Continuance of pretrial Thursday catches the state and jail by surprise
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The pretial hearing scheduled for Thursday afternoon for a Nickerson man charged in a child sex case was continued, but that came as a surprise to District Attorney Keith Schroeder as well as the sort officers with the Reno County Jail.
Schroeder showed up for the hearing and learned of the defense request and approval from Judge Trish Rose for the continuance. The jail also wasn’t notified having brought the Shanon Patrick Williams to the third floor courtroom only to be told to take him back.
Williams is charged with aggravated indecent liberties with a child, indecent liberties with a child and three counts of sexual exploitation of a child. He was arrested after the Reno County Sheriff’s Department assisted Homeland Security officers and the Wichita Missing and Exploited Child Unit serve a search warrant on his residence at 103 S. Paine. They seized his computers as well as a camera allegedly used to take some of the pictures.
The case has to do with Williams taking pictures of his autistic step-daughter who was 13 and 14 years old at the time of the alleged crimes. Some of the photos included lewd close-ups of the child, some with clothing, but most without. There were indications that he was trying trade the photos for other pornographic pictures and movies.
The crimes allegedly occurring between September 13, 2011 and July 31, 2013.
The trial is scheduled to begin next Tuesday in front of Judge Rose and they apparently moved the pretrial hearing to Monday morning at 9 a.m.
Hutch man decides against plea agreement in meth distribution case
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A 29-year-old Hutchinson man arrested on drug distribution charges back on Oct. 28, 2014 was scheduled for hearing Thursday where he was scheduled to enter a plea. However, Jesse Aich apparently had a change of heart and turned down the plea, so Judge Joe McCarville set a preliminary hearing date of April 30.
Aich is charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell, possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to package, possession of three other drugs, hydrocodone, oxycodone and morphine as well as a final count of personal use drug paraphernalia.
The case started with a search warrant served on his residence where he apparently lived in a basement bedroom. Inside that room, law enforcement allegedly found a baggie that contained a crystal substance, a baggie containing a powder substance, a digital scale with white residue, new packaging materials, used baggies with residue, two 100 count boxes of syringes, glass pipes with burnt residue they say was used to smoke meth, several types of pills and over a $1,000 in cash.
Aich is no stranger to law enforcement with convictions for criminal damage, burglary, domestic battery, forgery, drugs, obstruction, alcohol-related charges and theft. Some of the crimes occurred here, but others occurred in Kingman and Ford counties.
Hutch man enters pleas in five cases
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A 34-year-old man charged in a total of five case entered “no contest” pleas in all five Thursday afternoon in front of Judge Joe McCarville.
The first case against Brian Swift goes back to May 15, 2014 when he was charged with theft by deception and criminal use of a financial card. He entered the plea to both counts which included theft at Wal-Mart, Dillon’s and a Kwik Shop. He used a financial card that had been stolen according to the complaint.
On Sept. 22, 2014, he broke into a home in the 500 block of East 1st. Charges included burglary and theft of a firearm, that being .38 revolver. However, he only entered a plea to the first count while the state dropped the firearm charge.
On Oct. 13, 2014, he was caught with methamphetamine in his possession when police came to arrest him on a warrant out of McPherson County. He also had drug paraphernalia, but as part of the plea agreement, the state dropped that count.
The other two cases are misdemeanors, one for issuing a worthless check at the former Alco store in South Hutchinson and the other for giving a false name to police when they came to arrest him on a warrant. That occurring in Jan. of this year.
Swift in entering the pleas also waived his right to appeal any sentence that might be handed down in the case. Judge McCarville set sentencing for May 22.
He has prior convictions for possession of meth and traffic in contraband in a correctional facility and was given corrections for those convictions. However, they will count against him at sentencing.