The St. Joseph Police Department has identified the man arrested on probation violation warrant Tuesday after a more than two hour long standoff.

33-year-old Jason Lee Roberts has been identified as the man taken into custody Tuesday night.  As we previously reported, authorities responded to Mary street near south 26th St. around 5 p.m. and said the suspect ran inside a home.  Capt. Jeff Wilson said threats indicated he would use a firearm against officers.

Roberts was taken into custody about two hours later and transported to Mosaic Life Care for what police described as treatment for a minor self-inflicted injury.

Wilson said as far as he’s been made aware no weapon was located.

Missouri Western State University will be offering Master of Business Administration degrees in 2017.

The university said the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education has authorized the Craig School of Business at Western to offer the MBA classes.

Western will offer three concentrations within the MBA program: forensic accounting, enterprise resource planning, and animal and life sciences. Each concentration will require 18 credit hours of core courses in finance and accounting, marketing, management, analytics and communication, and 12 hours in the concentration area. Classes will be offered in the evening for the convenience of working professionals aiming to advance their careers by earning an advanced degree.

“As with all of our graduate degree programs, the emphasis of the MBA program will be to provide very practical educational opportunities that will equip our students for the workforce of the St. Joseph region,” said Dr. Ben Caldwell, dean of Missouri Western’s Graduate School.

The MBA program will be the second graduate degree of the Craig School of Business. The school began offering a Master of Information Management in Enterprise Resource Planning in 2014.

The St. Joseph Police Department said a standoff on Mary street has ended with a man in custody.

Police responded to Mary street near 26th street around 5 p.m.

Capt. Jeff Wilson said a suspect with warrants ran inside the home. The standoff lasted about two hours.

Wilson said a man in his 30’s was arrested on a felony warrant. He said more details would be available in the morning.

A brand for St. Joseph – that’s the topic of conversation during a two-day session among some local creative minds. 

The St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce, along with the St. Joseph Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, the City of St. Joseph, the Downtown Partnership and other area organizations is holding a “Design Charrette” or planning session Tuesday and Wednesday. 

The purpose of the 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. sessions over two days is to come up with a brand for St. Joseph. 

According to St. Joseph Chamber Director of Communications Kristi Bailey, when they talk about branding, it’s not just going to be a new logo. 

“We’re wanting to do an entire campaign – a long term, ten-year campaign,” Bailey said. “So it’s going to be a logo, a website, a billboard, potentially and a social media campaign. It is going to be that answer (to) ‘Why do you live in St. Joe?’ We want to give people that answer, that ‘top of mind’ and they will remember that because of the brand and and the different media outlets we get it out in.” 

As part of the branding process, a group of 12 community members were brought together for the brainstorming sessions this week. The group includes local graphic designers, musicians, photographers and more. Bailey said they chose local people because they wanted the branding to be authentic. 

“We could have put our budgets together and hired a Kansas City or Omaha firm to tell us why St. Joe is great, but we want authentic,” Bailey said. “Our residents will not buy it if it isn’t real. So the best way is with our own creative talent and it’s not just with one advertising agency. That’s why we brought together people from different ad agencies, different employers in the community to work this out. So we are not only spending our budget locally but we’re getting the best use out of our money to get this brand that is authentic, real and hopefully very creative.” 

Each small group at the sessions is coming up with concepts and at the end of the sessions on Wednesday, the plan is to have a vision formed and then design logos, a website and more from that vision for the community.

A 77-year-old man was allegedly injured Monday near Midtown trying to stop another man from stealing his vehicle.

The St. Joseph Police said it’s still searching for a suspect after a man stole a vehicle Monday around 5 p.m. at U.S. Oil located at 601 S. 22nd St.

Capt. Jeff Wilson said witnesses reported that the older man parked in front of the station and a younger man assaulted him in an attempt to steal his vehicle. During the incident the vehicle went into motion and the older man fell from the van causing injuries. Correction, police said Tuesday afternoon the victim is in serious condition not minor injury as they first thought.

The suspect was described as a white man with short dirty blond hair and a thin build weighing 130 to 135lbs with a tattoo on his right shoulder. The suspect was possibly wearing a white tank top under a gray cutoff shirt.

The stolen vehicle was described as a 2004 gold Chevrolet Astro van. Police located the vehicle Tuesday. The suspect was still at large.

(Press Release) KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that the former superintendent of the St. Joseph School District and former president of the Board of Education pleaded guilty in federal court today to a fraud scheme in which he received more than $662,000 in pension payments to which he was not entitled.

 

Danny L. Colgan, 70, of St. Joseph, Mo., waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple to a federal information that charges him with one count of wire fraud.

 

“Today’s criminal felony conviction brings to conclusion an extensive, thorough investigation into fiscal wrongdoing in the St. Joseph School District,” Dickinson said. “I commend the professionalism and perseverance of the FBI agents and prosecution team involved in this investigation. We do not anticipate charges against any additional defendants in the future.”

 

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Colgan will be sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison. He must pay $662,660 in restitution prior to his sentencing hearing (which has not yet been scheduled). Colgan was released on bond.

