KANSAS CITY (AP) — A 37-year-old man whose wife returned a rental vehicle with nearly a kilogram of methamphetamine in the trunk has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole.

Milton Tyron McGruder  was sentenced Thursday for possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

Employees at Enterprise Rent-a-Car in Columbia found a bag in the vehicle in August 2017. Prosecutors say it contained a Ziploc bag with about 934 grams of meth.

Employees didn’t initially see the bag in the spare tire compartment but searched again when the wife called and said a bag with $700 inside was left in the car. She asked if she could rent the vehicle again but was told it had already been rented.

McGruder was arrested when he returned to the business.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas has pulled the fossil of a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex from public view at its Natural History Museum after anger erupted when the fossil’s private owner listed it for sale for $2.95 million.

Alan Detrich, who isn’t a trained paleontologist, said he originally shared his rare fossil with the museum two years ago because “the public ought to get to see it.”

His eBay sales pitch for the fossil initially highlighted the fossil’s ties to the university, prompting the school to tweet that it’s not involved in the sale.

Are we selling fossils on eBay? NO. The baby #Trex temporarily on view to the public at #KUnhm is not accessioned to our collection & is privately owned. Research is currently ongoing on our own baby Trex, which is not on display at this time. 🦖

— KU Natural History (@kunhm) April 8, 2019

Detrich said he and his brother unearthed the 68-million-year-old bones from a 4-year-old T. rex in 2013 on property he leased to hunt for fossils near Jordan, Montana. To the “naysayers” from academia who complained about the university’s link with the for-sale specimen, Detrich says his message is “you’re welcome.”

“You’re welcome — for me to allow my dinosaur to be in the museum and to be able to show the people,” he said. “People have had the opportunity to actually see the baby T. rex.”

Leonard Krishtalka, museum director and KU professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, said in an internal memo that the “intent was to keep the specimen in the museum sphere to be enjoyed by visitors until it was sold to a museum.” Krishtalka said the listing’s references to the university made it appear the university was promoting the sale in violation of a formal contract approved by the university’s legal team. The museum learned this week that Alan Detrich had “abruptly” listed the specimen for sale on eBay without notifying the museum, Krishtalka said.

Besides pulling the display, the museum asked Detrich to remove all references to the university and other “misleading language and photos” from his eBay listing, the memo said.

Detrich, who also is known for making religious art out of dinosaur fossils, has long been a source of frustration to some in the scientific community. They think fossils should be uncovered by people with more training and then donated for scientific study. Detrich, meanwhile, insists fossil hunting is a risky, expensive business.

“Millionaires aren’t rich enough to buy these dinosaurs,” Detrich said. “I don’t have a problem with selling to billionaires, because they’ve got enough money to protect this fossil and take really good care of it . At some point, all these things end up in museums.”

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Latest on legislative work to fund road and bridge repairs in Missouri (all times local):

3:15 p.m.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson says he appreciates lawmakers for compromising on how to pay for road and bridge repairs.

Senators on Thursday gave initial approval to a plan to spend $50 million upfront. If the Missouri Department of Transportation is awarded a federal matching grant, that would trigger another roughly $300 million in bonding.

Parson says he would rather the proposal did not depend on action by the federal government. But he says understands that compromise is needed.

Parson in January proposed borrowing $350 million to fix 250 bridges across the state.

That drew pushback, especially from a group of Republican senators who argued against taking on debt and interest.

The Senate deal reduces borrowing and calls for debt to be paid off in seven years, instead of the 15 years of payments that Parson initially proposed.

___

2 p.m.

Missouri senators have reached a deal on how to pay to fix 250 bridges across the state.

Senators on Thursday gave initial approval to a plan to spend $50 million upfront. If the Missouri Department of Transportation is awarded a federal matching grant, that would trigger another roughly $300 million in bonding.

Lawmakers have been split on how to pay to repair roads and bridges after voters in November defeated a proposed 10-cent gas tax hike for transportation.

Republican Gov. Mike Parson proposed borrowing about $350 million for bridges. But some Republicans complained about taking on debt and interest. St. Louis and Kansas City lawmakers argued that not enough bridges in their areas would be repaired.

The compromise proposal is expected to come up for a final Senate vote Monday.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors have dropped a driving under the influence charge against a Kansas City, Missouri, mayoral candidate who was arrested while sleeping in his car in Lawrence, Kansas, after a fundraiser.

