KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A dog that disappeared from his southern California home and mysteriously wound up in Missouri has been reunited with his owner with the help of a Pony Express-style chain of cross-county volunteers.

The Bernese mountain dog, named Topper, was brought into the city shelter in July after a Kansas City police officer suffered a “minor bite” during an arrest. Topper’s microchip led staff to his owner, Tom Huffman of El Cajon, California.

He didn’t have the money to travel to Kansas City, so volunteers stepped up to help Topper make the 1,500 mile (2,400 kilometer) trip home.

Huffman’s mother, Roderica Huffman, said Tuesday that the family thought they’d never see Topper again. They suspect someone took Topper while a friend was watching him.

BUFFALO, Mo. (AP) — A Springfield man has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of a 2-year-old girl.

The Dallas County prosecutor charged 31-year-old Kenneth Davis on Tuesday with second-degree murder in the May death of Kinzlea Kilgore. He’s being held on $2 million bond.

An autopsy revealed the girl died of severe head trauma on May 12 from injuries she suffered at a home in Buffalo when Davis was the only person with her.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that Davis was the boyfriend of the girl’s mother.

Court documents say Davis told police the girl was injured after falling out of a pickup truck but investigators say the evidence didn’t match that explanation.

Davis is in jail in Greene County on charges of abusing a different child in June.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers are recommending a review of the state’s privatized child welfare model to determine whether it’s in the state’s best interest.

The Child Welfare System Task Force received the request Monday from two working groups created to examine the system of programs operated within the Kansas Department for Children and Families.

Kansas enacted the privatized model in 1996 as part of a settlement in a case that said the child welfare system at the time violated the constitutional rights of children in state custody.

The model directs the department to contract with outside nonprofits to manage placing children into homes. There are currently more than 7,000 children in the state’s foster care system waiting to be reunited with their families or placed with adoptive parents. Many have experienced abuse and neglect.

Some lawmakers have said privatization makes it difficult for the state to properly oversee the child welfare system, which has been scrutinized in recent years because of children who died in state custody.

Department Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel said the agency’s challenges aren’t due to privatization.

“I think what you see now is the result of a very stressed system that wasn’t built to handle the number of children we currently have in out-of-home care,” Meier-Hummel said. “And we haven’t been doing the prevention services that we need to be doing. So I think if we make wiser investments in the front to help preserve families, then the private system can do what it needs to do.”

It may be time to re-examine the privatized system, said Sen. Laura Kelly, a task force member and the Democratic gubernatorial nominee.

“I think we need to take a look at it,” she said. “Clearly that’s a huge part of the child welfare system as we do it in Kansas today, and I assumed that would be part of how we would go forward.”

The task force is expected to make final recommendations to the Legislature at the end of the year.

NEOSHO COUNTY – On Monday morning, Aug. 27, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) assisted the Neosho County Sheriff’s Office with the processing and recovery of huma skeletal remains located near the intersection of Ford Road and 50^th Road in Neosho County, Kan, according to a media release.

A farmer who was mowing in the area located the remains. The remains were taken to the Shawnee County Coroner’s office for examination. Identification of the remains is pending.

The investigation is being treated as a suspicious death and is currently ongoing. If you have any information, please contact the Neosho County Sheriff’s Office or call 1-800-KSCRIME.

 

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A Mexican citizen who has been deported four times, Jorge Carrillo-Hernandez, 36, was sentenced Monday to 57 months in federal prison for unlawfully returning to the United States, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Carrillo-Hernandez,  was also sentenced to an additional term of 24 months in prison, to be served consecutively, because he was still on supervised release in another case when he unlawfully returned.

Records filed in court prior to his sentencing showed that between 2003 and 2013, he was convicted of aggravated assault, aggravated battery, domestic battery, three times for driving under the influence, and twice in federal court for unlawful re-entry following deportation subsequent to convictions for aggravated felonies.

In the present case, he came to the attention of Immigration and Customs Enforcement after his fourth arrest for DUI in April 2017.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A woman accused of intentionally driving into the Kansas River with her children in the car will stand trial on first-degree murder and attempted murder charges.

A mental evaluation of 26-year-old Scharron Dingledine, of Columbia, Missouri, found she was mentally competent to stand trial.

Dingledine made a brief video appearance in Douglas County District Court Tuesday to learn the results of the examination. Her attorney, Carol Cline, said she would not contest the evaluation results.

She is accused of driving into the Kansas River near Lawrence in August, killing her 5-year-old daughter and critically injuring her 1-year-old son. Children’s Mercy Hospital said Tuesday his condition has been upgraded to serious.

Dingledine’s next court appearance is Oct. 2. She remains in custody on $1 million bond.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A southwest Missouri man who had employees dump grease from his grease-recycling business into a river has admitted violating the Clean Water Act.

Federal prosecutors say 51-year-old Brian Dale Fleming, of Cabool, pleaded guilty Tuesday to knowingly discharging a pollutant into the Big Piney River without a permit.