 

Colgan was the superintendent of the St. Joseph School District from July 1, 1992, until his retirement on Dec. 31, 2005. Colgan was entitled to retirement benefits from the Public School and Education Employee Retirement Systems of Missouri (PSRS) with the amount of the retirement benefits based upon his highest consecutive three years of reported salary.

 

By pleading guilty today, Colgan admitted that he caused others to falsely report his salary to the PSRS in order to increase his retirement benefits. Colgan knew that the salary figures he caused the school district to submit to PSRS on his behalf included fringe benefits and other payments to Colgan that were not eligible to be counted as salary under state statutes.

 

This fraud scheme began during the 1997-98 school year and lasted for eight years, until Colgan’s retirement. Colgan’s retirement benefits were calculated by using the amounts reported by the school district over the final three-year period before he retired.

 

During that final three-year period, the school district falsely reported that Colgan’s salary totaled $586,030. In reality, his salary totaled $343,286 – a difference of $242,744. As a result of the false statements to the PSRS, the school district made excess payments in the amount of $14,652 to the PSRS from 2003 through 2005, and Colgan was paid excess benefits that totaled $677,313 over a 10-year period.

 

Colgan’s salary reported for his final three years as school superintendent improperly included the following:

 

• Car Allowance/Travel Stipend: The $9,600 car allowance/travel stipend was a fringe benefit that was ineligible for retirement salary calculation purposes;
• Family Insurance Premiums: The family insurance benefits/premiums paid by the district of $5,225, $5,603, and $6,258 were fringe benefits that were ineligible for retirement salary calculation purposes;
• District Contribution to Taxable Annuity: The district payment for the school year 2004-2005 of $25,000 to purchase a taxable annuity for the superintendent was ineligible for retirement salary calculation purposes;
• “District Vehicle” Payments: In the final three years, the school district reported “District Vehicle” payments of $11,300, $11,300, and $28,975. The “District Vehicle” payments were separate from the $800 per month car allowance payments (described above). The “District Vehicle” payments were fringe benefits that were ineligible for retirement salary calculation purposes; and
• Unused Vacation Payment: An unused vacation payment in June 2005 of $10,820 was a fringe benefit that was ineligible for retirement salary calculation purposes.

 

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul S. Becker. It was investigated by the FBI.

Dr Dan Colgan appeared in US court Monday, waived his right to a grand jury indictment and pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

It appears the plea wraps up the two-year federal investigation into the finances at the St. Joseph School District.

“Today’s criminal felony conviction brings to conclusion an extensive, thorough investigation into fiscal wrongdoing in the St. Joseph School District,” said Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. “We do not anticipate charges against any additional defendants in the future.”

The former St. Joseph School District superintendent made the plea in connection with the misrepresentation of retirement documents.

Officials say those misrepresentations cost the school district more than $14,000 and the state’s Public School Retirement System more than $662,000. Earlier Dr. Colgan agreed with an order from the PSRS that he repay those funds.

By pleading guilty, Colgan admitted that he caused others to falsely report his salary to the PSRS in order to increase his retirement benefits. Colgan knew that the salary figures he caused the school district to submit to PSRS on his behalf included fringe benefits and other payments to Colgan that were not eligible to be counted as salary under state statutes.

This fraud scheme began during the 1997-98 school year and lasted for eight years, until Colgan’s retirement. Colgan’s retirement benefits were calculated by using the amounts reported by the school district over the final three-year period before he retired.

During that final three-year period, the school district falsely reported that Colgan’s salary totaled $586,030. In reality, his salary totaled $343,286 – a difference of $242,744. As a result of the false statements to the PSRS, the school district made excess payments in the amount of $14,652 to the PSRS from 2003 through 2005, and Colgan was paid excess benefits that totaled $677,313 over a 10-year period.

Colgan’s salary reported for his final three years as school superintendent improperly included the following:

· Car Allowance/Travel Stipend: The $9,600 car allowance/travel stipend was a fringe benefit that was ineligible for retirement salary calculation purposes;
· Family Insurance Premiums: The family insurance benefits/premiums paid by the district of $5,225, $5,603, and $6,258 were fringe benefits that were ineligible for retirement salary calculation purposes;
· District Contribution to Taxable Annuity: The district payment for the school year 2004-2005 of $25,000 to purchase a taxable annuity for the superintendent was ineligible for retirement salary calculation purposes;
· “District Vehicle” Payments: In the final three years, the school district reported “District Vehicle” payments of $11,300, $11,300, and $28,975. The “District Vehicle” payments were separate from the $800 per month car allowance payments (described above). The “District Vehicle” payments were fringe benefits that were ineligible for retirement salary calculation purposes; and
· Unused Vacation Payment: An unused vacation payment in June 2005 of $10,820 was a fringe benefit that was ineligible for retirement salary calculation purposes.

Colgan pleaded guilty during a hearing in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri in Kansas City.

The government made a recommendation for sentencing of one year and one day in prison, and the repayment of the more than $662,000 to P.S.R.S. by the sentencing date. However the judge says he will take the recommendation under advisement, and has ordered a pre-sentence investigation, to determine if he can accept the recommendation made by the government.

Sentencing will be scheduled once the judge has the results of the pre-sentence investigation.

To see the news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office CLICK HERE.