A St Joseph firefighter is being held without bail in the Buchanan County Jail charged with arranging to meet a 15 year old for sex.

A complaint filed Thursday charges Jeremy Wigchert with Attempted Rape in the First Degree.  A judge ruled Wigchert presents a danger to the child victim and denied bail.

The St Joseph Fire Department placed Wigchert, 26, on administrative leave. Mr Wigchert is a resident of Kansas City, and has been with the department for about a year.

According to court documents, Mr Wigchert allegedly arranged to meet a 15-year-old for sex. The suspect allegedly used sexually-explicit emails to set up the meeting.  The probable cause affidavit asserts that the suspect was “aware the child victim was 15.”

Online court documents do not yet reflect a scheduled first court appearance or a defense attorney in the case.

Wigchert, also was employed as a part-time LPN at Mosaic Life Care at Shoal Creek, Urgent Care. Since Mr. Wigchert was hired in April of 2015, Mosaic Life Care said it has received no indications or reports of misconduct during his employment with the organization.

Here’s the latest forecast from the National Weather Service.

Friday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 41. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 9 mph in the morning.

Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 24. South wind 5 to 8 mph becoming northwest after midnight.

Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 46. Northwest wind 6 to 9 mph becoming south southwest in the afternoon.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 30. South wind 7 to 9 mph becoming west after midnight.

Sunday: Partly sunny, with a high near 46. Breezy.

Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 28. Blustery.

Monday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 33. Breezy.

Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 17. Blustery.

Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 33.

Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 21.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 40.

Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 23.

Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 46.

Formal charges were filed Thursday against a 36-year-old St Joe man accused of holding police at bay for several hours at his home on Faraon Street Tuesday.

Emil CW Johnson is charged with resisting arrest and assault of a law enforcement officer.

Police went to his house at 2620 1/2 Faraon Tuesday afternoon to the report of a domestic disturbance.  When they arrived, police determined that Mr Johnson had an outstanding arrest warrant.

He refused to come out, and according to police threatened to harm officers.  The standoff that followed lasted about five hours.  Johnson emerged from the house after officers deployed tear gas.

He was suffering from a serious gunshot wound, which police say was self-inflicted.  He was taken to Mosaic Life Care for treatment.

Court records do not list a date for his first court appearance or bail on the new charges.

 

More than 200 people attended the United Way of Greater St. Joseph’s Centennial Annual meeting Thursday.

The event officially released the 2015 United Way Annual Report and included the first official United Way Board meeting of the year.  The event was held Thursday afternoon at Missouri Western’s Fulkerson Center. This year’s Annual Meeting highlighted United Way’s progress over the past year and kicked off a year celebrating the 100-year anniversary emphasizing caring doesn’t grow old.

The 570-plus people who volunteered their time through United Way in 2015 were thanked. Special guests for the event included 20 Lafayette High School freshmen and Colgan Center students participating in United Way BEST (Business and Education Succeed Together), a program of United Way Profit In Education^©.

Special award winners were announced:2015 Spirit of Community Award (honoring one exemplary business each year for outstanding community service and support of United Way)-Altec Industries, Inc;2015 Outstanding Partner Award (honoring one area business or organization each year that has shown an exceptional history of partnership with United Way)- American Family Mutual Insurance Company; and the 2015 Outstanding Volunteer Award (honoring exemplary volunteers each year for outstanding volunteer service through United Way)-Dennis Rosonke.

Retiring United Way Board members: Mike Murphy and Dr. Robert Vartabedian.

Volunteers who led United Way committees in 2015: Rita Boyer, Community Volunteer Resource Network Chair; Debra Bradley, Leadership St. Joseph Steering Committee Chair; Tom Burke, Profit In Education^© Council Co-Chair; Pat Dillon, Success By 6® Partners Team Chair;  Shawn Drew, Volunteer Center Advisory Committee Chair; Jason Horn, Campaign Chair; Steve Johnston, Marketing Committee Chair; Roger Martin, Funding Model Review Team Chair and Board Chair; Brad McAnally, Nominating Committee Chair; Bob Pritchett, Community Investment

Co-Chair; Dennis Rosonke, Finance Committee Chair; Tara Stoll, Video Subcommittee Chair; Seth Wright, Community Initiatives Chair; Mark Wyble, Community Investment Co-Chair; and Betty Wymore, Profit In Education^©Council Co-Chair.

 At the meeting, Brandt Shields and Adam Stein were elected to the United Way Board, and the following Board members were elected for a second, three-year term: Eric Bradley, George Clinton, Jason Grayson, Steve Johnston,Scott Murphy, LaVell Rucker, Michele Thomason, and Julie Woods.

2016 United Way Board officers elected at the meeting are: David Cripe, Chair; Debra Bradley, Vice Chair; Tom Burke, Secretary; and  Bob Pritchett, Treasurer.

A former Weston, Mo., couple and two men from New Hampshire and Maryland have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in a $2.25 million conspiracy to sell anabolic steroids over the Internet.

Aaron Vincent Schweidler, 31, and Nicole R. Lyne, 26, both of Smithfield, N.C., formerly of Weston; Michael G. Peters, 27, of Pelham, N.H.; and Samuel C. Miller IV, 29, of Annapolis, Md., were charged in a nine-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. That indictment was unsealed and made public today upon the arrests of Lyne and Schweidler in Smithfield and of Peters in Boston, Mass. Miller remains a fugitive from justice.

The federal indictment alleges that Lyne, Schweidler, Peters and Miller participated in a conspiracy to manufacture and distribute anabolic steroids, a conspiracy to commit money laundering and a conspiracy to commit debit card fraud. The four co-defendants are also charged with three counts of debit card fraud and three counts of aggravated identity theft.

