KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday in Kansas charges a Massachusetts man with distributing counterfeit oxycodone pills that contained the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.
Anthony Stokes, 32, South Deerfield, Ma., is charged with five counts of distributing fentanyl and five counts of selling counterfeit drugs. The indictment alleges the crimes took place during December 2018 through Feb. 2019 in Wyandotte County, Kan.
The indictment alleges Stokes sold 114 tablets with counterfeit identifying marks belonging to Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. The tablets contained more than 14.6 grams of fentanyl.
Stokes was arrested June 11 in Massachusetts.
If convicted, he faces a penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison and a $1 million fine on the fentanyl charge and up to 10 years and a fine up to $250,000 on the counterfeit drug charges.
MARION COUNTY — Two people died in an accident just after 2:30p.m. Wednesday in Marion County
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2016 GMC Canyon driven by Janie H. Goodwin, 77, Novinger, was eastbound on U.S. 36 at Monroe City. The driver made a left turn into the path of an eastbound Freightliner semi driven by Lance A. Rogers, 34, Bentleyville, Pennsylvania.
Janie Goodwin was pronounced dead at the scene. EMS transported a passenger in the GMC Earl E. Goodwin, 72, Novinger, to University. Hospital where he died. Rogers was transported to Hanibal Regional Hospital. All three were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the MSHP.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri man who used fake nurse credentials to get jobs at three health care facilities has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison.
Benjamin Danneman photo Illinois Dpt. of Corrections
Benjamin Danneman of Eureka pleaded guilty in March to health care fraud, aggravated identity theft and Social Security fraud. He was sentenced Wednesday in federal court.
Danneman used the name of a real nurse and made other false claims to obtain jobs at Sherbrooke Village in St. Louis County and the Rehabilitation Institute of St. Louis. He also was assistant director of nursing at the Quarters of Des Peres, a 122-bed nursing home.
Court records say Danneman never had any license to provide medical services.
Danneman is already serving a prison sentence in Illinois for crimes that include attempted burglary and theft.
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) — Barring an unexpected development, Metro Business College plans to close its campuses in Cape Girardeau, Jefferson City and Rolla by the end of the year.
MBC founder and president George Holske said declining enrollment and the increased costs forced the decision to close. Holske is working with the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce to see if someone might want to work to keep the college open but he said the chances of success are slim.
The Southeast Missourian reports the St. Louis-based private college focuses on training medical office personnel, administrative assistants, coding specialists and others.
The school stopped admitting students earlier this year. All current students can complete their coursework before the college’s national accreditation expires at the end of the year.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield, Mo., man was indicted by a federal grand jury today for a more than $1.4 million bank fraud scheme.
Michael B. Willhoit, 66, was charged in a 36-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Mo.
Willhoit was the owner and operator of Willhoit Enterprises, which purchased luxury, high-end, expensive automobiles to resell to customers throughout the United States. According to today’s indictment, Willhoit received a total of $1,404,000 in a dozen floor plan loans from Wood and Huston Bank in Springfield, Old Missouri Bank in Springfield, Freedom Bank of Southern Missouri in Cassville, Missouri, OakStar Bank in Springfield, and Bank of Missouri in Springfield.
As a part of each floor-plan loan approval process, Willhoit submitted a purchase agreement to a financial institution once he and the seller of an automobile had agreed to the terms and price that Willhoit would pay to purchase the vehicle. Upon receiving the purchase agreement, the financial institution determined whether to grant the floor-plan loan request and transfer the necessary amount of money into Willhoit’s account so he could purchase the vehicle. As a part of his floor-plan loan agreement with the financial institution, Willhoit agreed to a loan repayment schedule. Willhoit specifically agreed to repay each loan in full, plus any accrued interest, once he resold the specific vehicle to a new buyer.
According to the indictment, Willhoit did not use the loan proceeds to purchase those vehicles but instead used the funds for other expenses on at least 12 occasions from Jan. 1, 2014, through Feb. 28, 2018. The indictment alleges that each of the 12 purchase agreements were falsified, faked or forged. The sellers did not sell the vehicle as represented within the document, did not receive any monies as a result of the purported transaction, did not sign the document submitted to the financial institution, and at the time of the alleged transaction, did not own or possess the vehicle Willhoit represented to be part of the purchase agreement.
The federal indictment charges Willhoit with 12 counts of bank fraud, 12 counts of making false statements to a bank, and 12 counts of aggravated identity theft.
BENTON, Mo. (AP) — Court records say man charged in the death of a 2-year-old told the girl’s mother that he had been “playing around” and seeing how long the toddler and her sibling could hold their breath.
Raymond Bradley Dejournett photo Scott Co.
25-year-old Raymond Bradley Dejournett is jailed on $25,000 bond on charges of abuse or neglect resulting in death and child endangerment. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.
The affidavit says the girl was covered with what appeared to be bruises when authorities responded Saturday to a home near Benton. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.
