Prosecutors announced Monday that 29-year-old Corey Mason, of Kansas City, Kansas, has been charged with first-degree murder and 35-year-old Daniel Kidwell, of Kansas City, Missouri, with second-degree murder in the death of Jeff Rogers. The 25-year-old victim called 911 after the April 2008 home invasion.
The Kansas City Star reports that Rogers was suffering from gunshot and knife wounds when officers arrived and died later at a hospital. Police said at the time that four or five men had broken into his home and beat, shot and stabbed him.
The filing of charges comes shortly after officials asked for tips in the cold case.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A 52-year-old Wyandotte County Sheriff’s deputy has been charged with sexual crimes involving a victim under 14.
Deputy Mastel photo Wyandotte County
District Attorney Mark Dupree said Wednesday that Michael Mastel is charged with three counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count each of rape and aggravated criminal sodomy.
Dupree says the investigation began last year when the child came forward. He says Mastel knew the child but not through his work as a deputy.
Sheriff Donald Ash said Mastel is on leave without pay. Mastel has worked at the sheriff’s office since 2010.
The sodomy is alleged to have occurred in 2011 or 2012. The rape and the sexual exploitation allegedly occurred between March and June of 2018.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Mastel has an attorney.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld Gov. Mike Parson’s appointment of Mike Kehoe as the state’s lieutenant governor.
Kehoe
In a 5-2 decision written by Chief Justice Zel Fischer, the Supreme Court said the state constitution gives the governor the authority to fill all vacancies in public offices unless state law lays out another way of doing so. Because state law provides no other means of filling a vacancy for lieutenant governor, “Governor Parson was within his constitutional authority when he appointed Kehoe to the office of Lieutenant Governor,” Fischer wrote.
Kehoe took office amid a shuffling of state officeholders that began after former Gov. Eric Greitens resigned in the face of potential impeachment last June. Parson had been serving as lieutenant governor and was elevated to the state’s top executive position. He appointed fellow Republican Kehoe to replace him as lieutenant governor.
Parson lauded the ruling.
“Missouri’s constitution is clear regarding the authority to make gubernatorial appointments,” he said in a statement. “It’s important that Missouri have all of the statewide offices filled, which work to provide stability and to ensure that all Missourians are being served appropriately.”
Missouri’s governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately.
The Missouri Democratic Party and a man named Darrell Cope sued hours after Parson named Kehoe as second-in-command. They alleged that the governor does not have the authority to name a lieutenant governor and asked to keep the position vacant until an election could be held to fill it.
Supreme Court Judges George Draper III and Patricia Breckenridge agreed with that argument. Draper wrote in a dissent that he believes state law prohibits the governor from appointing a lieutenant governor and that the office should have remained vacant until the next general election.
Missouri Democratic Party Executive Director Lauren Gepford in a Tuesday statement said the party respects the Supreme Court’s decision, “which clears up a grey area within the law.”
“Governor Parson has won the power to appoint the state government of his choosing, which he has done by appointing his own Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and Treasurer,” she said, citing additional appointments that Parson made during the state office reshuffling. “We look forward to holding him accountable for his own performance in office as well as the performance of his appointees.”
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Operations have resumed at a Columbia library after it was evacuated because of a threatening message on social media.
Columbia Police Sgt. Chad Gooch says patrons and employees were asked to leave the library for about an hour Tuesday after staff at Daniel Boone Regional Library noticed a series of “concerning” tweets.
After a bomb-detecting unit cleared the building, Gooch said the tweets were deemed not credible. He says no further investigation is planned.
Library spokeswoman Mitzi St. John says the evacuation was made in order to err on the side of caution.
During the evacuation, no one was allowed in or out of Grant Elementary School, which is across the street from the library.
On Monday, Addy Tritt will be featured on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” A show spokeswoman said that while Tritt generously gives back to her community, she is actually in debt herself with student loan and even relies on family support to buy groceries.
Tritt, a Fort Hays State graduate, said she wanted to help others because so many people have helped her in the past. When the price at a Hays store dropped to $1 per pair, Tritt negotiated with the business to buy the remaining shoes for $100.
They included 162 pairs of baby shoes, two pairs of men’s shoes, and the rest were women’s shoes.The retail price of the shoes would have been more than $6,000.
A new law standardizing Kansas’ response to child-on-child sexual assault could cost $126,000 and result in more than 3,200 treatment referrals a year.
Gov. Laura Kelly signed legislation Friday that directs the Department for Children and Families to immediately refer a minor to treatment if the agency receives a report that the child sexually abused another child.
The Kansas Department for Children and Families estimates the new guidelines will result in 3,264 hotline calls being referred to treatment. ANNA LANGOVA / PUBLIC DOMAIN
The new statute also requires the department to document whether treatment was provided to the child accused of abuse, the reasons for needing it and the outcome.
The agency estimates 3,264 children a year would need to be referred to treatment. That estimate includes both foster children in the agency’s care and children who are the subject of reports from the DCF child abuse hotline.
Agency officials say the added counseling work means DCF will have to hire two more staff members at a cost of more than $126,000 per year for salary and benefits. The Legislature did not appropriate additional funding to pay those costs this year.
Republican state Sen. Molly Baumgardner of Overland Park introduced the bill after stories broke last year of foster children assaulting other children in DCF custody. She pressed to make sure the agency had a consistent response to such incidents.
“It was very disconcerting to me, learning that there wasn’t a set process,” she said. “We need all of our kids to be safe.”
Baumgardner said she was inspired by a similar law that passed in Missouri in 2015, requiring the state’s Children’s Division to perform assessments and offer voluntary services after receiving a report that one child sexually abused another.
