HOLTON, Kan. (AP) — A man whose cases sharply divided his small Kansas town was given more jail time by a judge who departed from a plea deal.
Jackson County District Judge Norbert Marek on Wednesday sentenced 23-year-old Jacob Ewing to a total of 7.5 years for attempted rape of a woman and child exploitation related to images he had of an underage girl.
Ewing was sentenced in September to 27 years for raping and sodomizing two other women.
Ewing’s attorney and the prosecutor had agreed the sentences could be served concurrently but Marek departed from that agreement.
The sentencing ends a saga that roiled the town of Holton for more than a year. When Ewing was first arrested, many people in the town supported him and criticized his accusers.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities a investigating an armed robbery and asking for help to identify a suspect.
On Saturday, an unknown suspect entered the Payless Shoe Source in the 2100 Block of north Amidon, Wichita, according to a social media report.
The suspect indicated he had a gun, and demanded money.
Money was given to the suspect who fled in a dark green mid to late 90’s car. If anyone has any information about this case or knows the identity of the suspect please call Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.
State Sen. Laura Kelly, a member of a task force studying the Kansas child welfare system, questioned officials with the Kansas Department for Children and Families on Tuesday about a report saying DCF employees had destroyed child welfare documents. CREDIT FILE PHOTO / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
Officials with the Kansas Department for Children and Families responded Tuesday to concerns about destroyed evidence in child abuse cases during a legislative task force meeting.
After a Kansas City Star investigation suggested DCF employees had shredded documents regarding children in state care, an agency official told lawmakers that the claims by former DCF deputy director Dianne Keech were inaccurate.
“During Mrs. Keech’s time with the department, she claims the agency’s attorney directed staff to keep information from the public’s reach by a shredding of all notes. This is not an accurate statement,” said Steve Green, director of policy and legislative affairs for DCF. “Ms. Keech is likely referring to direction given to staff that they should not include personal notes in case files for incident review. … This is not an effort to keep information from the public, but rather an effort to ensure the file only contains facts, observations pertinent to the case.”
Sen. Laura Kelly, who had asked Green about the claims, said she was unsatisfied with the response to questions about the destruction of case file notes.
“They still have not answered my question,” said Kelly, a Topeka Democrat. “My question was very specifically, ‘Have social workers been asked to shred notes that they have taken during meetings on kids in custody?’ I don’t have the answer to that question from them yet.”
DCF has been confronted about child welfare problems during meetings of the task force, which legislators established earlier this year to examine issues with the state’s privatized foster care system. In the last few years, Kansas has repeatedly set records for the number of children in foster care.
During the September meeting, task force members learned that some children taken into custody were sleeping in contractors’ offices because placements could not be immediately found. At last month’s meeting DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore told task force member she was not aware of specific cases of foster kids running away from care.
Gilmore, who did not attend Tuesday’s meeting, announced earlier this month that she will retire Dec. 1.
In response to last month’s concerns about missing kids, DCF provided an updated count Tuesday to the task force. Officials said 77 kids were missing from care as of Nov. 12, with the largest number of runaways ages 15 to 18.
Investigators on the scene of Tuesday’s murder-photo courtesy KWCH
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities continue investigating the murder of a Kansas woman in her home. On Wednesday they identified the victim and her boyfriend suspect.
Just after 10:30p.m. Monday police were dispatched to residence in 2200 Block of North Park Ridge in Wichita in reference to property found by Andover Police that belonged to 42-year-old Perla Rodriguez, according Wichita Lt. Todd Ojile. Officers did not make contact with anyone at her residence and returned to service.
Just after 2a.m. Tuesday, the Olathe Police Department contacted authorities in Wichita in reference to a suspicious character call. Olathe Police had located a vehicle and property belonging to Rodriguez.
Police returned to her residence and found her in the home dead from blunt force trauma, according to Ojile.
Police in Olathe arrested a 37-year-old Travis Becker on charges in Johnson County. On Tuesday, Wichita Police interviewed him. He reportedly had been dating Rodriguez for several months, according to Ojile. Becker is being held on a $250,000 bond for requested charges of first-degree murder, according to the Sedgwick County Jail booking report.
