Month: April 2016

Saint Francis Community Services, Salina, Kan., is merging with Associated Youth Services in a move to allow Saint Francis to expand and enhance services to at-risk children and youth within Kansas City, Kan., and the rest of the state.

A nonprofit provider to youth in crisis situations since 1972, AYS will continue to operate its programs and services within the Kansas City metro area and Garden City under the name “Associated Youth Services,” according to the announcement.

“Simply put, this merger will help us serve more children in more ways,” said the Very Rev. Robert Nelson Smith, SFCS president, CEO, and dean. “For decades, AYS has provided exceptional care to at-risk youth through a variety of programs. Saint Francis already serves children and families in 75 Kansas counties, and by combining our resources, we can provide much needed, healing services to more youth in even more areas of Kansas.”

AYS will maintain its office in Kansas City while continuing to provide programs that include foster care, Juvenile Justice Foster Care, Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Prevention and Treatment, community mental health education and treatment, and residential care for adolescents.

Those programs will operate in conjunction with Saint Francis’ array of programs and services that include foster care and reintegration, residential treatment, family preservation, adoption, substance abuse counseling, and community outreach. For 70 years, Saint Francis Community Services has been an innovative leader in serving at-risk children and youth. From its origins as Saint Francis Boys’ Home in Ellsworth, Kan., SFCS has grown into a multi-state Episcopal ministry, providing programs and services to 10,000 children, youth, and families in Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Mississippi. Saint Francis Community Services is a donor-supported, Episcopal child and family, community-based service provider since 1945.

A Kansas City, Kan., man was sentenced Monday to 12 years in federal prison for his part in a drug trafficking organization that is alleged to have distributed large amounts of methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said.

Joshua Thomas Alvarez, 26, Kansas City, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. In his plea, he admitted that in July 2012 the FBI identified a major drug trafficking ring operating in Kansas City, Kan.

During the investigation, agents made 15 controlled purchases of methamphetamine from members of the organization. Five search warrants were executed at locations where methamphetamine and firearms were stored. Alvarez was identified as one of the conspirators who purchased methamphetamine from the leader of the organization and resold it.

Co-defendants include:

Vicencio Olea-Monarez, 38, Kansas City, Kan., who is awaiting trial.
Gabriel Agustin Lopez, 30, who is set for sentencing June 27.
Rosalio Chinchilla, 45, Kansas City, Kan., who is set for sentencing June 15.
Jose Luis Silva-Cardona, 26, Kansas City, Mo., who is set for sentencing June 13.
Lee Thomas Faulkner, 41, Topeka, Kan., who is set for sentencing July 5.
Omar Francisco Orduno-Ramirez, 37, who is awaiting trial.
Hector Javier Valdez, 36, who is awaiting trial.
Juan Carlos Alvarez, 28, who is set for sentencing June 15.
Herbert Lee Saysoff, 54, who is awaiting trial.

Grissom commended the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Zabel for their work on the case.