MONTGOMERY COUNTY – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, the Independence Police Department, and the Coffeyville Police Department made numerous arrests Wednesday following a two-month-long joint investigation into the distribution of illegal drugs, according to a media release.

With the assistance of the Montgomery County Attorney’s Office, arrest warrants were issued and executed Aug. 29 in several locations in Montgomery County. The arrests were made for suspected distribution of drugs such as methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana, as well as for several additional drug related crimes.

The subjects were booked into the Montgomery County Jail.

Arrested during this operation were:
Junior L. Chrisman, 66, Coffeyville, for Distribution of Methamphetamine

Michelle M. Church, 48, Coffeyville, for Distribution of Methamphetamine
Marquis J. Fulcher, 35, Coffeyville, for Distribution of Methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of school property

Karie E. Wilson, 43, Independence, Distribution of Methamphetamine
Karina V. Wilson, 19, Independence, Distribution of Methamphetamine
Stacy L. Isle, 45, Coffeyville, for Distribution of Methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of school property

Lacrecia M. Hart, 29, Coffeyville, for Distribution of Methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of school property
James H. Jones Jr., 46, Coffeyville, for Distribution of Cocaine

 

Authorities have outstanding arrest warrants for the following subjects related to the operation:
Chris L. Bridgeman, 33, Independence, for Distribution of Marijuana
Grant E. Kinzer, 53, Coffeyville, for Distribution of Methamphetamine
Carrie E. Walker, 32, Coffeyville, for Distribution of Methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of school property
Justin W. Carpenter, 33, Coffeyville, Distribution of Methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of school property
Rhonda R. Johnson, 52, Coffeyville, Distribution of Cocaine within 1,000 feet of school property

If anyone knows the whereabouts of these individuals, please contact the KBI at 1-800-KS-CRIME, or the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at 620-330-1000.

The joint operation represented a coordinated law enforcement effort to combat drug violence and reduce the accessibility of illegal drugs impacting southeast Kansas. This investigation is ongoing and additional arrests are expected.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by The Satanic Temple against Missouri abortion laws, but there still are two pending lawsuits that could revive the complaints.

Judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit upheld a lower court’s dismissal of the lawsuit, which dealt with Missouri’s “informed consent” counseling that is required 72 hours before abortions are performed.

The judges in a unanimous ruling wrote that they tossed the lawsuit because the woman at the center of the case was not pregnant when she sued and consequently “lacks constitutional standing.”

Missouri law requires doctors providing abortions to give women a booklet that says “the life of each human being begins at conception,” offer them an ultrasound and give them an opportunity to hear the fetal heartbeat.

The Satanic Temple and an anonymous member who had an abortion sued the state in 2015 over the laws, which they alleged violated their religious beliefs. Satanic Temple members don’t believe in a literal Satan but see the biblical Satan as a metaphor for rebellion against tyranny.

In the anonymous woman’s original complaint, she said she believes that “a woman’s body is inviolable and subject to her will alone” and that she makes health decisions based on “the best scientific understanding of the world, even if the science does not comport with the religious or political beliefs of others.”

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley spokeswoman Mary Compton in a Wednesday statement said the office will “continue to vigorously defend Missouri’s sensible waiting period law.”

Satanic Temple Co-Founder Lucien Greaves in a statement said he views the Tuesday dismissal “as a mere prelude to victory.”

There still are two similar lawsuits brought by members of The Satanic Temple against Missouri abortion laws that are pending in state and federal court. Plaintiffs in both those cases were pregnant when they filed the lawsuits.

James MacNaughton, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said the “proper disposition” would be for judges to address the merits of The Satanic Temple arguments in those cases. He said judges “clearly decided to take a pass” on the case before the 8th Circuit.

“I’m disappointed that the court did not have the wisdom to step up and address the issues because they are significant and substantial issues and not deserving of being swept under the rug by being ignored,” MacNaughton said.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A teachers union has endorsed Democratic Sen. Laura Kelly in her bid for Kansas governor, casting her as an ally to education and warning her opponents will hurt schools.

