Kansas.com: Crime andamp; Courts

Teen's husband by contract is charged with rape

CHRISTINE VENDEL — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Vincent Mosby signed a marriage contract and paid a dowry in a religious ceremony in August, police said.

Mosby, 23, of Kansas City, didn't legally marry his 14-year-old bride, however, because Missouri law won't allow it without a judge's order. Police said she was pressured into the union because her mother and stepfather thought she was going to be sexually active with a boy her age.

Although the bride's stepfather arranged the "marriage," according to court records, other relatives frowned upon the union and told police in late August. The relatives also took the girl to protect her from further sexual abuse, according to court records.

High court to weigh youths' life terms

MARK SHERMAN — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

WASHINGTON — Joe Sullivan was sent away for life for raping an elderly woman and was judged incorrigible, though he was only 13 at the time of the attack.

Terrance Graham, implicated in armed robberies when he was 16 and 17, was given a life sentence by a judge who told him he threw his life away.

They didn't kill anyone, but they effectively were sentenced to die in prison.

Death penalty cases take time and scrutiny

RON SYLVESTER — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:48 CST

Larry Williams expected to wait 10 years to see the death sentence carried out for his daughter's killer. Now, 13 years later, Williams said he may have to wait another decade before Gary Kleypas exhausts his appeals.

Lawyers understand the need for such scrutiny in death penalty cases, but others like Williams wonder whether the execution chamber in Lansing will ever be used.

"Oh, it's been frustrating for me in more ways than one, obviously losing your daughter but then the long court case," Williams said.

Shortfall may close state courts for weeks

FRED MANN — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:58 CST

State courts in Kansas will have to close their doors for one week each month beginning in February if the Legislature doesn't restore $8 million to the judiciary budget, Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Davis said Friday.

The courts would close and place staff on involuntary unpaid leave the weeks of Feb. 15, March 15, April 5, May 10 and 24, and June 7, Davis said in a letter to court employees.

Judges would still be paid and perform duties with mandated deadlines, such as criminal cases with speedy trial concerns, search warrants, first appearances in criminal cases and certain hearings, said Ron Keefover, court spokesman.

TV program on capture of BTK to air Nov. 15

STAN FINGER — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:06 CST

A Discovery Channel program will focus on the arrest of Dennis Rader, the BTK serial killer, in an episode later this month.

Rader was arrested near his Park City home in February 2005, nearly a year after BTK resurfaced by sending a letter to The Wichita Eagle.

The BTK episode of "Anatomy of a Takedown" will air at 6 p.m. on Nov. 15, police spokesman Gordon Bassham said.

Feds charge two in poisoned-salsa case

BRAD COOPER — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

Federal prosecutors have charged a Shawnee husband and wife with poisoning the salsa at the Mi Ranchito restaurant in Lenexa.

Arnoldo Bazan, 30, and Yini De La Torre, 19, are accused of mixing a pesticide into the salsa that sickened a dozen customers on Aug. 11 and 36 more customers on Aug. 30.

Bazan and De La Torre are charged with one count of conspiring to recklessly endanger other people by conspiring to tamper with a consumer product. They also are charged with two counts of tampering with a consumer product.

Kansas looks at Colorado sex assault suspect

Associated Press — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:47 CST

PUEBLO, Colo. —A man suspected of sexually assaulting more than 12 women in New Mexico and Texas and trying to kill a Pueblo police officer has prompted inquiries from investigators in Colorado and Kansas, authorities said this week.

Pueblo County Sheriff Kirk Taylor said his investigators have been in contact with authorities in Fort Collins, Colo., and Lawrence about Robert Howard Bruce, 47, of Pueblo.

Kansas authorities checked on whether Bruce could have been connected to a series of sexual assaults in Lawrence and Manhattan, but they don't believe he was involved, said Ashley Anstaett, a spokeswoman for the Kansas attorney general.

Dodge City reporter fights subpoena

Associated Press — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:07 CST

DODGE CITY — The Dodge City Daily Globe is challenging a county attorney's efforts to obtain a reporter's notes and testimony about a jailhouse interview she conducted with a man charged in a fatal shooting.

Ford County Attorney Terry Malone issued a subpoena to the Globe and reporter Claire O'Brien, seeking details about an Oct. 7 interview with shooting suspect Samuel Bonilla. An Oct. 13 story in the Globe, based mostly on that interview, included a few statements attributed to anonymous sources.

Bonilla is charged in the shooting over Labor Day weekend of two Dodge City residents, which left one man dead and another wounded. In the interview, Bonilla told O'Brien he acted in self-defense.

Police release image of robber

STAN FINGER — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:58 CST

Wichita police have released an image of the man who robbed the Intrust Bank branch at 1544 S. Webb Road on Monday.

The man walked into the bank at Harry and Webb at about 3:25 p.m., handed a bank employee a blue zippered bank bag, and demanded the teller fill it with money, police said.

The man then pulled a pistol, showed it to the clerk, and again asked him to fill the bag with money. After the teller complied, the bandit left the bank and headed north on Webb, police said.

Slain Lyons woman obtained protection order

Associated Press — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:03 CST

LYONS — A Lyons woman who was found dead in her home had taken out a protection order last week against the man suspected in her death.

The suspect, Armando Mosqueda, 35, was scheduled to appear in Rice County court today for a hearing on the protection-from-abuse order obtained by Jeannie Jacobsen, 31, a mother of three who was found stabbed to death Sunday morning in her home.