The affidavit says a sibling told investigators, “Daddy held sissy under water and when she came up she was dead.” The affidavit says Dejournett described what happened as a “terrible accident.”
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford is recalling over 1.3 million vehicles mainly in North America to fix rear suspension and transmission control software problems.
The largest recall covers over 1.2 million Explorer SUVs from 2011 through 2017. Ford says a rear suspension toe link can break if the suspension moves a lot. That can limit steering control. One customer reported running into a curb when a link broke, but Ford says it’s not aware of any injuries.
Dealers will replace the left and right toe links, which keep weight on the tires.
The Explorer recall will cost Ford an estimated $180 million that will show up in the company’s second-quarter results, Ford said in a filing with U.S. securities regulators.
Ford also is recalling 123,000 2013 F-150 pickups for a second time to stop transmissions from unintentionally downshifting into first gear. The recall covers pickups with 5-liter and 6.2-liter gas engines. A previous software update didn’t work.
BUTLER, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say a pilot killed when his small plane crashed into a western Missouri grain bin was an 80-year-old man who split his time between Florida and Kansas City.
Fatal Monday crash north of Kansas City -photo courtesy Fox4Kansas City
Bates County Coroner Greg Mullinax identified him as John McConnell Jr. He was the only person aboard the eight-seat Cessna 425 when it crashed around 10:30 a.m. Monday near the airport in Butler, which is about 55 miles north of Kansas City. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
The flight tracking site FlightAware shows that the plane had left the airport in Vero Beach, Florida, where he had a home, several hours earlier. It was headed to New Century AirCenter in the Kansas City suburb of Olathe, Kansas.
Wells Fargo, the country’s fourth largest bank, has been stained by a series of scandals.-google image
Wells Fargo has agreed to a second round of payments to more than 400 members of the military whose personal vehicles the banking giant repossessed while they were on active duty.
Each service member victimized by the bank will receive $12,300 from a $5 million-plus settlement fund Wells Fargo has agreed to set up. The settlement resolves a federal class action lawsuit filed in Topeka in 2017 by Jin Nakamura, a soldier stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas.
In agreeing to resolve the case, Wells Fargo denied the allegations and said in a statement that it settled “to avoid the distraction of burdensome and protracted litigation.”
Julie Fogerson, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo, said the agreement “is a step forward in making things right for customers and we remain deeply focused on caring for our neighbors, family members and team members who serve our country.”
An attorney for Nakamura did not respond to a request for comment.
Wells Fargo had previously agreed to pay the same individuals $10,000 each. Those payments came under an order by the U.S. Department of Justice and federal banking regulators to which Wells Fargo consented in 2016.
Wells Fargo, the country’s fourth largest bank, has been stained by a series of consumer scandals. The bank has agreed to more than $2 billion in settlements and government orders stemming from various complaints, including claims it opened millions of unauthorized accounts, added customers to its online banking service without their knowledge, required customers to buy unneeded car insurance and charged them excessive fees to lock in mortgage loan rates.
In the Nakamura case, Wells Fargo repossessed his car even though Nakamura had set up automatic payments for the vehicle, according to his lawsuit. By the time he figured out what was happening, the car had been sold along with some military gear he’d stowed in the vehicle.
As the lead plaintiff, Nakamura will receive a bigger payment than the other members of the class. The case required him to make two trips from his duty station in South Korea.
Court documents make it clear that payments under the settlement will be in addition to money service members were eligible to receive under the earlier government case.
In that action, the Justice Department claimed that Wells Fargo had illegally repossessed active service members’ vehicles even though they were protected under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act of 2003. The act requires lenders to get a court order before repossessing an active service member’s vehicle.
Federal investigators had responded to a North Carolina man’s complaint after Wells Fargo repossessed his used car just as he was deploying to Afghanistan in 2015. Investigators were able to corroborate the Army National Guardsman’s complaint and found “a pattern of unlawful repossessions spanning over more than seven years,” according to a Department of Justice statement.
Very little soil moisture in north central Kansas Wheat field- photo from 2014 Kanas Wheat tour
The National Association of Conservation Districts is urging farmers to explore transitioning to conservation practices, including no-till and cover crops, to prevent further soil erosion in the face of extreme weather. The U.S. is currently experiencing the wettest 12 months on record, and farmers have faced a well-documented wet spring, and historically slow planting pace.
In February, NACD hosted two focus groups at its annual meeting in San Antonio, for discussions on how soil health practices like cover crops and no-till have impacted farm fields in the face of extreme weather patterns. A total of 22 producers participated in the focus groups, representing 15 states.
Reports compiled following the discussion are available to farmers considering what their options are, and provides an overview of the producers’ testimony, examining how they and their neighbors are responding to extreme weather events. The report states, “producers said they believe soil health practices make their operations more resilient in several ways,” allowing them to “withstand the extremes.” Find the reports online at www.nacdnet.org.
