SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary and asking the public for help to locate suspects.

Early Wednesday, police responded to a home near the 1800 block of SW Fairlawn Road in Topeka, on a report of a burglary, according to a media release.

Upon arrival and after speaking with the victim of the burglary, it was discovered that sometime during the evening hours on Tuesday, March 26 at least one suspect entered the victim’s home and stole over 30 firearms. These firearms were comprised of pistols, rifles and shotguns.

Police are seeking the public’s help in this case and ask that if anyone with information on the crime should contact investigators.

Police also reminded, “Anytime even a single firearm is stolen, there is concern that the firearm could end up in the hands of a criminal and be used to commit a crime. We would like to remind the public of the importance of securing your firearms properly and keeping their location private.”

The Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Conrad Thursday released a list of names of friars with credible accusations of the sexual abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult. The list includes the names of 13 members or former members.

Of the 13, two are deceased and five have since left the order. None are in active ministry.

Of the 13, 12 had pastoral assignments in Hays or Victoria Kansas.

“As friars and followers of St. Francis of Assisi, our vocation is to serve as lesser brothers. Therefore, the abuse of a minor by someone in such a sacred position of trust is all the more egregious,” said Provincial Minister, Fr. Christopher Popravak, O.F.M.Cap, who commissioned the release. “I have personally met with numerous victims and can attest to the devastation wreaked upon their lives and those of their families. Though the words may ring hollow as many other Church leaders are voicing similar sentiments, I can only say that I am sorry from the depths of my heart.

“I have asked the friars of our Province to commit to serious penance and reparation on behalf of the misdeeds of our brothers and for the healing of victims. The results of the audit we are releasing today is only the first step in a new age of transparency. We are striving to be vigilant and have taken serious steps in the last fifteen years to ensure the careful and diligent screening of candidates to our way of life. We must persevere in our efforts to ensure that such a scandalous series of violations never occurs again.”

The 12 friars with Hays or Victoria connections included: Gregory Beyer, deceased; Benignus Scarry, who left the order in 2016; Felix Shinsky, who was removed from ministry/under supervision; Charles Wolfe, dismissed from order in 1987; Ron Gilardi, who was removed from ministry/under supervision; David Gottschalk, who was removed from ministry/under supervision; Julian Haas, who was removed from ministry/under supervision; Finian Meis, decased; Thaddeus Posey, deceased; and Matthew Gross, who was removed from ministry/under supervision.

The 13th friar listed, David Jones, was dismissed from the order in 1987. No pastoral assignments were released.

Details of the pastoral assignments can be seen here.

The territory of the St. Conrad Province, which was established in April 1977, comprises the States of Colorado, Kansas and Missouri and the Diocese of Belleville, Peoria and Springfield, each in the State of Illinois. The Province also has two houses outside of the Province territory in San Antonio.

The release followed an independent audit of the Province’s personnel files and other relevant documents by an outside group of qualified professionals.

The audit consisted of a review of the personnel and other files retained by the Province, including a total of 226 personnel files reviewed. Of note, the auditors also reviewed the five active Safety Plans of Capuchin members under supervision for credible allegations of abuse, consulted with the Provincial Minister and the Safe Environment Coordinator. Of note, no significant areas of concern were noted with supervision over and compliance with the Safety Plans. The auditors also found a marked increase and improvement in documentation regarding allegations and attention to issues related to training and sharing of information with the Province’s leadership team.

RELATED: Capuchin Provincial Minister’s statement: ‘Apologies are not enough’

An allegation is deemed credible if an administrative investigation determines that in the opinion of the investigators it is more likely than not based on the facts presented that the alleged abuse occurred. Inclusion on this list does not imply that the allegations are true or that the accused member has been found guilty of a crime or is liable for civil claims. Every effort has been made to ensure the list is accurate. In most instances, the claims were made many years after the alleged abuse, making it difficult to conduct a complete investigation.

