TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Complications from chronic alcohol abuse are blamed in the death of a Topeka jail inmate.
Spence-photo Shawnee Co.
An autopsy report related to the Sept. 19 death of 55-year-old Ruth Spence was released Thursday. The coroner, citing the chronic alcohol abuse, called the manner of death “natural.” No alcohol was found in her blood at the time of her death.
Spence was arrested and booked into the Shawnee County Jail on Sept. 18 for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol and other crimes. She was found unresponsive in her cell the next day and taken to a hospital, where she died.
BARTON COUNTY —Not guilty. Those were the words from the six-member jury Friday morning at the Barton County Courthouse. A three-day trial covering the misdemeanor charge against Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir ended in the not guilty verdict.
Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir leaves the court house Friday morning in Great Bend
The jury took less than 15 minutes to make their decision.
Bellendir was relieved following the conclusion of this trial and thanked everyone while also telling voters, “I promise the electorate of Barton County you will get the whole story before this is done and it it not pretty.”
In November 2017, an investigation by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI. accused the sheriff of “ill-treating a man in handcuffs by speaking to him in a vulgar, insulting, rude or angry manner” while serving an arrest warrant on August 10, 2017 to Nathan Manley of Ellinwood.
The charge against Bellendir had also puts his certification as a Kansas law enforcement officer in jeopardy.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 7:30 a.m. Tuesday in Sedgwick County.
First responders on the scene of the fatal crash -photo courtesy KWCH
A 1995 Chevy pickup driven by Conner J. Richuber, 17, was westbound on 21st Street North from 167th Street West, according to the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Department.
The pickup crossed the center line and collided with a 2013 GMC Yukon XL driven by 55-year-old James Speer.
First responders pronounced Richuber dead at the scene. Speer was transported to a Wichita hospital in critical condition, according to the sheriff’s department.
Preliminarily, investigators believe icy road conditions and speed could be contributing factors. The accident is still under investigation.
LINN COUNTY— One person died in an accident just after 7p.m. Friday in Linn County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1999 Honda Civic driven by Autumn R. Robinett, 43, La Cygne, was westbound on Kansas 152.
The vehicle crossed the center line and struck eastbound 2015 Chrysler 200 driven by Karen K. Clemens, La Cygne head-on.
Robinett was pronounced dead at the scene. Clemens was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident and transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center. The KHP did not report details on Robinett’s seat belt usage.
SEWARD COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating alleged child abuse and the death of a 3-year-old girl.
Soila Cheley-Hernandez -photo courtesy Liberal Police
On Sunday, officers responded to Southwest Medical Center in Liberal after reported child abuse, according to Liberal Police Captain Robert Rogers.
A three-year-old child identified as Maria M. Cheley-Hernandez had been brought to the emergency room by family members. Her condition deteriorated while at the hospital and life saving measures were conducted.
She was later air lifted to a Wichita hospital and died on Wednesday evening, according to Rogers.
The girl’s injuries appeared to be of an intentional nature, according to Rogers. Other possible signs of abuse were also discovered.
As a result of the investigation on Sunday, police arrested the child’s 20-year-old mother Soila Cheney-Hernandez, according to Rogers.
An amended affidavit has been forwarded to the Seward County Attorney’s Office seeking charges of First Degree Murder and Child Abuse. Cheley-Hernandez is still in custody, according to Rogers.
Police released no additional details on the cause of death.
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SEWARD COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating alleged child abuse and made an arrest.
On Sunday, officers responded to Southwest Medical Center after reported child abuse, according to Liberal Police Captain Robert Rogers. A three-year-old child had been brought to the emergency room by family members. Her condition deteriorated while at the hospital and life saving measures were conducted.
She was later air lifted to a Wichita hospital where she continues to be treated.
The injuries sustained appeared to be of an intentional nature, according to Rogers. Other possible signs of abuse were also discovered.
As a result of the investigation, police arrested the child’s 20-year-old mother for child abuse and attempted first degree murder.
An affidavit was forwarded to the Seward County Attorney’s Office for the determination of formal charges.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas voters will decide Tuesday whether to promote to governor Kris Kobach, a strong ally of President Donald Trump, who wants to crack down on immigrants living in the state illegally and resume conservative tax-cutting policies from earlier in the decade that critics labeled a failure.