Mosqueda was arrested Sunday in Baytown, Texas, and charged Monday with premeditated first-degree murder. He is being held without bond in Texas awaiting extradition to Kansas.

Marriage License Applications, Annulments Granted, Divorces Granted

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:58 CST

Marriage License Applications

Alley, Jarrod M. and McKinney, Sabrina L., both of Wichita.

Almanza, Francisco A. and Chavez, Aurora G., both of Wichita.

EBay pulls auctions to benefit Roeder

ROXANA HEGEMAN — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:50 CST

Online auction house eBay has removed items that were posted for sale by abortion opponents trying to raise money for the defense of a man accused of killing George Tiller, the company said Monday.

Supporters of Scott Roeder posted various items late Sunday in separate eBay auctions, including an Army of God manual, an underground publication for anti-abortion militants that describes ways to shut down clinics.

After about five hours, eBay removed 10 items, abortion opponents said. The final two items were removed by late Monday afternoon.

Man accused of practicing law maintains his right

Associated Press — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:05 CST

TOPEKA — A man who has spent three months in jail on charges of practicing law without a license maintains that he is being held hostage by a government that wants him to sign away his right to help others.

David Martin Price, 48, of Topeka, has been in the Shawnee County jail since Aug. 6 despite his repeated efforts to get the federal courts to take up his case. Price, who is not an attorney, was jailed by the Kansas Supreme Court, which cited him for contempt for giving legal advice to others.

The justices want him to sign an agreement saying he won't give any more advice before they will free him.

Former SRS investigator: Boy's death was preventable

TIM POTTER — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:52 CDT

The beating death of a 2-year-old Wichita boy last year could have been prevented if the state child protection agency hadn't blocked efforts to investigate day care fraud, a former investigator has contended.

In an affidavit signed Sept. 23, Tim Holmes said that before the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services fired him about 10 months ago, agency officials directed him to stop helping federal agents probing day care fraud in the Wichita area.

SRS spokeswoman Michelle Ponce said of Holmes' claim: "It is a jump to assume that a child care investigation ... could have in any way prevented the terrible tragedy that occurred."

Autopsy: No foul play in marshal's death

HURST LAVIANA AND TIM POTTER — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:31 CDT

An autopsy has ruled out foul play in the death of retired deputy U.S. Marshal Richard Schroeder outside his Newton home.

Schroeder, 62, retired from the U.S. Marshals Service in 2001 after 27 years with the agency. He returned to the public spotlight in recent months with a controversial proposal to open a work-release center in south Wichita.

Police said Schroeder was lying in his driveway when his wife arrived home in the 1000 block of Boyd at about 9 p.m. Thursday.

Juror beliefs an issue, says defense

ROXANA HEGEMAN — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:08 CDT

Lawyers for the man accused of killing George Tiller have asked a judge for an order prohibiting prosecutors from discriminating against potential jurors based on their religious or anti-abortion beliefs.

The court filing, made public Thursday, offered the first glimpse of the legal strategy being developed by Scott Roeder's court-appointed defense team. Sedgwick County District Judge Warren Wilbert scheduled a hearing on the defense motion for Dec. 9.

Roeder is accused of shooting Tiller on May 31 while the doctor was ushering for Sunday morning services at his Wichita church. He is scheduled for trial Jan. 11 on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault.

Cocaine in plane nets three drug indictments

STAN FINGER — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:08 CDT

Three California men have been indicted on a drug trafficking charge after authorities seized a plane carrying more than 125 pounds of cocaine in Liberal last week.

A federal indictment returned Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Wichita charged 30-year-old Eric Wayne McPeters, 40-year-old Dean Bryan Moya and 31-year-old Richard Allen Vickery of Hemet, Calif., with one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

The Department of Homeland Security last Thursday identified a suspicious aircraft that had landed in Liberal. Liberal police were contacted and they requested assistance from the Southwest Kansas Drug Taskforce and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Law enforcement officials don't plan to change Taser policies

STAN FINGER — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:29 CDT

Local law enforcement officials say they are not going to change their policies on the use of Tasers even after the maker of the electronic stun device recently recommended aiming for somewhere other than a person's chest.

The recommendation sounds good in principle, local sheriffs say, but applying it in real life is another matter.

"It's an awkward edict that they've come out with," Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton said. "It doesn't leave you much of a target to shoot at."

Hotel tryst set up online ends in robbery of man

Stan Finger — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:09 CDT

A man who thought he was meeting a woman for a hotel interlude got more than he anticipated Tuesday night, police said.

The 32-year-old man used a Web site to arrange a meeting with a woman at about 8:15 p.m. at the Western Holiday Motel, 8929 W. Kellogg.

While they were involved in a sexual act, police said, the woman got up and sprayed the victim in the face with an irritant.

Police meet the neighbors

STAN FINGER AND HURST LAVIANA — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:54 CDT

Shortly after 6 p.m. on a late October evening, patrol cars with flashing lights drove through an isolated north Wichita neighborhood. Three officers fanned out along the street, which had recently been the scene of a burglary that led to gunfire and a high-speed chase.

The officers weren't looking for the bad guy on this Tuesday evening; he'd been in jail since crashing into a tree at the end of the chase.

The officers were looking for neighbors willing to spend a few minutes to attend an impromptu meeting so they could learn more about the crime and the man in custody.