Rodriguez was the director of outreach services for the Wichita Sexual Assault Center. On Wednesday, they issued a statement.
“WASAC staff and board are saddened by the loss of our coworker and friend, Perla Rodriguez. Perla was a critical member of our team providing guidance for the education and outreach we do in our community. We miss her terribly. Our love and support goes out to those who knew her and especially to her family. We are grateful to our community who have reached out to our staff during this difficult time with thoughts of care and compassion. Your support means so much to us and further demonstrates how much Perla meant to WASAC and our community.”
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — State agencies have asked for more than $274 in new funding for next year just months after Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback called the current budget bloated.
The agencies are collectively seeking a 4.1 percent increase in spending in next year’s general fund budget. Preliminary budget requests for the next fiscal year became public when agencies presented them to a legislative committee last week.
One agency seeks money to restore earlier cuts to universities. Another wants money to eliminate waiting lists for people with disabilities. A third wants more money for social workers.
The requests do not include additional spending for schools.
Legislative leaders have created a committee after the Kansas Supreme Court decision last month which struck down the state’s education funding formula as unconstitutional.
Police on the scene of the shooting investigation early Wednesday-photo courtesy KAKE
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting and asking the public for information.
Just after 1:30a.m., Wednesday, police were dispatched to a shooting in the 1400 Block of East Gidley Street in Wichita, according to Lt. Todd Ojile.
Upon arrival, police found a 51-year-old Wichita man with a single gunshot wound lying in the street. An investigation revealed the man had come to visit individuals at the residence when an unknown vehicle with unknown suspects drove up.
Words were exchanged between the man and those in the vehicle who shot and killed him, according to Ojile.
Police do not have a description of the vehicle or the suspects and believe the victim was targeted in some way. They did not release the victim’s name.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Wichita Police.
Wednesday’s shooting is Wichita’s 28th homicide of the year. It comes a day after a woman’s body was discovered in a Wichita home in an earlier homicide.
LENEXA, Kan. (AP) – Preliminary autopsy results confirm that dismembered human remains found inside a suburban Kansas City storage unit are those of a woman whose husband was living in the unit with his 4-day-old baby and 2-year-old child.
An arrest affidavit for 35-year-old Justin Rey was released Tuesday. He’s jailed on $1 million bond in Johnson County, Kansas, on child endangerment charges.
He’s not charged in the death of his wife, whom family identified as Jessica Monteiro Rey.
The dismembered remains were discovered Oct. 24 inside a cooler and tote at a U-Haul Moving and Storage facility in Lenexa. Surveillance video showed Rey pulling a cooler when he checked out of a Kansas City, Missouri, hotel one day earlier.
A search warrant says Rey told authorities his wife killed herself after giving birth.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama health care law’s requirement that Americans get insurance coverage is now pinned as a target of Republican lawmakers. They are looking to end the individual mandate to help pay for deep tax cuts.
Senate Republicans showed Tuesday they’re intent on scrapping the Affordable Care Act’s insurance mandate, and the idea was endorsed by scores of GOP lawmakers in the House.
The surprise renewal of the failed effort to eliminate the law’s mandate came a day after President Donald Trump renewed pressure on Republican lawmakers to include the repeal in their sweeping legislation to revamp the tax system.
SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an armed robbery and asking for helping to find a suspect.
Just after 9:30p.m., a man reported he was walking in the alley in the 1200 Block of SW Western in Topeka, according to Lt. Steve Roth.
A man identified as a black wearing a gray Steelers hoodie and gray pants approached the victim. The suspect pointed a handgun and took the victim’s wallet and phone then fled the area.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact the Topeka Police.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – A Kansas City man has been charged with fatally shooting two men within days of each other.
Thirty-one-year-old Jerome Roberson was charged Monday with two counts of second-degree murder and armed criminal action. He’s accused in the Oct. 28 death of 29-year-old Brandan Ray Brown at a trailer park in Independence and the Nov. 2 death of Michael Cantwell in a vehicle in Kansas City. Court records say the homicides had witnesses.
Police had asked the public for help locating Roberson before he was arrested Saturday night at a home in Kansas City. He is jailed in Jackson County. Prosecutors have sought $500,000 bond in each case.
No attorney is listed for Roberson in online court records.