The list HERE is broken down into three categories: members with a single, credible accusation of the sexual abuse of a minor; members with more than one credible accusation of the sexual abuse of a minor; and, members with credible accusations of the sexual abuse of a vulnerable adult. All three categories include the individual’s name, birth date, current status, and former assignments.

All allegations of sexual abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult are reported to the appropriate authorities.

Click HERE to read the entire release.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say two banks have been robbed in the Kansas City area.

The FBI says the first robbery happened around 2:10 p.m. Wednesday at the Platte Valley Bank in Kansas City, Missouri.

Authorities described the suspect an older white male, wearing a black stocking cap with only one eye visible,  jeans, black shoes and a yellow jacket with reflectors on chest and arms. He was approximately 5-foot-6 and 160 pounds.

The second robbery was around 2:30 p.m. at a Commerce Bank branch about 20 miles away in the suburb of Roeland Park, Kansas.

The black male suspect wore a black jacket, black pants and a black mask covering his face. He was 6-foot-1 with a stocky build, according to police.

 

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Missouri man has been convicted by a federal trial jury of possessing methamphetamine to distribute and of illegally possessing a firearm.

Guadalupe Urbina-Rodriguez, 71, Purdy, was found guilty on Tuesday, March 26, of possessing methamphetamine to distribute, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the United State’s Attorney.

Evidence introduced during the trial indicated that a federal postal inspector seized a package on Aug. 31, 2018, that was addressed to Urbina-Rodriguez’s address. The package, which contained 448.8 grams of methamphetamine, was purportedly mailed from a nonexistent address in California.

The postal inspector delivered the package to Urbina-Rodriguez, who was sitting in a chair under a tree in the front yard. Urbina-Rodriguez had a loaded Marlin .22-caliber rifle sitting beside him. Law enforcements officers then executed a search warrant of the residence and seized the package.

Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Urbina-Rodriguez has four prior felony convictions related to drug trafficking or possessing a controlled substance and a prior felony conviction for maintaining a public nuisance.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo., deliberated for about an hour and 15 minutes before returning the guilty verdicts to U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool, ending a trial that began Monday, March 25, 2019.

Under federal statutes, Urbina-Rodriguez is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri House has advanced a plan to abolish open primary elections and limit future participation only to people who register in advance with a political party.

The legislation endorsed Wednesday would mean only registered Republicans could vote in the Republican primary and only registered Democrats could vote in the Democratic primary, starting in 2021. People not affiliated with a party could not vote for candidates in a primary election but could still vote on ballot issues.

Missouri does not currently have party registration for elections.

The Missouri Republican Party platform has called for closed primaries, but some Republicans voted against it Wednesday.

The bill won initial approved on a 78-72 vote. It will need 82 votes on a second-round vote to move to the Senate.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Criminal charges against a former police officer in Kansas who shot a man last year were dismissed Wednesday after a judge ruled the officer meant to use her Taser and mistakenly drew her gun during the confrontation.

Ex-Lawrence officer Brindley Blood, 36, was charged with aggravated battery after she shot 35-year-old Lawrence resident Akira Lewis while he was attacking another officer in May 2018.

Douglas County District Court Judge Peggy Kittel ruled that evidence did not show Blood acted recklessly during the confrontation. The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled.

After the hearing, Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson said he did not intend to refile the charges but would review the ruling to determine whether an appeal of the dismissal should be filed.

Lewis, who is black, was treated at a hospital after being shot and has said he has permanent injuries. He contends he was racially profiled. Blood and the other officer are both white.

Lewis was charged with battery against a law enforcement officer, interference with law enforcement and driving without proof of insurance, all misdemeanors, and failure to wear a seat belt.

A video of the confrontation shows Blood, who was a rookie police officer, yelling “Taser” before firing. She told investigators that she meant to use her Taser but mistakenly drew her gun and shot Lewis.

Kittel said she did not believe Blood acted recklessly after reviewing the evidence, hearing testimony from Lewis and several officers, and watching the video .

