(Missouri Independent) – A new lawsuit will test whether public agencies can hide how much they are paying attorneys and determine how far they must go in searching for records sought under the Missouri Sunshine Law. The lawsuit, filed Sept. 10 in Jefferson City by lobbyist John Gaskin of Flotron McIntosh, accuses the Missouri State Employees […]
A Missouri business owner who engaged in a $4 million scheme to defraud his customers was sentenced in federal court for tax evasion after failing to pay more than $768,000 in state and federal taxes. “Not only did this defendant steal millions of dollars from his customers, but he stole from the public by evading […]
A former paraprofessional at Blue Springs High School was sentenced in federal court for producing and distributing child pornography. Steven B. Allen, 46, of Independence, Missouri, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark to 22 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Allen to spend the rest of his life on […]
Sentencing has been held for an Independence man on two counts of possession of child pornography in 2018. 33-year-old Zachary Ryan Kerns was sentenced in Daviess County Circuit Court to serve 20 years with the Missouri Department of Corrections. The sentence was listed as 10 years on each count with the terms served consecutively. Circuit […]
A Trenton man was placed on probation after receiving a prison sentence when he pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree statutory rape of a girl that authorities said was 15 years old at the time of the offense last year. Michael Wilson, who was 25 years old at the time of his arrest in […]
The Grundy County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest on September 8, 2021, of two individuals who failed to appear in court. Fifty-three-year-old Barbara Lois Strout of Eldon was arrested in Miller County. She allegedly failed to appear on felony charges of possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. Strout’s bond is […]
(Missouri Independent) – In the first test of a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, drug middlemen last week argued that federal law gives them a right to limit which pharmacies patients with health insurance can use — or at least make it more expensive if patients get their medicine at a shop that isn’t preferred […]
(Missouri Independent) – Work to bring a new contractor for prisoner health care services online in Missouri can continue, but the actual transition from Corizon, the current provider, won’t occur until at least early November, Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green ordered Tuesday. Green issued a temporary restraining order blocking the state from canceling its […]
(Missouri Independent) – A trial will be held in early November to determine whether a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Centene will take over the contract for prison health care in the Missouri Department of Corrections. In a hearing Thursday, Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green set Nov. 3 as the first day in the trial where current […]
The Highway Patrol reports the arrest of a Bucklin man on a felony Linn County warrant for child molestation. Fifty-four-year-old Roger Cupp was arrested in Linn County on September 3rd. He was transported to the Linn County Sheriff’s Department. Online court information indicates Cupp faces 11 felony counts of child molestation, as well as 19 […]
Two Missouri residents have pleaded guilty in federal court to methamphetamine trafficking after they received a large package of methamphetamine shipped from California to distribute locally. Bryan Patton Tullous, 39, of Columbia, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Willie J. Epps, Jr., to participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Co-defendant Cassiopeia Marie Blaise, 36, […]
The Missouri Department of Conservation is offering free upcoming hunter education skills sessions in northwest Missouri. Participants will earn the safety certificate needed to obtain hunting permits. These sessions will teach and test participants for safe firearms handling and basic hunting skills. A session will be offered from 5 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. […]
Livingston County Sheriff Steve Cox reports the arrest of a Wheeling man after the man fled and was found hiding in a bean field. Thirty-seven-year-old Douglas Steven Coin has been charged with the felonies of delivery of a controlled substance, driving while revoked or suspended, and resisting arrest, detention, or stop by fleeing. Bond was […]
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s Securities Division issued a final cease and desist order against Cutting Edge Supplements, LLC, and Desmond R. Bloss for misusing a $60,000 investment by a Missouri couple. Missouri Commissioner of Securities David Minnick found that between November 28, 2016, and June 30, 2017, Bloss solicited and received investments from a […]
(Missouri Independent) – Attorneys who successfully sued to force Missouri to enact voter-approved Medicaid expansion argued in a letter to state officials Thursday that delays in implementation violate not only the court order but also federal law. The plaintiffs’ attorneys, Chuck Hatfield and Lowell Pearson joined with Joel Ferber, director of advocacy for Legal Services […]
A Mexican national was sentenced in federal court today for illegally selling more than a dozen firearms and a large amount of methamphetamine and heroin to undercover federal agents. Heladio Lezama-Palma, 36, a citizen of Mexico who was residing in Kansas City, Missouri, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to 15 years […]
(Missouri Independent) – The Interior Department will make significant steps toward restarting its leasing programs for onshore and offshore oil and gas development in the coming months, the Biden administration said in a court filing Tuesday. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management anticipates holding a sale for offshore leases in October or November, the administration […]
A Missouri man was sentenced in federal court for tax evasion. Duane Dixon, 59, of Sedalia, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to three years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Dixon to pay $639,733 in restitution to the IRS. On Feb. 2, 2021, Dixon pleaded guilty to one […]
The waiver that allowed Missouri restaurants to sell “to-go” alcoholic drinks beginning on April 14, 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, will become permanent when Senate Bill 126 takes effect on August 28, 2021. The administrative waiver was granted because many restaurants were severely strained as business dropped off or shifted to take out […]
As the United States evacuates citizens and allies from Afghanistan following a Taliban takeover, members of Missouri’s Congressional delegation are speaking out. “Fourth District Republican Representative Vicky Hartzler called the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan “bungled” and said in a statement “gone and lost are decades of progress for women, who will now see […]