Fleming owns BF Byproducts in Cabool. It collects used grease from hundreds of restaurants in Missouri, Arkansas and elsewhere. The grease is recycled for resale at the Cabool plant.

Prosecutors say Fleming directed employees to pump waste grease down a hill near the processing plant, where it entered a tributary that flows into the Big Piney.

Federal and local authorities searched the business in April 2015 after numerous residents complained about grease being found in ditches and tributaries near the river.

JEWELL COUNTY – Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) agents are investigating the shooting of two Jewell County sheriff’s deputies which occurred Tuesday morning at the Sheriff’s Office in Mankato, Kan.

Preliminary information indicates that on Aug. 28 at approximately 7:52 a.m., a male subject, identified as Jason L. Whitson, 40, of Mankato, entered the Sheriff’s Office. He walked up to the dispatch desk and requested to talk to a deputy. As a sheriff’s deputy approached to speak with him, Whitson fired multiple times through a door that led into the dispatch room. Two deputies were injured during the shooting. No law enforcement officers discharged their firearms.

Whitson then fled the Sheriff’s Office. Since he was recognized by personnel at the Sheriff’s Office, law enforcement immediately began to locate him and the vehicle they assumed he would be driving.

At approximately 8:45 a.m., a Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) trooper spotted Whitson’s vehicle and pursued him Eastbound on US-24 Highway. When the vehicle was just south of Minneapolis, Kan., an adult female and five minor children were allowed to exit. Whitson then continued onto US-81 Highway where law enforcement used a maneuver that forced the vehicle to stop.

Once the vehicle was stopped, KHP Troopers approached it and found him suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No law enforcement officers at this scene discharged their firearms.

EMS responded and transported Whitson to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Both Sheriff’s deputies are expected to recover from their injuries. One deputy has been released from a local hospital. The second deputy remains at a Salina hospital, but is out of surgery and is now in stable condition.

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JEWELL COUNTY —Following the shooting of 2 deputies at the Law enforcement center in Mankato, Kansas Highway Patrol began a search in surrounding counties for the suspect Jason Whitson, according to a statement from the KHP.

At 8:46 a.m. troopers encountered the suspect’s eastbound vehicle on U.S. 24 near Glasco. The suspect continued eastbound at approximately 70-miles per hour.

At 9:09 a.m. just south of Minneapolis, the suspect stopped the vehicle in the road and let out passengers and continued southbound on U.S. 81, according to the release.

At 9:11 a.m. a trooper conducted a tactical vehicle intervention on the suspect vehicle. The driver lost control of the vehicle and stopped on the roadway. Troopers located the suspect in the vehicle with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the release. He was transported to the hospital in Salina for treatment.

One deputy was expected to be released from the hospital after treatment. The other deputy was in surgery, according to a statement from the Jewell County Clerk’s office.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is in charge of the investigation.

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JEWELL COUNTY —The suspect wanted for shooting two deputies at the Jewell County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday is in custody and hospitalized in Salina with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

The suspect was taken into custody in Ottawa County.

I’m praying for a full recovery for the two Jewell County deputies shot in the line of duty earlier this morning. We appreciate the service rendered by all law enforcement officers, and thank them for their bravery. #ksleg

— Governor Jeff Colyer (@GovJeffColyer) August 28, 2018

Authorities have released few additional details.

The suspect identified as Jason Whitson allegedly shot two deputies at the Jewell County Sheriff’s office early Tuesday in the 300 Block of North Commercial in Mankato, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.

Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan said Tuesday that both Saline County Sheriff’s deputies and Salina Police were prepared to keep Whitson from driving into Salina. Soldan said that Sheriff’s deputies were blocking exits at U.S. 81 and K 143 and at the intersection of Interstate 135 and Interstate 70. Salina Police covered the Ninth Street exit of Interstate 70 and the State Street and Crawford Street exits on Interstate 135.

“Our thoughts are with the deputies who were shot and the Jewell County Sheriff’s office,” Soldan added.

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JEWELL COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are searching for a man who allegedly shot two deputies at the Jewell County Sheriff’s office Tuesday morning in the 300 Block of North Commercial in Mankato, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.

The suspect identified as Jason Whitson, according to the KHP fled the shooting scene.

Whitson is described as bald, has multiple tattoos and was wearing a black hat and shirt. He may be driving a 2002 Ford Windstar with Kansas Tag 729 JFG. He is considered armed and dangerous. If you see him call 911.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Authorities have arrested a man who is accused of stealing a patrol car in Kansas City, Missouri, and fleeing into Kansas City, Kansas.

Police in Kansas City, Missouri, said in a news release that an officer first approached the man because he had been spotted walking in traffic. The release says that while the officer was trying to determine whether the man needed help, he jumped into the officer’s patrol car and fled.

Police pursued the vehicle into Kansas City, Kansas, where the man drove onto a road that was under construction. The release says the man then got out the car and ran from it before being taken into custody nearby. No one was hurt.