JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Missouri Legislature has passed a bill requiring school districts that teach sex education to include information about sexual violence, sexual harassment and consent.

The bill, approved by the House in a 127-19 vote Tuesday, would also provide subsidies for people taking a high school equivalency test for the first time, require that school districts notify parents if their child’s data was breached and would place an active teacher on the state education board.

It would also expand some students’ access to braille education.

Proponents say these and other provisions will help schools serve a broader swath of students.

Some lawmakers expressed concern that the changes could cost more than $1 million a year.

Bills can become law either through the governor’s signature or his inaction.

KANSAS CITY – A Texas man was convicted by a federal trial jury Tuesday for his role in an elaborate, multi-million-dollar fraud scheme in which conspirators impersonated North Kansas City-based Cerner Corporation in business and legal activities, according to a media release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Mitta was the chief technology officer (CTO) for several related entities owned and operated by Albert Davis, 57, also of Richardson. Conspirators engaged in a scheme to use Cerner Corporation’s reputation and standing in the medical field to manipulate business transactions and court proceedings in their favor. Multiple victims suffered millions of dollars in losses from Aug. 25, 2008, to Feb. 19, 2015.

Criminal conduct involved perjured testimony, doctored trial exhibits, a manipulated multi-million dollar civil verdict, the use of fake people with fake email accounts, impersonated companies, fake business documents and a phalanx of over 70 entities with more than 50 bank accounts.

Davis, who pleaded guilty to leading the conspiracy in a separate but related case, was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison on April 24, 2017. The court also ordered Davis to pay $19,151,555 in restitution to the victims of his fraud scheme. Four additional co-conspirators (in separate but related cases) also have pleaded guilty and been sentenced.

In order to impersonate Cerner Corporation, Conspirators created a fake Cerner business entity for a similarly-named company, Cerner, LLC. Conspirators opened a fake Cerner bank account, registered a fake Cerner Internet domain and leased virtual office space for a fake Cerner address in Kansas City, Mo. They created fictitious employees from Cerner Corporation – including both fictitious identities and impersonating actual employees – to communicate with others. Conspirators fabricated documents, price quotes, agreements and invoices, which were all made to appear to be authentic Cerner Corporation documents, when they were not.

Conspirators impersonated Cerner Corporation in the fraudulent sale of a purported newly developed MRI system to Dallas Medical Center (DMC), which paid over $1 million to what they believed was Cerner Corporation, but which turned out to be nothing more than one of Davis’ shell companies.

Evidence introduced during the trial indicated that Mitta, impersonating a Cerner employee, represented himself as the company’s senior physicist in meetings with the president of DMC and their attorneys.

When DMC was not acting quickly enough on the deal, conspirators created fake e-mail accounts for prominent cardiologists in Dallas. Conspirators then used these fake email accounts to draft e-mails, which stated that these cardiologists could not wait to get the MRI system at DMC. Conspirators then forwarded these e-mails to DMC, which created the impression of demand for the system at DMC. Conspirators also provided “references” for DMC to check, which turned out to be more fake doctors and co-conspirators playing the role of satisfied business partners.

Conspirators provided false and misleading information and testimony during the litigation of several lawsuits. The false and misleading testimony was regarding business deals where the conspirators had impersonated Cerner Corporation.

For example, when Dallas Medical Center learned of the fraud, Davis sued them (iHeart Care DMC Holdings, LLC. v. Dallas Medical Center, LLC., et al., Cause No. 13-09460, in Dallas County, Texas). Davis, Mitta, and others then provided false testimony in depositions in the resulting lawsuit.

According to court documents, the Dallas Medical Center scheme was just a sliver of the fraud Davis, Mitta and their co-conspirators committed.

In another example, conspirators brought a lawsuit against Korean company ISOL Technology. After testifying falsely about business dealings with Cerner Corporation and offering fake exhibits to support his claim of damages, conspirators received a jury award of $24 million in the 2014 trial in LBDS Holding Company, LLC v. ISOL Technology, Inc., et al., Case No. 6:11-CV-428-LED, in the Eastern District of Texas. When the fraud was discovered, attorneys for ISOL Technology filed an emergency motion for sanctions against LBDS (Davis’ company).

In addition to impersonating Cerner Corporation, conspirators used additional e-mail accounts to impersonate business entities and physicians in order to send communications designed to manipulate others in business transactions.