The National Education Association’s Kansas chapter released a list Tuesday of recommended candidates for statewide, congressional and legislative races. The chapter said it evaluated the candidates through interviews and by reviewing their voting record.

Kelly has supported efforts to comply with state Supreme Court orders and provide adequate public school funding. Lawmakers lowered school funding in response to the 2008 economic recession and struggled to balance the budget after former Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax policy.

“I’m not new to the struggle educators and students have endured in recent years,” Kelly said. “I have fought against policies that put the interests of a select few ahead of the promise of opportunity for every Kansas student. Throughout my career, I have stood with our teachers and the professionals who are closest to our students in the classroom.”

Her Republican opponent, Secretary of State Kris Kobach, opposed a plan lawmakers passed this year to phase in a $522 million increase over the next five years. Kobach has supported a constitutional amendment that would get rid of the high court’s authority to decide whether funding is adequate. He also wants a mandate requiring that 75 percent of all education funding be spent in the classroom.

The Kansas National Education Association “is not looking out for the interests of teachers,” said Kobach spokeswoman Danedri Hebert. “Secretary Kobach’s proposal to spend 75 cents of every education dollar in the classroom would result in more money being spent on teacher salaries and less money being spent on redundant administrators.”

Critics of Kobach’s proposal have said he’s blurring the line between state funding and bonds that local taxpayers approve for construction projects. The proposal would also lead to cuts in areas like transportation, counseling and food to meet the 75 percent goal, according to critics.

Multiple KNEA members are Republican, said union spokesman Marcus Baltzell. But he said many Republican candidates declined to answer questions, contributing to the disparity between parties for recommended candidates.

“It’s not about partisanship one way or the other,” Baltzell said. “It’s about who stood up for Kansas children.”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say in court filings that the U.S. Coast Guard found probable cause that the captain of a tourist boat that sank in Missouri, killing 17 people, committed misconduct, negligence or was inattentive to his duties.

The U.S. attorney’s office also said in motions filed Wednesday that the captain of a second duck boat that made it safely to shore when a storm came up on Table Rock Lake near Branson July 19 acted in a “grossly negligent manner” that day. The filing doesn’t elaborate on the allegations.

In the motion, federal prosecutors are asking the federal court based in Kansas City to delay the discovery process in any lawsuits filed against the operators of the Ride the Ducks tours until the criminal investigation is completed.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas judge says crews can begin tearing down a 17-story waterslide on which a 10-year-old boy was decapitated when his raft went airborne.

Wyandotte County District Court Judge Robert Burns said Wednesday that the preservation of the Verruckt slide “traumatizes everyone.”

The 2016 death of Caleb Schwab at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City, Kansas, led to criminal charges against the company that built the slide and five people, including Schlitterbahn’s co-owner.

Delays in taking down the slide had stemmed from disagreements over which parts should be preserved as possible evidence.

Attorneys representing the owners of Schlitterbahn said preliminary deconstruction of Verruckt will start soon. The visible slide will likely start to come down by Nov. 1.

CRANE, Mo. (AP) — A southwest Missouri man is charged with rape or attempted rape after authorities say he raped two mentally handicapped women at Ozark Mountain Regional Healthcare.

Stone County authorities say 43-year-old Paul Christianson, of Crane, committed the crimes while working at the center in Crane.

Christianson was arrested Aug. 24 after one of the victims was interviewed. Court documents indicate he admitted to having intercourse and committing other sex crimes with two females at the residential home between June and August 2018. Investigators say the women’s diminished mental capacity prevented them from being able to consent.

During an arraignment hearing Tuesday, Christianson’s bond was set at $100,000, cash only.

Online court records do not name an attorney for Christianson.

