WICHITA, KAN. – A Kansas man was indicted Wednesday on charges that even though he already was a registered sex offender he produced and distributed child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Daniel Eric Merida, 35, El Dorado, Kan., was charged in a superseding indictment with one count of producing child pornography, two counts of committing crimes against minors while registered as a sex offender, two counts of distributing child pornography, one count of possessing child pornography, one count of sending obscene material to a minor and one count of transporting child pornography. The crimes are alleged to have occurred at various times from 2014 to 2018 in Butler County, Kansas.

Upon conviction, the crimes carry the following penalties:

Producing child pornography: Not less than 25 years and not more than 50 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.

Felonies involving minors while a registered sex offender: A term of 10 years, consecutive to sentences on other counts that include Distributing child pornography: Not less than five years and not more than 20 years and a fine up to $250,000.

Possessing child pornography: Not less than five years and not more than 20 years and a fine up to $250,000.

Sending obscene material to a minor: Up to 10 years and a fine up to $250,000.

Transporting child pornography: Not less than five years and not more than 20 years and a fine up to $250,000.

STONE COUNTY — One person was seriously injured in an accident just after 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Table Rock Lake.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported Gary D. Vernon, 51, Shawnee, was airlifted to Mercy Hospital in Springfield after a he was found face down in the water two miles southeast of Kimberling City.

Authorities released no additional details Saturday afternoon.

SHAWNEE COUNTY— A Kansas was convicted Friday of fatally shooting the buyer of his Topeka home because he felt too much was being asked of him before he moved out, according to Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay.

Jurors found Anthony Darcy guilty Friday of second-degree murder and assault in the death of 36-year-old Stephen Matthew Snyder. He also was convicted of child endangerment because the killing happened in front of Snyder’s 8-year-old son, according to Kagay.

Prosecutors allege Snyder was shot three times in May 2017 when he went to the house he was buying from Darcy to measure a room for carpet. Snyder had closed on the house but allowed Darcy to live in it for two weeks before moving out.

The defense argued that Darcy acted in self-defense. His sentencing is set for Nov. 8.

-The AP contributed to this report.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a violent attack early Saturday.

Just after 2a.m. Saturday, police were called to 5331 SW 22^nd Place, Lazy Toad Bar in Topeka for a report of a shooting, according to Lt. Aaron Jones.

Officers located one victim suffering from serious but non-life threatening wounds in the parking lot.  The victim had been shot at least once as well as run over by the suspect vehicle. 

Police have not reported an arrest and have not released the victim’s name.

 

STILWELL, Kan. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City, Kansas, lawyer and his wife are suing to try to keep from having to vaccinate their 4-year-old son.

It is the second time Linus and Terri Baker, of Stilwell, have sued over the issue. They sued the Kansas Department of Children and Families after the agency in 2017 said it would vaccinate the boy against their wishes. That never happened, even though a judge dismissed the suit.

The Bakers say they are worried vaccines could affect the health of the boy, who was born with a heart condition that has since been corrected with surgery.

They are now suing the Blue Valley school district and various state officials, seeking an injunction to allow the boy to attend school without being vaccinated and without filing religious or medical exemptions. They’re also asking a judge to declare Kansas’ vaccination requirements unconstitutional.

The school district and health agency declined to comment to the newspaper.

WICHITA —A Kansas man was sentenced Friday for the shooting death of another man in December of 2017 in Wichita.

District Judge Jeffrey Syrios sentenced Jeremiah Mork, 23, Wichita, to 322 months on convictions of voluntary manslaughter, two counts of aggravated battery, and criminal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.

The judge added 17 months because Mork violated his parole on an earlier case, resulting in a total sentence of 339 months.

On December 9, 2017, Randy Gibson, 45 of Wichita, was moving his belongings from a home in the 2200 block of S. Parkridge in Wichita when Mork shot him.

An autopsy showed Mr. Gibson had 15 bullet wounds. Mork also fired at and wounded two men who were helping Mr. Gibson move. A jury convicted Mork on June 12.

 

By NOMIN UJIYEDIIN

TOPEKA — One of the United States’ largest and oldest private prison companies will house up to 600 Kansas inmates in a facility in Eloy, Arizona.

Formerly known as the Corrections Corporation of America, CoreCivic owns and operates 129 prisons, immigration detention centers and other facilities in more than 20 states, including the Leavenworth Detention Center.

