from depression. The panel believes his depression may have been a contributing factor to the misconduct.

After going through all the facts of the case, the high court ordered Kepfield to serve the original one-year suspension and suspended him from practicing law for another three years. However, after six months of that suspension, he will again be placed on a three-year probation.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A local man remains jailed on a bond of $106,500 for two counts of stalking, two counts for violating a protection order, burglary, theft, and a computer crime.

Jaron Bowersox allegedly broke into a Hutchinson home that belongs to the victim in his protection from abuse case. Bowersox then allegedly took items from the home. Witnesses say they spotted his purple van near the home and said Bowersox was carrying boxes out of the house.

He also faces a possible charge of hacking into the victim’s computer and deleting some of her emails.

Magistrate Judge Daniel Gilligan again warned Bowersox to have no contact with the victim. Bowersox will be back in court next week.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – Parents of children birth to five-years-old in Reno County are invited to attend an evening training session on Conscious Discipline on one of six nights at locations across the county.

Conscious Discipline is a comprehensive approach aimed at improving the lives of parents and their children through self-awareness, brain information, developmental knowledge and useable skills necessary to create safe, connected, problem-solving homes.

The sessions will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on the following dates:

March 29 at Hutchinson High School Childcare Center, 700 E. 13th Ave., Hutchinson
April 5 at Trinity United Methodist Church, 1602 N. Main St., Hutchinson
April 12 at Pretty Prairie Elementary School, 320 S. Rhodes St., Pretty Prairie
April 26 at Arlington Community Center, 900 W. Main St., Arlington
May 3 at Buhler Grade School, 808 N. Main St., Buhler
May 10 at Our Redeemer Lutheran Early Learning Center, 407 E. 12th Ave., Hutchinson

The training will be led by Shana Schmidt, LPC, owner and trainer at Unification Place, LLC. She is an infant mental health specialist, a Conscious Discipline certified instructor, and from 2011 to 2013 served as the executive director of the Kansas Association for Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health.

Free dinner and childcare will be available. Advance registration is required by visiting www.heylittlehutch.org.

Conscious Discipline training is funded by the Early Childhood Block Grant, a program of the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund, and administered by Hutchinson Community Foundation.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – Police are still working to determine the identity of the suspect who walked into a local Kwik Shop and demanded money.

It happened around 1:15 a.m. on March 7 at the Kwik Shop at 43rd and Plum. A white male, possibly in his early 20’s, entered the store, placed a black backpack on the counter and demanded money from the register. The suspect wore a hood and kept his face covered.

No weapon was actually seen according to police and the 63-year-old employee cooperated and gave the suspect cash from the register. He then left the store with the cash.

Police ask that if you have any information that could assist them with their investigation, call them at 694-2832 or Crime Stoppers of Reno County at 1-800-222-TIPS.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Domestic battery cases continue to be a big problem in Hutchinson and Reno County. Most of these cases involve relationships between a man and a woman.

Once a person is convicted of battery, they have to go through programs to help change their behavior.

During the Reno County Commission meeting this week, Director of Reno County Community Corrections Randy Regehr talked about the change in thinking when dealing with these types of cases.

“Traditionally, when someone goes through the court process and convicted of battery – domestic violence, in the past they would be asked to do an anger management type of class. Research has kind of shown that’s not the best program. One of the things they found with anger management groups was that they actually made someone a better batterer. It made you more skilled in controlling your anger and you would be less likely to get caught because you wouldn’t act out with your anger, you would be more targeted with that.” said Regehr.

He says they now use what’s called a Batterers Intervention Program in partnership with the Kansas Department of Corrections, which he says is a benefit to clients because it is free.

Before, you payed $150.00 for an assessment and anywhere from $25.00 to $40.00 for a session.

“For our clients, it’s a big benefit and for officers, for us it’s a big benefit because now you no longer have this barrier with somebody, well I can’t go to group because I don’t have the money, I don’t have a job, so we’re really making sure they have a service they need,” said Regehr.

This is one of the ways that Community Corrections and the Kansas Department of Corrections are working to stop those convicted of battery-domestic violence from being a repeat offender.