SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating four girls after an attack at a retail store in Wichita.

At approximately 10 a.m. Nov. 9, police responded to an assault call at the T.J. Maxx in the 8100 block of East Kellogg in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.

Upon arrival, officers contacted a 40-year-old female loss prevention employee and witnesses who reported three unknown suspects shoplifting items from the store and as they left the store they were approached by the loss prevention employee.

The three suspects battered the employee by punching and kicking her. A fourth suspect exited a nearby black Cadillac and also battered the victim and took her cell phone. The employee momentarily lost consciousness and had minor injuries. The suspects then fled the scene in the Cadillac.

 

Through the investigation, investigators were able to identify the suspects involved and arrested a 12-year-old girl on charges of aggravated robbery, aggravated battery, and theft, a 15-year-old girl on charges of aggravated robbery, aggravated battery, and theft, a second 15-year-old girl on charges of aggravated robbery, aggravated battery and theft and a third 15-year-old girl on charges of aggravated battery, aggravated robbery, and an outstanding warrant. They were booked in the juvenile detention center, according to Davidson.

 

The case will be presented to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.

TOPEKA —The Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) announced today that the Topeka Correctional Facility (TCF) has resumed normal operations of all housing units, according to a media release from the agency.

Repair work on gas lines has been completed and the 466 women have been moved back to the five units impacted on Tuesday by a leak in a gas line.

Crews from Kansas Gas Service, P1 Group, Inc., alongside TCF maintenance staff worked Tuesday evening through Thursday to complete repairs. After completing the repair to a gas line into the facility, pressure tests were conducted and failed, revealing the need for additional repairs. Those repairs, to an over 30-year-old heating system, had to be completed before gas service could be restored.

“The last two days have been challenging for the women at TCF, our staff, and the crews at Kansas Gas Service and P1 Group, said Acting Secretary Jeff Zmuda. “I so appreciate the teamwork demonstrated by everyone involved in restoring service at TCF.”

A cause for the leaking gas line could not be determined. The subsequent repairs to the heating system are attributed to delayed maintenance or replacement of aged infrastructure that is common place across the Kansas prison system.

RUSH COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 7:30a.m. Friday in Rush County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Taylor Page Calcara, 32, Great Bend, was southbound on U.S. 183 one half mile south of LaCrosse.

The Jeep struck the rear passenger side of a 2002 Chevy Impala driven by Terra Dawn Davis, 44, LaCrosse, that had spun when the driver lost control, according to the KHP.

EMS transported Davis to Rush County Memorial Hospital where she died.

EMS transported a passenger in the Jeep Mark Douglas Calcara, 70, Great Bend, to the hospital in Great Bend.  Taylor Calcara was not transported for treatment.

Davis was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Ivanka Trump on a visit to Wichita in October-photo courtesy Ivanka Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump appears to be opening the door for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to run for an open Senate seat in his home state of Kansas.

Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Friday that Pompeo “loves what he’s doing” but if he thought “there was a chance of losing that seat, I think he would do that, and he would win in a landslide.”

Many Republicans see Pompeo as their best candidate for preventing the race from becoming competitive in Kansas, where a Democrat hasn’t won a Senate seat since 1932.

Pompeo has said he’ll remain secretary of state as long as Trump will have him.

Ambassador Gordon Sondland testified in the House impeachment inquiry that Pompeo was kept informed of Trump’s effort to pressure Ukraine for investigations while military aid was withheld.

 

Kaster photo Boone Co.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A man pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to the arson at the Columbia Health Center (operated by Planned Parenthood Great Plains) on Feb. 10, 2019, according to the United State’s Attorney.

Wesley Brian Kaster, 42, Columbia, Mo., pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Willie J. Epps Jr. to one count of maliciously using explosive materials to damage a building owned by an organization that receives federal financial assistance, and one count of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

Kaster has remained in federal custody without bond since his arrest on March 2, 2019.