Core Civic’s revenues total more than $1 billion a year, but the company has been subject to several federal and state government audits and state investigations. Here’s a look at a few of those controversies.

Staffing issues

In 2012, a group of inmates at the Idaho Correctional Center sued CoreCivic, arguing the company intentionally understaffed the prison and allowed a prison gang to attack them. A federal jury ruled the company wasn’t adequately staffed, but did not owe the inmates damages. Two years later, the state took over the facility, citing that lawsuit and others against CoreCivic.

In Tennessee, a 2017 audit of the state’s Department of Correction found three CoreCivic prisons kept incomplete or false staff records or did not hire enough people to manage inmates or comply with the state’s contract. Tennessee inmates had sued CoreCivic earlier that year, alleging that the lack of staff resulted in inadequate medical care for diabetics.

The same year in Kansas, the federal government audited CoreCivic’s maximum security prison in Leavenworth — the same prison where the company allegedly violated attorney-client privilege by secretly taping conversations between inmates and their lawyers. The audit found the prison struggled to hire enough guards. At one point, the vacancy rate was 23 percent. Despite this, CoreCivic transferred guards from Leavenworth to another prison in Louisiana.

Violence and sexual abuse

A Tennessee man reported being raped and sexually harassed by his cellmate at a CoreCivic prison in 2018. In a lawsuit, he alleged that even though he reported the harassment several times, the guards did nothing, a violation of prison policy and the U.S. Constitution. A CoreCivic representative told a Nashville TV station that only one report was made, which the prison investigated but couldn’t substantiate.

Also in Tennessee, a recent report found CoreCivic prisons had higher rates of homicide than those run by the state.

In 2009, Hawaii removed 168 women from a CoreCivic-run Kentucky prison after reports of guards sexually assaulting inmates. The incident was one reason Kentucky stopped using private prisons entirely in 2013. However, citing concerns about inmate crowding, the state signed another CoreCivic contract in 2017.

Cancelled contracts

Amid growing opposition to private prisons, several cities and states have declined to renew their contracts with CoreCivic in recent years.

In 2013, Mississippi ended its contract for the Wilkinson Correctional Facility after reports showed the prison was the most violent in the state.

Denver voted to let its agreements with CoreCivic expire this summer, although the city council recently extended the contracts while it figures out what to do with the people living in halfway houses run by the company.

Other places like Tuscon, Arizona and Nevada have banned or ended contracts with private prisons entirely, citing concerns about safety and prisoners’ rights.

Treatment of detained immigrants

CoreCivic also has come under fire for running detention centers for federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Fourteen people detained at the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona died between 2003 and 2015, five due to suicide. At the time, it was the highest number of suicides at any detention center in the country. Many people at Eloy complained that medical staff didn’t treat them and told them to drink water for ailments.

Last year, migrants detained at La Palma Correctional Center, also located in Eloy, went on hunger strike, saying they were abused and harassed by guards, given only one meal a day and had limited access to showers and bathrooms.

In July, Yasmin Juarez sued CoreCivic, arguing the company neglected to provide medical treatment for her daughter when the two were detained in the South Texas Family Residential Center. The lawsuit alleges 1-year-old Mariee Juarez had a high fever and was coughing and vomiting shortly after being admitted to the facility, but staff didn’t provide proper medical treatment. The girl was admitted to the emergency room one day after leaving the facility and died six weeks after she was released.

CoreCivic response

In emailed statements, CoreCivic spokeswoman Amanda Gilchrist told the Kansas News Service that it will offer Kansas inmates services that are just as good or better than what they’d receive at state-run prisons.

“CoreCivic cares deeply about every person in our care,” she said. “We work hard to ensure those in our facilities are treated respectfully and humanely.”

The employee vacancy rate at Saguaro Correctional Center, where Kansas inmates will be sent, is 3%. Hawaii also has a contract to send inmates to Saguaro, and Gilchrist pointed to recent audits from the Hawaii Department of Public Safety that show the facility to be compliant with all of the state’s requirements.

“All of our correctional facilities are monitored very closely by our government partners,” Gilchrist said. “Each and every one is required to undergo regular review and audit processes to ensure contract compliance and appropriate standard of care for all inmates.”

In an email, Gov. Laura Kelly said Kansas has a legal obligation to provide safe conditions for prisoners and prison employees.

“It’s a constitutional right, not an option,” she said. “My administration takes this very seriously.”

