A Kansas City, Kan., man who told investigators he preferred jail to living with his wife pleaded guilty Monday to a federal bank robbery charge, U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said.
Lawrence John Ripple, 70, Kansas City, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery.
A criminal complaint in the case alleged that on Sept. 2, 2016, Ripple sat down in the lobby and waited for police after robbing the Bank of Labor at 756 Minnesota Ave. in Kansas City, Kan.
He told investigators that after an argument with his wife he felt he would rather be in prison than go back home.
Sentencing will be set for a later date. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000. Beall commended the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Catania for their work on the case.
A Wyandotte County woman was ordered last week to repay more than $41,000 to the Kansas Medicaid Program after pleading guilty to Medicaid fraud-related charges, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said.
Vivian Union, 41, pleaded guilty in November in Wyandotte County District Court to one felony count of making a false claim to the Medicaid program.
On Friday, Judge Bill Klapper ordered Union to repay $41,446 to the Kansas Medicaid Program. Judge Klapper also sentenced Union to 24 months probation with an underlying jail sentence of 13 months and 12 months post-release supervision. Convictions such as this one may also result in a period during which the defendant is prohibited from being paid wages through a government health care program.
An investigation revealed that Union billed Medicaid for services provided as a personal care attendant to her sister while also being employed by four other businesses. There were approximately 670 dates that the defendant claimed more than 24 hours of services to her sister, several of those 670 claims were for more than 40 hours of service in a single day. The defendant also billed for services while her sister was a hospital inpatient. The crimes occurred between March 2010 and December 2014.
Assistant Attorney General Stefani Hepford of Schmidt’s office prosecuted the case against Union.
At 6-9, KCKCC center Donald Metoyer goes well above Brown Mackie’s Stacey Whitt for two of his 12 points in the Blue Devils’ 71-69 win Saturday that was sealed by Metoyer’s 3-point play with 1:30 left. (KCKCC photo by Alan Hoskins)KCKCC sophomore guard Mike Lee maneuvers past four Brown Mackie defenders on the way to a layup in a 71-69 Blue Devil win. Lee led KCKCC with 13 points, seven assists and a big defensive stop at the finish. (KCKCC photo by Alan Hoskins)
by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College put a stop on Brown Mackie’s Devin Shuler just in the nick of time Saturday.
In a span of just 6½ minutes, the 6-foot guard had scored 17 points to reduce an 11-point deficit to 71-69 with 18 seconds left and a chance to tie or even win with his fifth 3-pointer. The Blue Devils, however, gave him no chance as his heavily contested trey at the horn was well off target.
The 71-69 win boosted the Blue Devils’ record to 2-0 in the Region VI as they head into Jayhawk play Wednesday at Highland. Both games will be streamed on the Highland website, the women at 5:30 and men at 7:30 p.m.
Ironically, Shuler had only one field goal when he made two free throws to cut the KCKCC lead to 61-52 with 6:33 left. From there on in, he scored 17 of Brown Mackie’s final 19 points and it took field goals by Jon Murray, Kellen Turner and Daniel Kingcannon to keep KCKCC ahead. The biggest play came with 1:30 left, a layup and free throw by Washington’s Donald Metoyer that opened the KCKCC lead to 70-66.
Shuler’s fourth 3-pointer made it 70-69 but after one of two free throws by Murray, the Larks called a time out to set up potential game-winning three foiled by the tight defense of Mike Lee and Turner.
“The last play was outstanding,” KCKCC coach Kelley Newton said. “We got Mike Lee on point and didn’t let them get off a clean shot; just what we had talked about so it was really a great way to close out the game and show some toughness.”
Four Blue Devils scored in double figures with Lee leading the way with 13 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Turner also had seven assists and 10 points while Metoyer had 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting and Kingcannon 11 points. Artavious Banks led in rebounding with a career high 10; Murray chipped in with nine points and five rebounds and Lane Hartley had a trio of 3-pointers, all in the first half that kept KCKCC in the lead.
Nailing 18-of-28 first half shots for 64.3 percent, the Blue Devils built their biggest lead at 44-31 and led 56-39 at the half. For the game, they were 27-of-54 for a season’s best 54 percent along with 17 assists on 27 field goals.
“We’re getting a few guys to step up and play at a higher level and showing that we can focus our play in the mental game as well as the physical game,” Newton said. “We’re making strides on being a better team as we go down the stretch. This was a good job of bouncing back from a letdown against Washburn. It’s a good way to start regional play but it still remains to be seen if we can put a couple of games together and finish up the first round of regional play with a good record.”
