OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will pay $1.1 million to a Missouri man who spent nearly 17 years in prison for a robbery that he argued was committed by his doppelganger.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced Tuesday that a settlement had been reached with 42-year-old Richard Anthony Jones, of Kansas City, Missouri. Schmidt said Jones was the first to settle a payout under a new state law that provides compensation to people who are wrongly imprisoned. Jones also was granted a certificate of innocence.

Eyewitness testimony sent Jones to prison for an attack and robbery in the parking lot of a Walmart in Roeland Park, Kansas. No physical evidence linked Jones to the crime. He was freed after supporters found evidence that another man who looked just like him lived near the Walmart.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 24-year-old Missouri man was sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole for participating in a conspiracy involving at least 27 armed robberies, which ended when police fatally shot one suspect.

Deonte Collins-Abbott, of Grandview, was sentenced Tuesday in federal court. He admitted to committing eight armed robberies in February and March 2016. Collins-Abbott said he and co-conspirators robbed businesses in Blue Springs, Independence, North Kansas City, Raytown, Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas.

In March 2016, Collins-Abbott and two other men robbed a Walgreens in Blue Springs, Missouri.

Collins-Abbott and Jermon Seals, of Shawnee, Kansas, were confronted by police when they left the store. Police say Seals was shot when he pointed a gun toward officers.

Three other men are awaiting sentencing in the case.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – A man who was part of a $4 million drug conspiracy operating out of a barbershop in Kansas City, Kan., was sentenced Tuesday to 52 months in federal prison, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said.

Jason Bell, 38, Kansas City, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. In his plea, Bell admitted he was part of a drug ring with co-defendant Edwin Pacheco. Pacheco owned Cocoliso’s Barbershop at 1201 Minnesota in Kansas City, Kan., where Bell was employed.

During the course of a federal investigation, Bell sold thousands of dollars’ worth of methamphetamine to undercover investigators. Bell was arrested when investigators served a search warrant at the barbershop. They found more than 12 pounds of methamphetamine in Pacheco’s Jeep Liberty and seized more than $15,000 from the barbershop’s closet. Investigators calculated that the conspirators sold approximately $4 million worth of illegal drugs.

 

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Springfield man has been charged in a deadly drunken driving crash on Interstate 44.

Thirty-nine-year-old William Dorlac pleaded not guilty Tuesday to driving drunk in the crash that killed 65-year-old Deborah Coleman, of Lebanon, Missouri. His attorney, Dean Price, declined to comment, saying he is awaiting further investigation.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says Dorlac was arrested Sunday after his pickup truck went across the median of I-44 and struck the sport utility vehicle that Coleman was driving.

Dorlac told authorities he drank two or three 16-ounce (453 gram) beers that had an alcohol content of 9.6 percent.

Prosecutors in Greene County say Dorlac previously pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated in neighboring Christian County. Dorlac has posted bond.

BAXTER COUNTY, AR — Law enforcement authorities in Arkansas are investigating a Kansas man on sex allegations.

Early Saturday, following a complaint and surveillance, deputies arrested a Junction City, Kansas man after receiving a complaint that he was driving to Mountain Home, Arkansas to pick up a 16-year-old girl he had been communicating with on social media, according to Sheriff John Montgomery.

The girl had been sending sexually explicit photos and videos to him at his request, according to the sheriff.

The parents were concerned for the safety of the child. The man had arranged to meet her at a business parking lot on Highway 5 South of Mountain Home near the girl’s house.

A sheriff’s deputy set up surveillance at the location. At approximately 12:47 a.m., he observed a vehicle drive past the area twice, then pull in and park.

After parking, the man sent a text message to the girl stating he was close by. The man then walked from his car along Highway 5 South past the girl’s house, then to the meeting location.

The man went behind the building. The deputy then approached and made contact with the man, who was identified as 31 year old Andrew Mitchell O’Brien of Junction City, Kansas. After a brief exchange, deputies arrested and took  him into custody.

During a search of his vehicle, deputies found handcuffs, vodka, condoms as well as two cell phones believed to have been used in commission of the crimes. All of these were seized and taken into evidence.
Deputies transported O’Brien to the Baxter County Detention Center. He is being held in lieu of a $50,000 bond on requested charges of Engaging Children In Sexually Explicit Conduct for Use in Visual or Print Medium – Felony
Contributing to the Delinquency of Juvenile – Felony

He will appear in Circuit Court to answer on December 20th, according Montgomery.

Investigators also determined O’Brien is on active military duty stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. The military base was contacted regarding the incident, and the military police have also placed a detainer on him.

 

 

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The number of priests or religious brothers accused of abusing minors in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City has risen to 35 with the addition of two new names.

The two names added over the weekend are Don Greene, who has died, and Mel Lahr. The diocese says Lahr was removed from the ministry for a “credible allegation of violation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.” The initial list of 33 names was released last month.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests says on its website that three publicly accused priests still aren’t included. One of them was assigned to Columbia in the 1980s and later convicted of sexual abuse in Illinois.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Penny Marshall, who starred in “Laverne & Shirley” before becoming one of the top-grossing female directors in Hollywood, has died. She was 75.

Marshall’s publicist, Michelle Bega, said Marshall passed away in her Hollywood Hills, Calif., home on Monday due to complications from diabetes.

Marshall starred alongside Cindy Williams in the hit ABC comedy “Laverne & Shirley,” which aired from 1976 to 1983. As a filmmaker, she became the first woman to direct a film that grossed more than $100 million with “Big,” the 1988 comedy starring Tom Hanks. She also directed “A League of Their Own,” ”Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Awakenings.”