Lucas praised Thursday’s decision in a news release. He says he made the “the responsible choice” in October when he decided that he shouldn’t drive back to Kansas City. He says he never moved his vehicle from the public spot where it was parked before his arrest .

Lucas is a law lecturer at the University of Kansas. He was elected in 2015 to the Kansas City council. He and fellow council member Jolie Justus were the top-two vote getters in this month’s mayoral primary. Voters will pick between them in the June 18 general election.

By DAN MARGOLIES

Allegations of financial fraud and stolen hospital records have surfaced in an increasingly nasty legal battle over the fate of Hillsboro Community Hospital in Hillsboro, Kansas.

The critical access hospital, which is partly owned by a company controlled by Florida resident Jorge Perez, is resisting efforts by Perez to move its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case to North Carolina.

That’s where a bankruptcy judge recently consolidated the bankruptcy filings of seven other rural hospitals controlled by Perez and Perez-affiliated groups. The hospitals include the now-closed Oswego Community Hospital in Oswego, Kansas; Horton Community Hospital in Horton, Kansas; and I-70 Community Hospital in Sweet Springs, Missouri.

Four other hospitals in Oklahoma and Arkansas controlled by Perez-affiliated groups likewise have sought Chapter 11 protection in North Carolina.

It’s not clear why the cases were filed or consolidated in North Carolina, which has no obvious connection to any except one of the hospitals. But in a bankruptcy court filing, Hillsboro Community Hospital says the attempt to move its case there is an unlawful attempt to circumvent court orders in Kansas.

In January, Bank of Hays foreclosed on the hospital after it defaulted on a nearly $10 million loan. At the bank’s request, the court appointed Cohesive Healthcare Management + Consulting, LLC of Shawnee, Oklahoma, as a receiver to run the hospital. Cohesive, in turn, placed the hospital, which remains open, in voluntary bankruptcy on March 13.

In a typical Chapter 11 case, management would continue to run the business affairs of the hospital. But Bank of Hays moved for the appointment of a Chapter 11 trustee instead, stating it had learned that the owners of the hospital “are currently under criminal investigation by the United States Department of Justice.”

In a court filing, the bank said it believed the investigation related to the hospital’s owners and their “management of healthcare facilities nationwide.”

Brent King, a lawyer who was appointed as the Chapter 11 trustee, told KCUR two weeks ago that he was unable to provide more details about the federal investigation other than that it likely concerns billing irregularities. He said his law firm, which is conducting a forensic investigation of a hospital in Graceville, Florida, once controlled by Perez, had uncovered “massive” billing irregularities there.

“It went from $13 million a year in billings to $130 million a year in billings,” King said, referring to the now-closed Campbellton-Graceville Hospital. “There’s a lot of money passing through these hospitals and we believe there’s an attempt to defraud insurance companies.”

The Kansas attorney general’s office says it’s also investigating at least one of Perez’s Kansas hospitals, Horton Community Hospital, although it has declined to specify the nature of its probe.

Perez could not be reached for comment. Mike Murtha, president of the National Alliance of Rural Hospitals, a group once associated with Perez, said Perez’s hospitals had effectively ceased being members of the alliance.

“I don’t make decisions for him. I’m an advocate for the perpetuity of rural hospitals,” Murtha said.

In pushing back against Perez’s attempt to move Hillsboro’s bankruptcy case to North Carolina, King states in a recent court filing that Perez and his affiliated companies used Hillsboro and other hospitals they controlled to carry out an illegal  billing scheme.

The filing cites allegations in a lawsuit filed by a Mission Hills, Kansas, couple who invested in the hospitals and claim Perez tried to cut them out of their rightful ownership share.

Perez and others, King says in the filing, “orchestrated and controlled the laboratory information system … of the Hillsboro Hospital to perpetrate a fraudulent scheme related to Medicare and Medicaid billing.” King also alleges that one or more members of the Perez Ownership group had stolen records from Hillsboro Hospital.

King could not immediately be reached for comment.

In the filing, King says he believes iHealthcare Inc., a Miami-based company associated with Perez, possesses “essential billing, patient and employee records which are property” of the hospital.

In January, iHealthcare entered into agreements with Perez to provide hospital management services to his hospitals. In exchange, Perez was eligible for about $2.5 million in “success fees” if certain conditions were met.