“There is no evidence that the defendant consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk,” Kittel said. “She meant to use her Taser.”

Branson contended that despite “extensive training” on Tasers and firearms, Blood was reckless because she showed “gross deviation” from standards for such situations.

Blood’s attorneys, Tom Bath and Michael Riling, argued their client may have made a mistake but she wasn’t reckless, particularly given the few seconds she had to act.

The confrontation began when Officer Ian McCann pulled Lewis over for not wearing a seat belt during a scheduled seat belt enforcement campaign. The video shows Lewis becoming belligerent, cursing and refusing to get out of his vehicle or provide identification.

Blood arrived after McCann called for backup. Lewis eventually jumped out of his SUV, and is seen on the video hitting McCann and slamming him to the ground. Blood drew her gun, stood over the two men, yelled “Taser-Taser-Taser” and fired once.

After Lewis cried out in pain, Blood can be heard on the video saying, “Oh, (expletive), I shot him.”

Lewis’ attorney, Shaye Downing, has said that the officers “initiated physical contact and escalated a situation that could have been easily de-escalated by any number of interventions.”

Blood, who graduated from the police academy just six months before the shooting, resigned from the department in late January.

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MEAD, Neb. (AP) — Flooding in the Midwest temporarily cut off a Superfund site in Nebraska that stores radioactive waste and explosives, inundated another one storing toxic chemical waste in Missouri, and limited access to others, federal regulators said Wednesday.

The Environmental Protection Agency reported no releases of hazardous contaminants at any of eight toxic waste sites in flooded parts of Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa. It has not issued any public health advisories or alerts, nor has it tested any of the soil and water at those sites.

The EPA identified the Nebraska Ordnance Plant in Mead, Nebraska, and the Conservation Chemical Corporation site in Kansas City, Missouri, as heavily flooded Superfund sites that required the agency to take immediate action to prevent the spread of contaminated groundwater.

Two Iowa sites — Railroad Avenue Groundwater Contamination Site that is part of Des Moines Water Treatment Plant, and the Mid-America Tanning Company site near Sergeant Bluff — had some minor flooding on the property but did not require the agency to immediately do anything. It plans to reassess once the flood waters recede.

The remaining four toxic waste sites were not affected by floodwaters, but road closures limited access, the agency said.

Larry Poell, 62, who lives on top of the Superfund site in Mead, said federal officials have always maintained that the contaminated plumes are stable, but he wonders if the floodwater caused them to shift.

“I’m concerned about it. I think everybody’s concerned about it,” he said in an interview inside a local flood relief shelter in Ashland, Nebraska.

Poell said officials test the water near his home quarterly and hold community meetings twice a year. He said the meetings are usually sparsely attended.

The Mead site operated as a munitions plant from 1942 to 1956 and its disposal of radioactive waste and other chemicals led to groundwater contamination.

Maureen Hunt, 50, who farms on land less than a mile from the Nebraska Ordnance Plant, said all of the surrounding roads were inaccessible at the flood’s peak. On Wednesday, many surrounding cornfields still held large ponds of floodwater.

“Imagine water everywhere you look,” she said between cleanup chores. “I’ve never in my life seen anything like it.”

To contain the underground plume from expanding at sites where the groundwater is contaminated, the EPA normally pumps up the contaminated water, treats it to clean up contaminants and then discharges the water.

But because the Mead area was already heavily flooded, the Nebraska Ordnance Plant temporarily shut down the pumps and treatment plant on March 13 for a couple of days rather than exacerbate the situation by discharging treated water, EPA said.

At the Conservation Chemical Company site, a 6-acre area in Kansas City, Missouri, chemical storage and disposal operations from the 1960s to the 1980s led to contamination of groundwater and soils. During the latest flood, the site owner increased the pumping rate to suck up more water and increase pressure to keep its underground plume of contaminated water from expanding, the EPA said.