She emphasized the contract with CoreCivic will allow a Kansas state employee on site to monitor conditions and report back. Other Kansas officials are also allowed to visit and inspect Saguaro at any time.

“The decision to send some of our inmates to a private prison wasn’t made lightly,” Kelly said. “I share a number of concerns that have been raised by anti-private prison advocates.”

The Kansas Department of Corrections declined to comment.

Nomin Ujiyediin reports on criminal justice and social welfare for the Kansas News Service.  Follow her on Twitter @NominUJ or email nomin (at) kcur (dot) org.

HOUSTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday cleared the way for the U.S. government to forbid Central American immigrants from seeking asylum at the two busiest stretches of the southern border in a partial legal victory for the Trump administration.

The ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allows President Donald Trump to enforce the policy in New Mexico and Texas, rejecting asylum seekers who cross from Mexico into either state. Under Friday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar’s July 24 order stopping the policy would apply only in California and Arizona, which are covered by the 9th Circuit.

The two busiest areas for unauthorized border crossings are in South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley and the region around El Paso, Texas, which includes New Mexico. Nearly 50,000 people in July crossed the U.S. border without permission in those two regions, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

The policy would deny asylum to anyone who passes through another country on the way to the U.S. without seeking protection there. Most crossing the southern border are Central Americans fleeing violence and poverty, who would largely be ineligible. The policy would also apply to people from Africa, Asia, and South America who come to the southern border to request asylum.

If the policy is implemented, ineligible migrants who cross in New Mexico and Texas could be detained and more quickly deported. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Under American law, people can request asylum when they arrive in the U.S. regardless of how they enter. The law makes an exception for those who have come through a country considered to be “safe” pursuant to an agreement between the U.S. and that country.

Canada and the U.S. have a “safe third country” agreement. But the U.S. doesn’t have one with Mexico or countries in Central America. The Trump administration has tried to sign one with Guatemala, but the country’s incoming president said this weekthat Guatemala would not be able to uphold a tentative deal reached by his predecessor.

The U.S. government is already turning away many asylum seekers at the southern border.

About 30,000 people have been returned to Mexico to await asylum hearings under the government’s Migrant Protection Protocols program. Tens of thousands of others are waiting in shelters and camps to present themselves to U.S. border agents at official ports of entry that have strict daily limits on asylum seekers.

Mexico’s asylum system is itself overwhelmed, and there are widespread reports of migrants being attacked and extorted . Border cities across from New Mexico and Texas include Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, and Reynosa, all of which are well-known for their violence and gang presence.

Tigar had ruled the policy could expose migrants to violence and abuse, deny their rights under international law, and return them to countries they were fleeing.

The appeals court ruled that Tigar’s order hadn’t considered whether a nationwide order was necessary and that there wasn’t enough evidence presented yet to conclude that it was. The court instructed Tigar to “further develop the record in support of a preliminary injunction” extending nationwide.

Judges Mark Bennett and Milan Smith voted to limit Tigar’s order. Judge A. Wallace Tashima dissented.

Tigar is a nominee of former President Barack Obama. Trump previously derided Tigar as an “Obama judge” after Tigar ruled against another set of asylum restrictions last year. That comment led to an unusual rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts, who said the judiciary did not have “Obama judges or Clinton judges.”

Trump nominated Bennett, while Smith was nominated by former President George W. Bush. Tashima was nominated by former President Bill Clinton.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other legal groups sued the Trump administration after it announced the restrictions last month.

“We will continue fighting to end the ban entirely and permanently,” said Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the ACLU.

The Department of Justice declined to comment.

___

BARTON COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 5:30p.m. Friday in Barton County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Dodge Ram driven by Ashley Bowles, 25, Great Bend was eastbound on U.S. 281 one mile north of Hoisington.

The driver was distracted by cellphone and rear-ended a 1999 Buick LeSabre driven by Lee Depperschmidt, 84, Rush Center, who was stopped waiting to make a left turn into private driveway.

EMS transported a passenger in the Buick Ida John, 78, Lincoln, California. to the hospital in Hoisington where she died. Depperschmidt was transported to a Wichita hospital. Bowles was not injured. All three were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

BURLINGTON, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a mother and her two young children have been killed in a house fire in eastern Kansas.

Coffey County Sheriff Randy Rogers says a fourth person suffered severe burns Friday morning while escaping from the home in Burlington. The survivor was flown to an area burn center.

Rogers didn’t identify any of the victims, pending notification of their relatives. The cause of the fire is under investigation.