The Kansas law also states that the services for children who commit abuse are voluntary — unless DCF determines that the risk of future sexual behavior problems is high if the child does not receive treatment. It defines “a child with sexual behavior problems” as a minor who has allegedly committed sexual abuse against another child.
DCF says it already has procedures in place for handling reports of abuse allegedly committed by children. In an email, a department spokesman said a worker first determines whether a report of abuse is substantiated and what kind of treatment might be needed. The information is also passed to a committee, who makes a final decision on the reliability of the report and the need for treatment for the child who allegedly committed the abuse.
Currently, law enforcement is also required to conduct an investigation of reported sexual abuse of a child.
Alicia Johnson-Turner, a special assistant to DCF secretary Laura Howard, said DCF would only provide referrals, rather than direct treatment. She said the agency may pay for treatment on a case-by-case basis.
Johnson-Turner said two organizations in the state, in the Kansas City and Wichita areas, provide evidence-based treatment for children with problematic sexual behavior. She said children who live outside those areas may be referred to community mental health centers for psychotherapy.
“That might be targeted at sexual behavior,” she said. “It just wouldn’t be one of the evidence-based models.”
The Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault, based in Kansas City, Missouri, treats Kansas children who demonstrate age-inappropriate sexual behavior.
Such behaviors are different than a child’s curiosity about their own body, or consensual sexual behavior between teenagers of the same age, said MOCSA’s director of counseling services, Rene McCreary. It’s often caused by sexual abuse, early exposure to pornography or other types of trauma, such as witnessing domestic violence.
Children who demonstrate problematic sexual behavior — such as exposing themselves, touching other children’s genitals, using inappropriate language or gestures, or touching themselves in public — are unlikely to repeat it, she said.
“When kids act out in a sexual way, it’s pretty unusual for them to do it again,” McCreary said. “Especially after receiving treatment.”
But it’s still important for children to learn the social skills and impulse control taught at MOCSA’s 18-week program, she said. The treatment involves both group and individual therapy for children and their families. Children round out the program by writing an apology letter.
“It’s really important to us,” McCreary said, “to provide this model in the way that it’s been studied and proven to work.”
Foster children are at risk of developing inappropriate sexual behaviors due to their living conditions and their exposure to trauma and abuse, said Heidi Olson, a pediatric sexual assault nurse at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.
Olson told lawmakers that almost half of the sexual assaults treated at Children’s Mercy in the past several years were committed by minors, with 11- to 15-year-old boys being the most likely to do so.
“Those kids aren’t even old enough to drive, and yet they are acting out with this sexually harmful behavior,” Olson said in an interview. “The way to approach this is to get kids into therapy and treatment that really works and addressing those behaviors, versus them being adjudicated and going to jail.”
It’s essential for treatment to be administered at a young age so a child can heal and learn about boundaries, she said.
For adults, “the recidivism rate is much higher,” Olson said, “so I think this is really significant.”
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has signed a bill that requires election officials to notify voters before their mail-in ballots are thrown out because of signature problems.
An Associated Press analysis of rejected ballots in the 2018 primary in the state’s most populous county found that 153 mail-in ballots were not counted because of signatures that didn’t match county voting records.
Then-Secretary of State Kris Kobach defeated then-Gov. Jeff Colyer for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in that race by only 343 votes. The close Republican primaryhighlighted differences in how Kansas counties handled mail-in ballots.
The legislationKelly signed Monday gives voters an additional week or longer to provide a signature.
JASPER COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 3a.m. Tuesday in Jasper County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Kawasaki Ninja driven by Adam D. Brinegar, 31, Carl Junction, was northbound on Interstate 49 one mile south of Carthage.
The motorcycle left the road, struck an embankment and rolled. Brinegar was pronounced dead at the scene and released the Jasper County Coroner. He was wearing a helmet, according to the MSHP.
Higher limits are now available for borrowers interested in farm loans from the Department of Agriculture. USDA announced last week the increase would help farmers purchase farms or cover operating expenses. The 2018 Farm Bill increased the amount that producers can borrow through direct and guaranteed loans available through USDA’s Farm Service Agency, and made changes to other loans, such as microloans and emergency loans.
FSA Administrator Richard Fordyce called farm loans “increasingly important” to farmers and ranchers “as natural disasters, trade disruptions and persistent pressure on commodity prices continue to impact agricultural operations.” Key changes include increasing the Direct Operating Loan limit from $300,000 to $400,000.
The Direct Farm Ownership Loan limit increased from $300,000 to $600,000, and the Guaranteed Farm Ownership Loan limit increased from $1.429 million to $1.75 million. Producers can now receive both a $50,000 Farm Ownership Microloan and a $50,000 Operating Microloan. For more information on FSA farm loans, visit fsa.usda.gov.
GASCONADE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating after human remains were found inside a plastic barrel floating in a river in central Missouri, according to the Gasconade County Sheriff’s Office
Members of the Highway Patrol and the Sheriff’s Office removed the plastic barrel that was lodged on the side of the boat ramp at the Gasconade River access in Gasconade.
Investigators determined the barrel and its contents to be suspicious and was subsequently taken to the Boone County Medical Examiner’s Office in Columbia.. On Monday, human remains were discovered inside the barrel. An investigation into the identity and cause of death remains ongoing.
Higher limits are now available for borrowers interested in farm loans from the Department of Agriculture. USDA announced last week the increase would help farmers purchase farms or cover operating expenses. The 2018 Farm Bill increased the amount that producers can borrow through direct and guaranteed loans available through USDA’s Farm Service Agency, and made changes to other loans, such as microloans and emergency loans.