TOPEKA, KAN. – An architect who worked for Payless ShoeSource was sentenced Tuesday to 21 months in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $425,000 in restitution for defrauding the company, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Manuel Francisco Ruiz-Lacayo, 38, Lawrence, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. In his plea, he admitted the crime occurred while he worked for Payless as a project manager for store planning. His work included designing exteriors and interior floor plans for new stores in Central and South America. He coordinated with Ordonez Architecture and Construction in Bogata, Columbia, and Christian Heins Finkenstaedt in Barranquilla, Columbia, on the projects.

Without the knowledge of his employer, Ruiz-Lacayo told the contractors that 3D renderings of storefronts were required for all projects. He told them to use a firm he said was located in Costa Rica. In fact, the address he gave them was his mother’s and no renderings were produced. Ruiz-Lacayo submitted invoices from the fictitious firm to Payless for payment.

By DAN MARGOLIES

Kansas has joined 15 other states in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that it’s legal to fire people for being transgender.

Last week, the 16 states filed a friend-of-the-court briefurging the court to overturn a federal appeals court’s decision that it was illegal for a Michigan funeral home to terminate an employee who was transitioning from male to female. The appeals court ruled that Aimee Stephens’ firing violated Title VII’s prohibition against discrimination based on sex.

The facts of the case before the Supreme Court are not in dispute. After working for six years as a funeral director at R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes in Detroit, Stephens told the funeral home’s owner that she was a transgender woman and planned to dress accordingly.

The owner, a devout Baptist who believed that God created males and females in the traditional biological sense, told her that was unacceptable and fired her. Stephens filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which sued the funeral home for sex discrimination.

The EEOC takes the position that Title VII’s prohibition of sex discrimination forbids any employment discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

But a federal judge dismissed the EEOC’s complaint. While he agreed it had proven sex discrimination, he ruled the owner’s religious beliefs would be burdened under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The EEOC appealed and earlier this year the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, finding that gender identity discrimination is a form of sex discrimination prohibited under Title VII.

Kansas and the other states contend that “sex” denotes biological status, and the Sixth Circuit’s ruling “erases all common, ordinary understandings of the term ‘sex’ in Title VII and expands it to include ‘gender identity’ and ‘transgender’ status.”

“In doing so,” says the brief, written by the Nebraska attorney general’s office, “the lower court rewrites Title VII in a way never intended or implemented by Congress” when it passed Title VII as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who signed the brief, declined KCUR’s interview request. But his spokeswoman, Jennifer Montgomery, emailed a statement saying that his office has “consistently argued for a narrow interpretation of the term ‘sex’ in Title VII and Title IX because of the state’s interest in limiting the taxpayers’ exposure in potential future lawsuits.”

“It is within Congress’ authority to expand the scope of these laws, but to date Congress has not chosen to do so,” Montgomery added. “Whether to change these laws is for the people’s elected representatives to decide and not the courts.”

That’s been Kansas’ position since Sam Brownback became governor. In 2015, Brownback rescinded an executive order by former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius that offered protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender state employees. The current governor, Jeff Colyer, has said harassment and discrimination are not acceptable in his administration but has not reinstated Sebelius’ executive order.

“It’s just sad that in this day and age we still live in a world where people have to conform to these archaic notions of what it means to be male or female and not have to fit into those arbitrary, decidedly constructed boxes,” said Stephanie Mott, president and executive director of the Kansas Statewide Transgender Education Project.

The question of whether federal sex discrimination laws apply to transgender people has been taken up by numerous federal courts over the last 20 or so years. The majority have ruled that the laws do apply.  The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Kansas, is one of the few courts to rule otherwise.

In a 2007 decision, it upheld a lower court decision finding that federal laws prohibiting sex discrimination do not protect transgender people.

“The majority of the judges who have encountered this issue have said this has to do with sex and so it’s covered by the sex discrimination aspects of Title VII,” said Mark P. Johnson, an attorney in the Kansas City office of the Dentons law firm.

Johnson said the minority of courts seems to view the prohibition against sex discrimination as applying to one sex or another and not to someone who’s transitioning.

“Their argument appears to be that if Congress wanted to cover this sort of third status, if you will, then it would have written the law that way either originally or amended it,” Johnson said.

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