A citizen of Guatemala pleaded guilty in federal court for his role in the St Joseph identity fraud scheme.
30-year-old Luis Adalberto Felipe-Lopez pleaded guilty Thursday.
He was unlawfully in the country at the time he participated in the conspiracy in 2009 through 2012. He admitted that he transported illegal aliens between St. Joseph and North Carolina.
The government contends that Felipe-Lopez is a leader or manager of the conspiracy.
It is estimated that more than 3,500 licenses were issued to illegal aliens by the Department of Revenue license office in St. Joseph. The state licenses could then be used by the illegal aliens to remain unlawfully in the United States.
Felipe-Lopez is among 11 co-defendants who have pleaded guilty.
The Red Cross plans an exercise Thursday in St Joseph to test the organizations ability to open and manage a disaster shelter.
More than 20 volunteers will participate by processing disaster victims into the mock shelter.
The St Joseph Health Department will participate with the Medical Reserve Corp. and will also test their pet trailer. The trailer is a vehicle that can house pets impacted by a disaster.
The Red Cross is holding the exercise now, ahead of the severe weather season in northwest Missouri. The exercise is at noon thursday at The Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church. It last about two and half hours.
Livingston County authorities are seeking information on livestock thefts since mid-February.
Livingston County Sheriff Steve Cox says two different locations in southeast Livingston county seem to be the target for the cattle thieves.
Three calves and two cows were reported stolen in February in that area. Saturday, law enforcement took a report of two separate instances were someone took two cows each time.
The sheriff’s office is working with the Missouri Rural Crimes Task Force and the Highway Patrol as the investigation continues.
Sheriff Cox urges livestock producers to take addition precautions in protecting property and livestock. He says the theft of any livestock is a serious felony offense in Missouri and if anyone can help the investigation, they are asked to call the Livingston County Sheriff’s office.
A 28-year-old central Missouri woman who’s been missing with her young daughter since Thursday called authorities from a Blue Springs motel but was not there when police showed up.
Rachel Koechner and 4-year-old Zoee Sandner were reported missing Thursday night after being seen earlier that day in the Brookfield area. Authorities say they’re believed to be with Koechner’s former husband and are considered endangered because of previous domestic violence incidents.
Brookfield Police Maj. Rick German says Koechner called the Chariton County Sheriff’s Office on Monday from a motel but acted as if she couldn’t talk.
Blue Springs police detective Jeremy Dickstein says officers went to the motel around 9 a.m. and were told the woman just left. He didn’t have other details, including who was with Koechner at the motel.
According to Brookefield police, they may be with ex-husband/father, 37-year-old Devon Sandner.
Please contact the Chariton County Sheriff’s Department at 660-288-3277 or your local police and sheriff’s departments if you have any information.
Meredith, James Robbery bond $250,000 Cash or surety
Police in Maryville arrested a suspect over the weekend accused of robbing a Dollar General store a week ago.
19-year-old James M. Meredith was arrested early Saturday for 1sty Degree Robbery and Armed Criminal Action. He was taken to the Nodaway County Jail.
Last Sunday, a man robbed the Dollar General Store on North Main Street in Maryville.
Meredith is accused of displaying what appeared to be a handgun and demanding money from the clerk. Clothing items that matched his description were found in a nearby wooded area after he fled the scene.
Meredith is being held in the Nodaway County jail on a $250,000 bond.
Police have re-opened a St Joseph street after a gas leak.
Police say the 700 block of east Highland Ave. is back open after a gas leak at a home temporary closed the block.
A homeowner called and reported a possible burglary and a strong smell of natural gas in the home earlier this afternoon. Traffic was blocked but by 2:30 was the street was back open.
Firefighters who arrived on scene waited to enter the house until the gas subsided. They had left a door open to ventilate the home and utilities were shut off.
There’s no word yet on the burglary investigation.
VATICAN CITY (AP) – The new pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who is 76, has spent nearly his entire career at home in Argentina, overseeing churches and shoe-leather priests.
The archbishop of Buenos Aires reportedly got the second-most votes after Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 papal election, and he has long specialized in the kind of pastoral work that some say is an essential skill for the next pope.
In a lifetime of teaching and leading priests in Latin America, which has the largest share of the world’s Catholics, Bergoglio has shown a keen political sensibility as well as the kind of self-effacing humility that fellow cardinals value highly.
Bergoglio is known for modernizing an Argentine church that had been among the most conservative in Latin America.
A recent lawsuit alleges the Department of Revenue is collecting personal documents, scanning them, and forwarding the information on to federal agencies.
Representative Casey Guernsey of Bethany says the Department of Revenue is violating a 2009 state law by basically complying with the federal REAL-ID act.
Representative Casey Guernsey
Guernsey says it started showing up in license offices in November but is now spreading throughout the state as more offices switch technology.
“I actually got an email from a friend of mine who I grew up with who experienced the exact same thing,” Guernsey said. “The concern is the Department of Revenue is switching out technology that saves source documentation for concealed carry permit holders.
That email came from a constituent from his district in northwest Missouri. The issue is federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, want the information the Department of Revenue saves.
Meanwhile, Guernsey has cosponsored a bill to strengthen the 2009 law which made the action of sending copies to federal agencies illegal.
“We shouldn’t have to do that because it’s already illegal essentially. But this is the world we live in where a lot of people interpret laws differently. So if we have to go in and delineate further what we have already made illegal, then that’s what we have to do and what we are prepared to do,” Guernsey said.
There wasn’t a change in state law, but their was a rule change within the department of revenue how those drivers licenses are processed and made.
“It wasn’t law that changed how they are doing things, it was a rule and there’s a huge difference,” Guernsey said. “In 2009 the legislature did pass a law that would prevent them from doing what their evidently doing.”
The original lawsuit was filed in Stoddard County. Guernsey says he’s received emails from people in northwest Missouri who reported the activity in our area.
Stoddard County Prosecutor Russell Oliver is acting as a private attorney in the lawsuit filed by Eric Griffin.
According to the suit, Griffin fulfilled the requirements for a concealed carry permit and was trying to complete the process by having it added to his driver’s license. The Department of Revenue employee told him his documents would be scanned and saved. He objected and filed the lawsuit Monday
Earlier this week, Revenue Department spokesman Ted Farnen claimed the “department’s operations are not inconsistent with the statutory protocols.” He declined further comment.
The first of what is likely to be several hearings is scheduled next week.
“We’ve already seen the chairmen of one of the committee’s take on this legislation. I think there’s going to be some investigation from the legislation process as well through his committee and some hearings held,” Guernsey said. “certainly I think we will see this legislation proposed that I have cosponsored get through this session, at least through the house.”
A citizen of Guatemala pleaded guilty in federal court for his role in the St Joseph identity fraud scheme. 
