Month: February 2015

KCK man pleads guilty to two bank robberies

A Kansas City, Kan., man who was on supervised release for a 2009 bank robbery conviction pleaded guilty to robbing two more banks.

Antonio P. Gaitan, 36, Kansas City, Kan., pleaded guilty on Feb. 17 in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo. According to the U.S. attorney’s office in the Western District of Missouri, Gaitan pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery in an indictment returned in the Western District of Missouri and one count of bank robbery in an indictment in Kansas.

By pleading guilty, Gaitan admitted that he stole $4,114 from Country Club Bank, 1 Ward Parkway, Kansas City, Mo., on April 2, 2014. Gaitan also admitted that he stole $5,130 from Truity Credit Union in Lawrence, Kan., on April 5, 2014.

Gaitan was identified from surveillance photos from the Country Club Bank robbery, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Investigators learned that Gaitan was traveling to Nebraska, and he was arrested by authorities in that state, the U.S. attorney’s office stated.

Gaitan recently had escaped from custody at Heartland Center for Behavioral Change after being sentenced to five years in prison and three years of supervised release for a 2009 bank robbery, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. His supervised release was revoked by the court.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Gaitan will be sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole for the bank robberies, plus a consecutive revocation sentence of 24 to 31 months for violating his supervised release, the U.S. attorney’s office stated. Gaitan must pay $9,244 in restitution.

This case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Leena Ramana. It was investigated by the FBI, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, the Lawrence, Kan., Police Department and the Omaha, Neb., Police Department.

KCKCC’s The Gallery to feature works by area artist

Art by Alexander Austin is on display at The Gallery at Kansas City Kansas Community College. (Photo from Karen Hernandez)
Art by Alexander Austin is on display at The Gallery at Kansas City Kansas Community College. (Photo from Karen Hernandez)

by Kelly Rogge
The Gallery at Kansas City Kansas Community College will be the host of a new art exhibit this month featuring Kansas City, Mo., artist Alexander Austin.

The exhibit is free and open for public viewing from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Thursday beginning Feb. 20. An opening reception from 3 to 6:30 p.m. Feb. 20 is also free and open to the public. The exhibit closes March 4.

If individuals would like to view the exhibit during alternate times, an appointment can be made. The Gallery is in Lower Jewell on the KCKCC main campus, 7250 State Ave.

Austin, who was born in Tallahassee, Fla., is a self-taught artist that began drawing as a young child. He was discovered when he entered his artwork into the North Florida Fair. He later gained recognition by painting murals on abandoned buildings and graffiti covered walls in the 1990s after he moved to Kansas City, Mo.

He is also the artist behind the largest mural in Kansas City, Mo., history, which was completed in 2007. Commissioned by the Cordish Co., the 18,000 square foot mural is on the southern façade of a building in the Kansas City Power and Light District. He has painted other murals for companies such as McDonalds, Google Fiber and the Kansas City Zoo and has also freelanced for Hallmark Cards.

Austin’s work has been published by Yale University Press and the Whitney Museum of Art in New York and has been featured in the Kansas City Star, the New York Times, Essence Magazine and Time Magazine.

Austin’s mural of Kansas City legend Buck O’Neil was used for the opening of the 2012 All Star Game and his work is owned by celebrities such as Will Smith, Magic Johnson and Danny Glover. The Studio Museum in Harlem lists Austin as one of the top 30 African-American artists working in the United States today.

Kelly Rogge is the public information supervisor at KCKCC.