October gubernatorial candidate debate -photo courtesy Kobach for governor campaign
Republican Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, says if elected he would slash spending and seek tax cuts like those championed by unpopular former Gov. Sam Brownback.
His Democratic opponent, state Sen. Laura Kelly, has made her opposition to the ill-fated 2012-13 experiment in slashing state income taxes the centerpiece of her campaign in a tight race. She was part of a bipartisan effort in 2017 that reversed most of the tax cuts to drag state finances out of a gaping hole.
“By then, Kansans understood the damage that was done,” Kelly said between last-minute campaign stops. “And they wanted nothing more to do with that.”
A wildcard in the race is Independent candidate Greg Orman, a Kansas City-area businessman, who Democrats fear could take enough votes from Kelly to hand the election to Kobach.
Kansas is considered a deep red state with party registration 44 percent Republican and 25 percent Democratic. But its dominant Republican party sometimes splits between moderates and conservatives, leaving an opening for a Democrat to peel off disaffected GOP voters. In recent decades the state has alternated between Republican and Democratic governors.
That GOP rift emerged this year with the nomination of Kobach, who has concentrated on motivating his conservative base rather than wooing moderate voters.
“The way we win is, we rack up our numbers,” Kobach told a get-out-the vote rally in Topeka. “If Republicans vote in big numbers, we win a statewide election. It’s just that simple.”
Kobach has built a national profile as an advocate of tough immigration policies and strict voter identification laws. He has advised Trump and served as vice chairman of Trump’s since-disbanded commission on voter fraud. He narrowly defeated Gov. Jeff Colyer in the GOP primary in August after Trump ignored some of his advisers and tweeted an endorsement of Kobach.
Trump carried the state by 20 percentage points in the 2016 presidential race and had a rally to help Kobach’s campaign in October. Donald Trump Jr. had two fundraising events for him.
Kobach delights in provoking critics with stunts such as using of a red-white-and-blue jeep with a replica machine gun mounted on top in community parades to emphasize his support for the 2nd amendment to the Constitution.
Despite the painful experience of the Brownback tax cuts, he has promised to shrink the size of government so that the state could resume cutting taxes. He has bristled at Kelly’s suggestion that he would revive the Brownback tax experiment and top it, arguing that he would be more aggressive about reducing government spending.
Kelly wants to increase spending, not reduce it, saying more money is needed for higher education, early childhood education and mental health services.
She also embraced a plan this year from the Legislature to phase in a $548 million increase in spending on public schools in response to Kansas Supreme Court decisions in an education funding lawsuit filed in 2010. Kobach criticized the court and suggested that lawmakers had paid a “king’s ransom” to comply with the court order.
Like Trump, Kobach has stressed immigration issues in the run-up to the election. He wants policies designed to push immigrants living in Kansas illegally out of the state. Kelly said Kobach’s immigration policies would hurt the state’s economy, particularly in western Kansas which depends on immigrant workers for the meatpacking industry.
Orman had hoped to build on an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate in 2014 as an independent candidate that brought him national attention. But his campaign for governor never gained enough traction to make him more than a spoiler.
TOPEKA, KAN. – A Kansas man was sentenced Monday to seven years in federal prison for his role in a methamphetamine trafficking organization that operated out of a pizza parlor, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.
Price -photo Shawnee County
Michael Price, 43, Topeka, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. In his plea, he admitted he was part of a drug trafficking ring headed by co-defendant Adolfo Barragan-Rodriguez, who ran the operation from a Pronto Pizza restaurant he owned in Topeka.
In his plea, Price admitted he bought methamphetamine from co-defendant Michelle Belair and then sold it. He also assisted Belair and Barragan-Rodriguez with distributing methamphetamine.
Barragan-Rodriguez and Belair already were sentenced. He was sentenced to 180 months and she was sentenced to 156 months.
SEDGWICK COUNTY – A Kansas sheriff’s deputy is out of jail after two arrests on Wednesday.
Paredes -photo Sedgwick Co.
On Wednesday morning, Bel Aire police arrested off-duty Sedgwick County deputy Raymond Paredes for alleged domestic battery in connection with an incident at his residence, according to
Col. Greg Pollock during a Wednesday news briefing.
Paredes was placed on administrative suspension and bonded out of jail.
Just after 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Paredes was back in jail after an arrest for violation of a protection order, according to the Sedgwick County sheriff booking report. Jail records indicate he was out on bond Thursday morning.
