An audit request of the federal programs has led to the St. Joseph School District being placed on a cash management plan.

The Office of Superintendent said it has received a letter from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for an audit request of the federal programs of the St. Joseph School District. The program audit was requested from the Office of Inspector General of the United States Department of Education.

“We believe this audit request stems from the current Federal Bureau of Investigation of the St. Joseph School District,” said Dr. Robert Newhart, Superintendent.

As a result of this audit, the district will be placed on a cash management plan during and pending the outcome of the audit.

“What this means is that the district will have to provide additional supporting documents when requesting funds for payment in Federal Programs such as our Title programs, Special Education, Perkins, etc. until further notice by DESE. As we’ve stated before, we understand all programs, policies and procedures are subject to review by government agencies and we will fully comply and cooperate during this time,” Newhart said.

A report that a student had brought a gun to the Colgan Alternative Resource Center this morning led to a brief lockdown at the Center.

Director of Student Services Dr. Solon Haynes says a student told a staff member about the gun report, the staff member immediately informed administration, and the school resource officer put the school on lockdown and formed a plan to search the building.

Saint Joseph police responded to to conduct the search.  Dr. Haynes says the search turned up no weapons and officers determined there was no threat to the students.

The lockdown was lifted shortly before 11 am and normal activity at the Colgan Center resumed.

A Kansas City, Kan., man was convicted by a federal trial jury Wednesday of his role in a large-scale conspiracy that distributed more than 15 kilograms of methamphetamine in St. Joseph, Mo., and across a four-state region.

Anselmo Salazar, also known as “Crazy Eyes,” 49, of Kansas City, Kan., was found guilty of participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine from Jan. 1, 2009, to Nov. 12, 2013.

Salazar was also found guilty of participating in a money-laundering conspiracy that involved financial transactions of the proceeds of illegal drug-trafficking.

According to Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, The Buchanan County Drug Strike Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration initiated an investigation into a drug-trafficking organization distributing methamphetamine in northwest Missouri, northeast Kansas, southern Iowa and Nebraska in 2010.

Salazar is among 24 defendants charged in a Nov. 15, 2013, federal indictment. Salazar, along with co-defendants Carlos Alberto Yanez, 33, of Lee’s Summit, Mo., and Marvin Carl Rogers, 54, of Gladstone, Mo. were the primary sources of supply for methamphetamine for the entire organization. Yanez and Rogers have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

Yanez and Salazar obtained methamphetamine in up to pound quantities and then delivered the methamphetamine to co-defendant Shannon Martinez (also known as “Big Homie”), 38, of St. Joseph, and another man charged in a separate case. Martinez, in turn, sold the methamphetamine to others to distribute. Martinez has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.

On Oct. 11, 2011, Salazar was arrested after a traffic stop in Platte County, Mo. Salazar, who was was driving Yanez’s vehicle, was in possession of 42 one-pound bundles of marijuana, 25 grams of cocaine and 80 grams of methamphetamine. Salazar was on his way to deliver the methamphetamine to St. Joseph for Yanez, and to pick up cash payment for the delivered methamphetamine.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., deliberated for about an hour before returning the guilty verdicts to U.S. Chief District Judge Greg Kays, ending a trial that began Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015.

Salazar is jointly and severally liable to forfeit to the government a money judgment of $976,800, which was received in exchange for the unlawful distribution of methamphetamine, based on a conservative purchase price of $1,850 an ounce (for 50 percent pure methamphetamine) and the distribution of more than 15 kilograms of methamphetamine by conspirators.

In addition, among the property that must be forfeited to the government by Salazar’s co-defendants are three cars, a pick-up truck, a motorcycle and approximately $116,389 that was seized from several co-defendants by law enforcement officers during the investigation.

Under federal statutes, Salazar is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.