Noel Mijares, the president and CEO of iHealthcare, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Despite the alleged theft of the hospital’s records, King says that Cohesive, with the cooperation of the Bank of Hays and the city of Hillsboro, “has made great strides” in stabilizing the hospital’s operations.

Cohesive aims to take steps “to ensure quality patient care with the aim to sell Hillsboro Hospital as an operating critical access hospital in order to maximize its value both financially to its creditors and the needs of its patients and community it serves,” King states.

Although the hospital is licensed for 15 beds, the document filed by King says it has eight licensed hospital beds and generates estimated annual revenue of $8.8 million. The hospital has about 40 fulltime employees and about 30 part-time employees, including two doctors, two physician assistants and two nurse practitioners, according to King.

Hillsboro, with a population of about 3,000, is about 165 miles southwest of Kansas City. As a critical access hospital, Hillsboro Community Hospital is eligible for cost-based reimbursement from Medicare. Even so, the hospital lost $1.25 million in the fiscal year that ended in September 2017, according to American Hospital Directory records.

This story was updated to include comments from Mike Murtha, president of the National Alliance of rural hospitals.

Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor in conjunction with the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.

MOUNTAIN GROVE, Mo. (AP) — A former Junior ROTC instructor for a southern Missouri high school has pleaded guilty to repeatedly grazing a student’s body with a knife and giving her enough alcohol to pass out.

57-year-old David Russell Long admitted Monday to two counts of second-degree assault and child endangerment. As part of the plea, 13 additional felony charges were dropped, including multiple counts of second-degree statutory sodomy.

Allegations against Long first surfaced in late 2016, when a former student contacted the Mountain Grove Police Department to allege she had been in a sexual relationship with “her JROTC instructor” that lasted for more than a year. She said the relationship started in August 2014.

Long spent a decade teaching JROTC courses at Mountain Grove High School.

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – Two Mexican citizens living in Kansas City, Kan., were indicted Wednesday on charges of selling heroin, methamphetamine and guns from their home, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Pedro Daniel Torres-Caldera, 36, a citizen of Mexico, and Osmar Barraza-Caldera, 21, a citizen of Mexico, were indicted in an 18-count indictment that included charges of drug trafficking conspiracy; distribution of heroin, methamphetamine and oxycodone; unlawful possession of firearms; and maintaining a premises in furtherance of drug trafficking.

According to court documents, investigators made a series of undercover purchases from the defendants in transactions that took place at the defendants’ residence in Kansas City, Kan. On Feb. 1, 2019, for instance, an undercover officer paid the defendants $2,500 for an Anderson Manufacturing AM-15 rifle with a Spikes Tactical Launcher and a Trijicon ACOG Optic.

On March 13, 2019, investigators served a search warrant at the Locust address. They seized more than three pounds of black tar heroin and firearms.

Upon conviction, the crimes carry the following penalties:
Conspiracy: Not less than 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $10 million.
Distribution of heroin: Not more than 20 years and a fine up to $1 million.
Distribution of more than 5 grams of methamphetamine: Not less than five years and not more than 40 years and a fine up to $5 million.
Distribution of oxycodone: Up to 20 years and a fine up to $1 million.
Possession of an unregistered firearm: Up to 10 years and a fine up to $250,000.
Alien in possession of a firearm: Up to 10 years and a fine up to $250,000.
Distribution of more than 50 grams of methamphetamine: Not less than 10 years and a fine up to $10 million.
Unlawful possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking: Not less than five years and a fine up to $250,000.
Maintaining premises in furtherance of drug trafficking: Up to 20 years and a fine up to $500,000.

The FBI and the Jackson County Drug Task Force investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Trent Krug and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Zabel are prosecuting.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers are considering giving taxpayers a break if they can’t pay on time this year, but Democrats say the effort may be too late.

The House gave initial approval Wednesday to legislation that would delay interest and penalty fees for taxpayers who owe money when they file this year.

The measure is in response to issues with withholding tables that could mean some taxpayers either get a smaller refund than usual or owe more money when they file their taxes.

Employers use withholding tables to calculate how much to take from workers’ paychecks throughout the year for income taxes.

The tax deadline is April 15. House Minority Leader Crystal Quade criticized Republican House leaders for not acting sooner.

The bill needs another House vote to move to the Senate.