Additionally, conspirators solicited investments using fabricated communications and documents from entities they created, including the entity created to impersonate Cerner Corporation. Those misrepresentations included false financial documents, altered MRI images and false claims that used MRI systems were newly developed technology. Conspirators solicited millions of dollars in investments from physicians and other investors.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., deliberated for about two hours before returning the guilty verdict to U.S. Chief District Judge Greg Kays, ending a trial that began Monday, May 7, 2018.

Under federal statutes, Mitta is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – A federal judge has sentenced a Missouri woman to 19 years in prison after what prosecutors called a four-state state crime spree that ended when her boyfriend was killed in a shoot-out with police.

U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala sentenced 32-year-old Brittany Nicole Harper of Joplin, Missouri, on Tuesday. Harper pleaded guilty to carjacking, transporting a stolen vehicle across state lines, conspiracy and brandishing a gun.

Authorities say Harper was involved in a 10-day crime spree that began in Missouri and went through Alabama and Georgia before ending in Florida. Prosecutors said she and her partner stole cars, burglarized a home and kidnapped two people during carjackings.

The crimes ended Feb. 5, 2016, when Harper’s boyfriend, Blake Fitzgerald, was killed during a shootout with police in Milton, Florida.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – Prosecutors say a former Springfield YMCA employee has been sentenced for receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says in a news release that 28-year-old Benjamin Goodwin of Springfield was sentenced to 10 years and one month in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced him to 10 years of supervised release after he serves his prison term.

Goodwin had been employed as a childcare worker at the Springfield YMCA at the time of the offense. He had worked at the YMCA for more than a decade and also worked as a special education paraprofessional.

A forensic examination recovered dozens of message exchanges with others, including a picture Goodwin transmitted of one of the children he had supervised at the YMCA.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – Police say a Missouri woman who was shot in the head identified her boyfriend as the shooter before slipping into a coma.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that 28-year-old Ronald Collins was charged Monday with first-degree assault, kidnapping and armed criminal action.

A probable cause statement says Collins told Webster County deputies he had been arguing with his girlfriend on their way to a concert in Springfield. Deputies say Collins alleged he pointed a gun at his girlfriend when she tried jumping out of a vehicle. Collins alleges the gun went off when his girlfriend grabbed it.

Webster County Sheriff Roye Cole says the woman identified Collins as the shooter using finger signs before being placed into a medically induced coma.

Collins is being held on a $250,000 bond.

Collins’ attorney didn’t immediately respond to a phone message from the Associated Press.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens no longer faces a felony charge stemming from an extramarital affair, but a legislative panel signaled Tuesday that it’s pushing forward with its own expanded investigation into a variety of allegations against the Republican governor.

The House investigatory panel, which already has released scathing reports about Greitens’ affair and his political use of a charity donor list, decided to call a Greitens policy aide as a witness and to issue subpoenas related to a potential attempt to funnel money from secret donors to Greitens’ 2016 gubernatorial campaign.

The Legislature is to convene in a monthlong special session Friday to consider whether to initiate impeachment proceedings to try to remove Greitens from office. Legislative leaders said those plans remain unchanged, despite a decision Monday by St. Louis prosecutors to drop a felony invasion-of-privacy charge alleging Greitens took a revealing and unauthorized photo of a woman with whom he acknowledged having an affair in 2015.

The St. Louis circuit attorney’s office said it still plans to pursue the case, either through a special prosecutor or an appointed assistant. But Greitens’ attorneys said the case was crumbling under a lack of evidence and doubted any charge would be refiled.

Greitens remains charged with a second felony in St. Louis for allegedly disclosing a donor list of The Mission Continues to his political fundraiser without the permission of the St. Louis-based veterans’ charity he founded. No trial date has been set.

Previous reports from the House investigatory committee showed Greitens was consulting and paying political aides in 2014, well before he officially established a political fundraising committee in February 2015. State law says committees are to be formed when candidates raise or spend over $500.

The House panel released a document Tuesday showing political consultant Michael Hafner had advised Greitens about ways to create an exploratory or candidate committee in December 2014.

It also released a memo written in July 2016 by Will Scharf, who now is Greitens’ policy director but at the time was working for Greitens’ GOP primary rival Catherine Hanaway. The memo described the creation of two obscure limited liability companies, apparently “to channel contributions to the Greitens campaign from an anonymous donor or donors.” The panel voted to call Scharf as a witness and subpoena information about the companies.

