LAWRENCE, Kan. — A child whose brother and sister were found bound and blindfolded in a Walmart parking lot in Kansas told an investigator that the family believed her younger siblings and their Illinois home was possessed by demons, a police officer testified Tuesday.
The children were discovered tied up, with duct tape over their eyes, outside the store in Lawrence in June. Their parents, 44-year-old Deborah Gomez and 52-year-old Adolfo Gomez Jr., are charged with two counts of child abuse and five counts of aggravated child endangerment.
Lawrence police officer Hayden Fowler testified at a preliminary hearing to decide if the parents should stand trial. He said that an older daughter said the family was going to try to cast the demons from her 5-year-old brother and 7-year-old sister.
Fowler said one of the children told him that the family believed there were demons in their Northlake, Ill., home and outside their vehicle in the parking lot, and that the family had recently watched online videos about demons and ‘‘a fallen angel.’’
Fowler testified that one of the older children told him the younger siblings had been tied up because the family believed that ‘‘demons had overtaken their bodies.’’ He said the child told him that duct tape was placed over their eyes to protect them from demons.
The older daughter said they were going to try to cast the demons out of the younger children but did not say how they planned to do that.
Fowler said the daughter told him, ‘‘If the demons were to die, [the children] would die also.’’
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"Prosecutor drops charges in Kansas abortion clinic case" by John Hanna | Associated Press, August 18, 2012
TOPEKA, Kan. — A Kansas prosecutor on Friday dropped all remaining criminal charges against a Kansas City-area Planned Parenthood clinic accused of performing illegal abortions, ending what was believed to be the first attempt in the United States to prosecute a facility affiliated with the group.
Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said that 32 misdemeanor charges against the clinic had been dismissed. Those charges were the last part of a criminal case filed in 2007 by Howe’s predecessor, and Howe said his decision to end the case came after consulting Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt. All three are Republicans.
‘‘It is an unfortunate conclusion that I don’t think is going to satisfy anybody, but that is the reality of what we have to deal with today,’’ Howe said at a news conference at a courthouse in Olathe. ‘‘But ultimately, the decision should be about the law and the evidence.’’
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"Jamaican woman faces marriage fraud trial in Kan." Associated Press, August 21, 2012
WICHITA, Kan. — A Jamaican woman accused of entering into a ‘‘sham marriage’’ with a Kansas soldier faces a federal trial Tuesday during which jurors must decide whether she wed for love or for immigration purposes in a criminal prosecution.
Prosecutors say Shannakay Hunter was an illegal immigrant who conspired with Joshua Priest, then an Army private stationed at Fort Riley, to enter into marriage so she could get a ‘‘green card’’ and regain her legal status, as well as receive military benefits such as health care for herself and her two children.
The government contends their May 2010 marriage in Junction City was never consummated and the couple never lived together.
In its court filings, the defense portrays the 28-year-old Jamaican immigrant, who lives in the Bronx, N.Y., as a hardworking mother who admits overstaying her visa but married for love — and that her husband made the allegations of fraud out of anger.
The defense plans to call as a witness the victim advocate who took care of Hunter after an alleged domestic abuse incident in Junction City involving Priest.
Priest is expected to be the government’s star witness. He pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and wire fraud in a deal with prosecutors for leniency in exchange for his testimony against his wife, and will be sentenced in October.
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