The indictment alleges the conspiracy to manufacture and distribute anabolic steroids began on Dec. 30, 2011. Conspirators allegedly operated an Internet-based company, Power Trip, which sold various anabolic steroids to customers throughout the United States. Their customers, according to the indictment, included athletes and minors.

According to the indictment, Lyne and Schweidler frequently utilized the U.S. Postal Service station at 6304 N.W. Barry Road in Kansas City, Mo., to ship packages to their customers. Some of the packages listed a return address for “Hype Electronics & Game Super Store,” the indictment says, but actually contained vials marked with a Power Trip label that contained anabolic steroids.

Conspirators allegedly used stolen identities (including names, Social Security numbers and birth dates, which they either purchased or stole from victims themselves) to produce or obtain debit cards, such as Green Dot MoneyPak, MyVanilla, ReloadIT, NetSpend ReloadIT and BlackHawk. They required their customers to send payments to these cards in order to conceal and disguise the proceeds of the illegal transactions.

Conspirators also allegedly transferred over $188,000 outside the United States to China, via MoneyGram and Western Union, to purchase the raw materials and other supplies to manufacture anabolic steroids.

The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require the co-defendants to forfeit to the government any property derived from the proceeds of the alleged illegal drug trafficking, including a money judgment of at least $2.25 million.

Hillcrest Transitional Housing announced the completion of a Universal Design Apartment Thursday through a partnership with Blue Skies Home Care LLC and Habitat for Humanity.

Hillcrest provides a disciplined program for the homeless of this community, but some of those individuals have barriers that would have prevented them from living comfortably in one of the apartments. There was a need for an ADA-accessible apartment and Blue Skies Home Care LLC and Habitat for Humanity stepped in.

Habitat for Humanity spent several hours installing wider doors, an accessible pathway, lower counters and cabinets, an in-unit washer and dryer, a roll-in shower and many other features that make this apartment functional for everyone who lives there. Hope United Church of Christ in Cosby helped purchase items to decorate the apartment and stock the pantry to prepare for the first resident.

Anne Davies-Speer, Public Relations and Outreach Specialist from Blue Skies Home Care LLC said the initial idea started when she did a year of service as an AmeriCorps Vista with Hillcrest.

“You can have an idea, a vision and a dream,” Davies-Speer said. “But it takes a group effort of visionaries to make it a reality.”

Hillcrest will celebrate the completed apartment renovation with a Grand Opening Ceremony on February 9, 2016 at 10:00AM at the Hilllcrest apartments located at 3000 Parkway A.

“Before, we did not have an apartment that could house a resident that had any kind of disability,” said Shannen White, Affiliate Director of Hillcrest Transitional Housing of Buchanan County. “Now we are able to help a whole new population in our community. Thanks to the passion and support of Blue Skies Home Care LLC and Habitat for Humanity, we are able to help more individuals and families overcome their burdens and reach self-sufficiency again.”

There are interviews being done now for the first resident to be able to use this apartment. Hillcrest intends to use the apartment for all families however; it will be available first to potential residents with specific needs.

Allied Arts Council announces Alex Hall as its 2016 Poetry Out Loud Northwest Regional Finals Champion.

Three Northwest Missouri students, Alex Hall, home school, Elanor Albertson from Lathrop R-II, and JoAnna Harris from Lafayette High School competed in the 2016 Poetry Out Loud Northwest Regional Finals hosted by the Allied Arts Council on February 3, 2016.

Homeschooler Alex Hall from St. Joseph was the regional champion, and the first runner-up was JoAnna Harris from Lafayette High School. Hall will advance to the state finals March 10, 2016 in Jefferson City, Missouri

Judges Jolene Dempster, Robbie Morton, Sue Wagner and Cathy Ketter presided over the competition and evaluated student performances on criteria including physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, evidence of understanding, overall performance, and accuracy.

Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition to high schools across the country. Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure. Beginning at the school level, winners advance to a regional competition, then to a state competition, and ultimately to the National Finals in Washington, DC.

The competition was presented by the Allied Arts Council in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, the Missouri Arts Council and Missouri Association of Community Arts Agencies.

St. Joseph Volunteers, Coaches, Family members, Law Enforcement Officers and LeBlond Student Council all will be Freezin’ for a Reason Saturday.

They will be collecting donations as they sit on the top of the St. Joseph and Savannah Apple market locations. LeBlond students will be holding a boot block at Noyes and Mitchell. They will all be standing out Freezin’ for a Reason to benefit the athletes of Special Olympics Missouri.  They will all start at 9:00 a.m. and will stay there until they each have reached their goals of $1,000 for the 10th Annual Polar Plunge to be held Saturday, February 20th at Lake Contrary.

These are all veteran plungers and have challenged each other teams to raise the most money, so they all decided they would all take a store and sit on top that is where they teamed up with all the Apple Market stores. People are asked to come out and help them all get off the rooftops and out of the cold.

All proceeds from this year’s event will benefit training and competition for the 1,200 Special Olympics Missouri athletes here in the North Area.

The Polar Plunge is open to anyone 10 years or older and raise a “bear minimum of $75.00 and who is a fan of having a good time for a good cause. The event is hosted by St. Joseph Police Department, Maryville Treatment Center and will take place at Lake Contrary. Day-of registration begins at 12 noon and the Plunge starts promptly at 2:00 p.m.

For more information about the Polar Plunge contact Melody Prawitz, Development Director at (816) 233-6232. Or email prawitz@somo.org