By pleading guilty, Kaster admitted that he manufactured a Molotov cocktail on Feb. 10, 2019. On the same day, he broke the glass in the north entry door of the Columbia Health Center at 711 N. Providence Road and threw the Molotov cocktail into the facility. At approximately 4:10 a.m., the Columbia Fire Department arrived on the scene, investigated the damage caused by the explosive device, and collected evidence.

Kaster admitted that he took these actions because Planned Parenthood provided reproductive health services at the facility.

Under federal statutes, Kaster is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of 21 years in federal prison without parole.

The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

SEDGWICK COUNTY— A registered sex offender is facing five charges after he allegedly kidnapped a 15-year-old girl who was walking home from a Wichita grocery store and raped her.

Anthony Craig Seymour, 58, of Wichita, made his first court appearance in the case Thursday afternoon, according to the Sedgwick County Attorney’s office. The charges against him include aggravated kidnapping and rape.

Just before 6:30p.m. Monday, police responded to a 911 call of an abduction in the 300 Block of North Volutsia in Wichita, according to Captain Brett Allred.

Upon arrival, police searched the area and located a 2005 Lexus driven by a suspect later identified as 58-year-old Anthony Seymour leaving the area. They also observed a 15-year-old girl exit the vehicle while it was moving slowly and run toward the officers. Seymour fled in the car. Police initially were not able to locate it.

Investigators learned that while the girl was walking home, Seymour approached, held a knife to her, forced her into the Lexus and sexually assaulted her, according to Allred.

Through continued investigation, police located the victim’s phone in a parking lot and were able to obtain video in the area and a tag number on the car. Police located the vehicle and Seymour in the 1900 Block of North Lorraine. He was arrested without incident and booked on requested charges of kidnapping, rape, aggravated criminal sodomy, aggravated battery and a Kansas Department of Corrections arrest and detain order, according to Allred.

“The victim is very brave,” said Allred. “She saw police and took action to get out of the car, run to the officers and explain what had happened.” She had been on her way to Dillons and had seen the suspect and thought he was acting suspiciously. On the way home, the suspect approached her a second time and forced her in the vehicle, according to Allred.

EMS transported the girl to a local hospital for treatment.

Seymour had been on parole since May of 2018 after a 2004 conviction for rape, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

 

J

JACKSON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are asking for the public’s assistance in locating 51-year-old Brian K. Wood.

He has not been seen since November 16, sitting in the ditch of 75 Highway near 262nd Road north of Holton in Jackson County, according to Sheriff Tim Morse.

Wood frequents Netawaka and the Topeka area. Wood is suffering from a severe leg infection and requires daily medical attention and may be disoriented.

If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of Brian K. Wood, please contact the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office at 785-364-2251.

 

Linda Ballard photo from a 2017 drug arrest in Atchison County

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Four people — including a mother and two of her children — have pleaded guilty in a $5.4 million conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas.

 

Eric Ballard photo Atchison County.

Federal prosecutors say 67-year-old Linda Kay Ballard; her 27-year-old son, Eric Edward Ballard, both of Atchison, Kansas; and her 35-year-old daughter, Charlsie Kim Harris, of Garden City, Missouri, pleaded guilty Wednesday.

A fourth person, 48-year-old Anthony Dewayne Fifer, of Mexico, Missouri, also pleaded guilty to distributing meth from January 2015 to November 2017. The four defendants also pleaded guilty to participating in a money-laundering conspiracy.

 

Photo courtesy Atchison County Sheriff

They are among nine defendants who have entered guilty pleas in in the case. The methamphetamine was distributed from Kansas City to the St. Joseph and the Atchison, Kansas, areas.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former Wichita police officer who exposed an undercover officer who was investigating illegal gambling has lost his law enforcement certification.

A state oversight board revoked the certification of Michael Zajkowski. He worked for the Wichita department from 1991 to 2017. The media this week obtained a copy of the board’s order, dated Sept. 27, through an open records request.

Zajkowski was one of three former law enforcement officers charged after an FBI investigation into illegal gambling. He pleaded guilty in April to failing to report a felony.

Prosecutors say he used police resources to determine that an undercover Wichita officer had infiltrated an illegal poker game. Prosecutors said he gave that information to gambling organizers. He was sentenced to “time served.”