COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a Missouri man who shot himself in the genitals lied to investigators and said someone else shot him.

19-year-old Taylor Joseph Guthrie is charged with a misdemeanor count of making a false report after he was wounded in July at a mobile home park in Prathersville. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Guthrie later said he was actually retrieving the 9mm pistol from a car when it went off. The gun had been reported stolen from Memphis, Tennessee.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A woman has filed a federal lawsuit accusing a Kansas agency of failing to properly investigate complaints that a high-ranking official offered her a job in exchange for sex and sent her a sexually explicit video of him.

Jennifer Gill filed the lawsuit earlier this month against the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services. Gill worked for Equi-Venture Farms, which provides disability services.

The lawsuit accuses Brandt Haehn of soliciting sex from Gill in exchange for a job in 2016 . Haehn was the department’s commissioner of in-home and community services. He’s no longer employed by the state.

Gill alleges she reported Haehn’s actions to the department last year, but the agency never conducted “a prompt and thorough investigation.”

The agency has declined to comment.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri state Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal has been fined $15,000 for violating federal campaign law in her 2016 primary challenge of U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay.

The Democrat from the St. Louis suburb of University City signed a “conciliation agreement” this summer with the Federal Election Commission admitting to accepting some contributions that exceeded legal limits.

The agreement also says after Chappelle-Nadal became a federal candidate in 2015, she disbursed more than $104,000 from her state campaign to state and local Missouri candidates, and to local Democratic chapters. Chappelle-Nadal said she wasn’t aware that she couldn’t use her state account in that way.

She described what happened as “an honest mistake” and said she was “helping a lot of people” that she wanted to get elected.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Overstock.com, an online retailer of surplus and new merchandise, plans to operate a large distribution center in Kansas City, Kansas, and employ more than 100 workers there.

The Utah-based company leased 517,000 square feet at a vacant distribution center. The company says the center will allow it to reach 99 percent of its U.S. customers with two-day shipping.

Overstock.com selected the area because another of several large online retailers that opened fulfillment and distribution centers in the Kansas City area in recent years.

Amazon has two fulfillment centers in Edgerton and Kansas City, Kansas. Pharmacy retailer CVS has a distribution center in Kansas City, Missouri.

Greg Kindle, president of the Wyandotte Economic Development Council, said the Overstock.com facility in KCK would pay better than average industry wages.

LINCOLN COUNTY, MO — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a woman on theft and abuse allegations.

On Monday, police were dispatched to Troy Family Practice for a drug offense. Upon arrival medical staff reported concerns of neglect and drug abuse relating to a patient, according to a media release.

Medical staff told officers they were treating a patient identified as CM (age 20) who is terminally ill and under the care of hospice and her primary care giver is her mother identified as 46-year-old Carol Ballweg.

Staff listed concerns regarding Ballweg not providing the patient pain medications. She had had been prescribed Fentanyl and Oxycodone for pain.

Medical staff had previously made numerous “hotline” calls regarding the daughter’s care. Staff had concerns regarding Ballweg’s requests for the above medications be filled earlier than should be required on several occasions.

Medical staff also advised an ongoing investigation by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) and provided the name of the investigator.

Due to the ongoing concerns  doctor requested a drug screen of the patient’s urine.

On September 7, the patient’s urine screen showed no signs of her prescribed medication in her system. At that time medical staff made the determination to no longer fill the prescriptions.
Medical staff also advised that the patient had developed bed sores, pictures of the sores were provided to officers.

Troy Officers made contact with DHSS investigators and confirmed there was an ongoing investigation regarding CM’s cares. DHSS investigators also stated they had received complaints from CM’s home health provider regarding the medication issues.

With this and additional information Troy Officers executed a search warrant at Ballweg’s address on September 11.

During the course of the investigation Ballweg admitted to having a addiction to opioids. Ballweg also confessed to taking her daughter’s oxycodone medication and using it herself.

On September 12,  Ballweg was charged with four (4) counts of Stealing a Controlled Substance and two (2) counts of Abuse of Elderly, Disabled, or Vulnerable Person. The Honorable Judge Allsberry set bond at $100,000 cash only and upon release is to have no contact with the victim.

 

 

 

 

 

TROY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri woman has been charged with stealing her terminally ill daughter’s pain medications.

Forty-six-year-old Carol Ballweg, of Troy, was charged Wednesday with four counts of stealing a controlled substance and two counts of abuse of a vulnerable person.

Police say Ballweg was the primary caregiver for her 20-year-old daughter who is in hospice care. Medical staff found bed sores on the daughter and began suspecting the daughter wasn’t being given the prescribed doses of fentanyl and oxycodone, so they tested her urine. Police say it showed no signs of the medications, even though Ballweg repeatedly requested refills ahead of schedule.

Police say Ballweg confessed to being addicted to opioids and using the medicine herself. Bond is set at $100,000. No attorney is listed for Ballweg in online court records.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers failed in a bid Wednesday to override several line-item budget vetoes affecting services for critically ill patients, troubled youths and the deaf after senators declined to challenge the decisions made by Gov. Mike Parson.

The House had voted by large margins Wednesday to override four of Parson’s budget vetoes totaling more than $785,000. But the effort later died in the Senate, which declined to vote on the measures.

The House override votes were somewhat unusual, because lawmakers don’t frequently override governors of their same party. Republicans hold two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate, though Senate Democrats picked up an additional member Wednesday when Rep. Lauren Arthur moved up following a June special election.

Parson is a Republican who previously served in the House and Senate and was lieutenant governor before taking over June 1 for Republican Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned while facing potential impeachment over allegations of sexual and political misconduct.

Parson said he was “pleased that Missouri’s fiscally responsible budget was upheld” by lawmakers. He also praised the House for voting Wednesday to pass new versions of the drug court and computer science legislation. Those bills are expected to be considered later this week in the Senate.

House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick said the override votes weren’t meant as a rebuke of Parson, but he added that some of the vetoes were “made with not enough information.”

“I have a lot of respect for the governor. He came into office at a very turbulent time and did not have much time to review the budget before he had to take action on it,” said Fitzpatrick, a Republican from Cassville.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Dan Brown, a Rolla Republican, urged colleagues not to override the governor. He said Parson’s administration assured him that the items either could be funded through existing budgets or resubmitted to lawmakers as supplemental spending requests during their regular session that begins in January.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Law enforcement has determined that an unknown, green granular substance sent in an envelope to a Missouri lawmaker earlier this year was rat poison.

Missouri Senate Administrator Patrick Baker on Wednesday said Capitol police determined the substance sent to Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal was rat poison after further review. Initial analysis suggested it contained a bacteria commonly found in pesticides.

Baker said investigators determined the package was mailed from a Springfield, Illinois post office. But Baker says police were unable to pull fingerprints or other forensic evidence from the package to help identify who sent it.

A Cole County hazmat team was called to the Capitol in April after a staff member for Chappelle-Nadal, a Democrat of University City, spotted the envelope.