KANSAS CITY–A Leavenworth man pleaded guilty Wednesday to fraudulently collecting more than $46,000 in government benefits, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said in a news release.

Michael James Munsterman, 42, Leavenworth, pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government funds. In his plea, he admitted he received Supplemental Security Income, food stamps and Medicaid even though he did not qualify for those benefits. In April 2011 he applied for SSI benefits claiming that he had a drug-induced heart condition that prevented him from working. He did not reveal to the government that he owned and operated a heating and cooling company and received substantial income from the business while he was receiving benefits. He also admitted that he concealed from the federal government his financial resources that far exceeded the eligibility criteria of the aforementioned needs-based programs.

He fraudulently received a total of approximately $46,367 in government funds.

Sentencing is set for June 16, 2015. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. Pursuant to the plea agreement, Munsterman must also pay restitution to the victim-agencies.

Grissom commended the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford for their work on the case.

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) – The police chief in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson has resigned in the wake of a scathing Justice Department report prompted by the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old by a white police officer.

A city official with knowledge of the situation said Thomas Jackson submitted his resignation letter Wednesday. The official was not authorized to speak about the matter and asked not to be identified. The date of the resignation is still being worked out.

Jackson had previously resisted calls by protesters and some of Missouri’s top elected leaders to step down over his handling of the August shooting of Michael Brown and the weeks of sometimes-violent protests that followed.

The U.S. Department of Justice last week issued a report that cleared Officer Darren Wilson of civil rights charges in the shooting but found a profit-driven court system and widespread racial bias in the city police department.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A buck killed in Cole County has tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease, which is a characterized by abnormal behavior, dramatic weight loss, stumbling and slobbering.

The Columbia Missourian reports that this marks the first time the fatal illness has appeared outside Missouri’s northern containment zone. It is not believed the disease can be transmitted to humans.

The Missouri Department of Conservation announced Tuesday that the deer, which was harvested in Centertown, was one of 14 free-range specimens to test positive for the disease last season. The other deer were found in Macon, Adair, Chariton, Linn, Randolph, and Sullivan counties.

The department will review its containment policies.

The Missouri River and about 40 miles of mostly rural Boone County separate Centertown from the containment zone’s border.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Immigrants living in Missouri illegally couldn’t receive scholarships or in-state tuition under a bill approved by the House.

House members voted 111-41 Wednesday in favor of the legislation, which would ban state-funded scholarships for students without lawful immigration status.

The measure also would expand the A+ Scholarship to students studying divinity and theology and would require colleges charge some immigrant students an international tuition rate.

Republican Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick, of Shell Knob, says his bill aims to prevent money from the already financially strapped A+ Scholarship from going to immigrants living in the state illegally.

Students who would be affected by the bill worry the financial barrier could stop them from attending college in the U.S.

The bill now moves to the Senate, which is considering a similar bill.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – A new economic development incentive that has been presented to the Missouri Public Service Commission would cut the electric bills of many large power users.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the proposed incentive pairs electric bill cuts with state and local tax credits for new and expanding companies in Ameren Missouri’s territory. The proposal from groups representing Missouri consumers and industrial interests was submitted during Ameren Missouri’s general rate case.

It would remove the utility’s discretion to agree to certain electric rate reductions with large customers under its existing economic development authority. Instead, it would set a formula to determine whether large industrial customers are eligible for lower electric rates.

An Ameren industrial customer could save as much as one year’s worth of electric bills over five years.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Two St. Robert, Mo., women have pleaded guilty in federal court to their roles in a Nigerian fraud scheme in which thousands of victims across the country were tricked into cashing up to $3 million in counterfeit money orders and cashier’s checks according to  Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Lisa Kaye Barwick-Majeski, 54, of St. Robert, pleaded guilty Tuesday before U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to leading the conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Co-defendant Cheryl Barber, 41, also of St. Robert, pleaded guilty to her role in the conspiracy on Feb. 10, 2015.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Barwick-Majeski must pay up to $3 million in restitution to her victims and must forfeit $1,485,301 to the government.

By pleading guilty, Barwick-Majeski admitted that she was the primary leader of a conspiracy that involved counterfeit postal money orders, counterfeit bank cashier’s checks and numerous wires to unindicted co-conspirators in the country of Nigeria.

Barwick-Majeski, with the help of Barber and other co-conspirators, dispatched counterfeit postal money orders and bogus cashier checks to thousands of victims throughout the United States. These false money orders and cashier checks were deposited in victims’ bank accounts after the victims were duped into believing they were paid participants as part of a “secret shopper” exercise designed for them to evaluate Wal-Mart and various money wire outlets. The victims were instructed to keep approximately $200 or more of the less than $2,000 counterfeited postal money order or bogus cashier’s check, and immediately wire the remaining money to Barwick-Majeski and her co-defendants. After a few days, the counterfeited money order or bogus cashier’s check would be returned against the victims’ account as not negotiable. The victims would then be obligated to pay their banks or their financial institutions for most of the money they wired to Barwick-Majeski and others.

Barwick-Majeski and her co-defendants shared most of their proceeds with a group of Nigerians that were responsible for supplying Barwick-Majeski with fraudulent postal money orders and cashier’s checks.

Barber admitted that she wired funds to co-conspirators in Nigeria to further the illegal scheme. Barber admitted that her criminal conduct within the wire fraud conspiracy amounted to approximately $25,129 of illegal wires sent or received by Barber. Under the terms of her plea agreement, Barber must pay restitution to her victims.

During the course of the investigation, according to court documents, law enforcement officers seized more than $1.7 million worth of counterfeit postal money orders. Some of those counterfeit money orders were taken directly from Barwick-Majeski and some were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection or intercepted en route to Barwick-Majeski.

In addition to the counterfeit postal money orders, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Barwick-Majeski’s residence on Nov. 5, 2013, and seized a parcel that contained 354 counterfeit BMO-Harris Bank cashier’s checks with a total face value of more than $1 million. According to court documents, law enforcement officers also seized $406,800 in counterfeit Mid Missouri Credit Union cashier’s checks during the investigation.

Under federal statutes, Barwick-Majeski and Barber are each subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000. Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Abram McGull, II. It was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the St. Robert, Mo., Police Department.

JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A spending plan to increase money for Missouri K-12 public education has won initial House approval.

The House spent hours Tuesday tweaking a package of bills that outline a roughly $8.8-billion general revenue budget for next fiscal year.

Combined with federal and other funds, that plan would allow the state to spend more than $26 billion in the fiscal year beginning July 1.

The House budget plan includes roughly $74 million more in basic aid for K-12 schools than this year. But that’s still well short of what’s called for under a school funding formula.

Lawmakers also approved an amendment Tuesday shifting $1 million previously slotted for the Parents as Teachers program, which provides resources for early childhood development. That money instead would go to the Teach for America program.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — An Olathe school isn’t taking any chances and is testing about 350 students and staff for tuberculosis after they came into contact with an infected student.

The director of the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment says there’s a very low chance the student spread the disease to others at Olathe Northwest High School.

KCTV-TV reports the screenings this week will involve students and staff having their blood drawn. The student diagnosed last week with tuberculosis hasn’t returned to school and is being treated at home.

Parents and students attended a public meeting to learn more about tuberculosis, an airborne disease that can be spread by coughing and sneezing. Symptoms include a bad cough for three weeks or longer, chest pain, weakness or fatigue, and coughing up blood.