The remaining sites that the EPA says are not currently affected by floodwaters, but where road closures are limiting field work, are the former landfill called Lawrence Todz Farm in Camanche, Iowa, the Iowa-Nebraska Light & Power Co. site in Norfolk, Nebraska; a site identified only as Old Highway 275 and 288th Street in the town of Valley in Nebraska; and the closed St. Joseph City Landfill, north of Kansas City, Missouri.

Valerie Wilder, the Superfund section chief for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, said in an email that the EPA contacted the state agency’s project manager for the Conservation Chemical Company site to keep her informed of its flooding status, but that there has been no EPA request for a state response at this time.

Aerial photos taken Friday of Missouri’s closed St. Joseph landfill, which is not a Superfund site, showed that roughly half of the closed landfill had water on top of asphalt at that time. EPA said it is no longer flooded.

At many Superfund sites, contaminated soils are capped with additional soil layers or other materials as a temporary measure until cleanups are finished. Floods can wash away those covers, releasing toxic pollution into the waters. That happened at the San Jacinto River Waste Pits near Houston when floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey damaged a concrete cap meant to contain pollutants, releasing dioxins into the river.

“That’s a risk for cleanup crews and families that have returned to their homes, as well as fish, wildlife and waterways down the road,” said Kara Cook-Schultz, toxics director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

It’s important for EPA to inform first responders, cleanup workers and residents about the types of contaminants at each flooded Superfund site and precautions they should take to limit exposure, Cook-Schultz said.

“In the long term, we’d like to see more money going to Superfund sites,” she said. “A lot of them have been around 40 or 50 years and have not been cleaned up. We’d like to see them completely remediated so we don’t have to worry that they will be flooded and the floodwaters contaminated.”

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CHRISTIAN COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 3:30p.m. Wednesday in Christian County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2017 Chevy Impala driven by Dale J. Douglas, 48, Nixa, was southbound on U.S. 65 five miles south of Highlandville. The Chevy crossed the median an struck a 2010 Harley Davidson driven by James Roe, 67, Reeds Spring, and a 2016 Harley Davidson driven by 70-year-old Michael D. Jones.

A 2008 Harley Davidson driven by Gerald Mclaughlin, 67, Springfield, struck debris from the crash.

Roe, Jones and Mclaughlin were transported to Cox South where Roe died. EMS transported Douglas to Mercy Hospital.

Douglas was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the MSHP.

BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) arrested a school resource officer Wednesday following allegations of rape, and other sex crimes against children.

Just before 5 p.m., Mark A. Scheetz, 30, of Lansing, was arrested without incident in Bonner Springs, Kansas for rape, aggravated criminal sodomy, and aggravated indecent liberties with a child, according to a media release.

Scheetz has been employed for approximately one year as a school resource officer for the Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools Police Department, assigned to F.L. Schlagle High School.

Prior to that, he was employed by the Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office from 2016 to 2018. However, the alleged crimes are suspected to have occurred when Scheetz resided in Norton County between 2013 and 2015, and stem from reports that he engaged in sex acts with a minor, sent lewd photos to minors, and used electronic devices to solicit sex with minors.

Following his arrest, Scheetz was transported to Norton, Kan., where he will be held in the Norton County Jail.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka man has been convicted of participating in the stabbing or strangulation deaths of three others at a Topeka house.

A Shawnee County jury on Wednesday convicted 32-year-old Joseph Lowry of three counts of first-degree murder and several other charges in the killings in March 2017.

Lowry was one of five people charged in the deaths of 19-year-old Matthew Leavitt, 20-year-old Luke Patrick Davis and 38-year-old Nicole Star Fisher.

Prosecutors said Lowry held all three victims to help others kill them. Police said another man, Joseph Aaron Krahn admitted strangling some victims but said Lowry helped him.

Defense attorneys argued Lowry robbed the victims but no evidence showed that he intended to commit murder. They also contended he was too incapacitated by meth to kill anyone.