The prosecutor’s surprise move Monday to drop a felony charge against Greitens came after the third day of jury selection in his trial.

“This is a great victory and it has been a long time coming,” Greitens told reporters outside the courthouse. “This experience has been humbling and I have emerged from it a changed man.”

The decision came after a court ruled that St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner had to provide a statement under oath at the request of Greitens’ attorneys, who had repeatedly criticized her handling of the case. Greitens’ defense team had accused Gardner of allowing private investigator William Tisaby, whom she hired, to commit perjury and withhold evidence from defense attorneys.

Missouri’s rules of professional conduct prohibit attorneys from litigating a case in which they have been called as a witness.

Greitens’ attorney Ed Dowd said his team of lawyers will be filing a report Tuesday with St. Louis police about the alleged perjury by Tisaby for “lying about his methods and the evidence he collected.”

“This misconduct must be investigated,” Dowd said in a statement. “I have a lot of confidence in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, and I am sure they will get to the bottom of the misdeeds and illegal activity in this case.”

Tisaby repeatedly cited the U.S. Constitution’s protection against self-incrimination while declining to testify in a deposition as part of Greitens’ pre-trial procedures.

Gardner spokeswoman Susan Ryan told The Associated Press: “We will refile charges or ask a special prosecutor to do so.”

Greitens, 44, was charged with felony invasion of privacy for allegedly taking and transmitting a photo of an at least partially nude woman without her permission on March 21, 2015. If convicted, Greitens could have faced up to four years in prison. Greitens has declined to directly answer questions about whether he took the photo.

SHAWNEE COUNTY— Investigators determined unattended cooking is the likely cause of a deadly house fire in northeast Topeka.

Just after midnight Tuesday fire crews responded to the fire at a one-story, wooden-framed house, according to a media release.

First-arriving crews reported the house was fully involved in flames. The fire appeared to have done the most damage on its back side.

The male victim, who wasn’t immediately identified, was found inside the residence, according to Topeka Fire Department Shift Commander Dan Macke.

Ammunition was stored inside the residence. The home also had a lot of clutter inside, according to Macke.

Fire crews stayed at the scene several hours after the blaze.

The blaze caused an estimated $75,000 in damage.

Topeka Fire Marshal Mike Martin says working smoke alarms weren’t present in the house.

—————

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say one person is dead following an overnight fire in northeast Topeka.

The blaze was called in at 12:08 a.m. Tuesday at a one-story, wooden-framed house.

Topeka Fire Department Shift Commander Dan Macke says that first-arriving crews reported the house was fully involved in flames. The fire appeared to have done the most damage on its back side.

The victim, who wasn’t immediately identified, was found inside the residence

Macke says ammunition was stored inside the residence. The home also had a lot of clutter inside.

Fire crews stayed at the scene several hours after the blaze.

Topeka fire investigators were called to determine the cause of the fire.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer and a group of fellow governors are backing President Donald Trump’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing what they called Trump’s “transformative efforts to bring peace to the Korean peninsula.”

In a letter this week to Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Berit Reiss-Andersen, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and six fellow governors wrote that Trump’s “firm stance against nuclearization, coupled with his willingness to engage one-on-one with Pyongyang, has succeeded in opening new avenues of cooperation, friendship and unity between the two Koreas – and the rest of the world.”

The letter follows one from 18 U.S. House Republicans, who earlier this month formally nominated Trump for the award amid preparations for a historic summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has also promoted the idea, sending an email encouraging supporters to “Nominate President Trump to Win the Nobel Peace Prize” by adding their name to a list.

McMaster was an early Trump supporter in the 2016 election, formally backing him ahead of South Carolina’s first-in-the-South primary. Then the state’s lieutenant governor, the longtime South Carolina politician became governor when Trump picked then-Gov. Nikki Haley as his U.N. ambassador.

Trump is backing McMaster in next month’s five-way South Carolina GOP primary. The president appeared at an October fundraiser, and McMaster has featured footage from that event prominently in his television ads.

Other signatories to the governors’ letter include Guam Gov. Eddie Baza Calvo; Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant; Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey; West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice; and Maine Gov. Paul LePage.