InfoKwik Kansas City Area News

This Summary is of selected criminal trends and is not reflective of all police activity 

For the two weeks ending 06-22-09 Lenexa officers investigated 584 incidents, conducted 105 street checks and field interviews, wrote 387 citations, and made 145 arrests. During the recent “Click It or Ticket” safety campaign officers also wrote a substantial number of seatbelt violations and made 13 DUI arrests.

SEXUAL ASSAULT

Two sexual assaults were reported recently. The first case was investigated and was determined to be unfounded, while in the second, a 35 year-old Olathe woman reported that she was assaulted by a long time acquaintance at an apartment after a night of drinking. The acquaintance, a 24 year-old Lenexa man, has cooperated with investigators who are still investigating the case.

PHYSICAL DISTURBANCES

Maybe (or maybe not) the heat has something to do with people losing their tempers that much quicker than normal. The recent result though is that officers are finding themselves responding to a substantial number of physical incidents recently. The incidents were both domestic and non-domestic and involved everything from grandchildren assaulting their grandparents to disgruntled customers physically assaulting service technicians because their air conditioning systems did not work.



In a domestic case that could have easily been more tragic, a game of Dominos in Quivira Place on Halsey St between a 39 year-old man, his 30 year-old ex-girlfriend and two neighbors led to a verbal argument. The group initially separated without police being called but when the intoxicated ex-boyfriend returned to the apartment to retrieve some belongings, his ex-girlfriend “lightly” stabbed him twice in the stomach. When officers arrived she was still in possession of two knives. She was arrested and lodged into ADC. The victim was not cooperative with officers and refused medical treatment.

The most unusual domestic case involved a 20 year-old Lenexa man who allegedly battered his 16 year-old girlfriend. As officers investigated they also discovered the couple had a child together before she was the age of consent. The man was arrested for Domestic Battery and Aggravated Indecent Liberties with a Child. In Barrington Park near 109^th & Hauser a “mutual” domestic battery between the 49 year-old husband and his 34 year-old wife, who had minor injuries, led to the arrest of both. This incident started as a verbal argument when the wife found her husband on the computer looking at websites (non-pornographic) that she did not approve of. The argument turned physical before police were called.

A 24 year-old Roeland Park man recently reported that he was “jumped” by 15 black males in Quivira Place early one morning. What he didn’t know was that we had already talked to several nearby residents who confirmed the man had been in a fight - with one subject while others held that man back. It turned out our “victim” instigated the fight by calling the other male an insulting and derogatory term. That case will not be prosecuted. In another Quivra Place case, this on Monday the 15^th officers made two responses (5:16 and 6:30 pm) to a “Hispanic” fight in the street and a black male armed with a gun. Both reports were unfounded and were made by caller(s) using the same cell phone. Detectives are looking into the cases.

BURGLARY

Officers investigated several business burglaries lately and incidents occurred near 90^th & Parkhill, 107^th & Widmer, 95^th & Quivira, and 83^rd & Melrose. In the Parkhill case entry was gained through the back door and a flat screen television was taken while on 107^th St unknown suspect(s) cut a hole in the tin wall of the business. Near 95^th & Quivira a vet clinic was entered and controlled substances were taken while on Melrose several computers were taken from a school computer lab. There were no signs of forced entry and this is the second similar incident in the last three months. Detectives are investigating.

Two residential burglaries were reported in the 9900 blk of Century and on 89^th west of Widmer. In the Century case the suspect(s) left a credit card receipt behind while the 89^th St case was concluded with a trespass complaint against the former husband who had returned to his ex-wife’s residence to retrieve property after he was told not to do so.

An Aggravated Burglary occurred near 89 Pl & Loriet when unknown suspect(s) first entered a car that was parked in the driveway. The suspect(s) then used the garage door opener left in the car to enter garage and they then stole thousands of dollars worth of electronics, tools, and other property. This was not the only case like this as Shawnee PD also investigated a case where the suspect(s) returned the next week to finish the burglary. It is not known if the incidents are related. If you need to leave your car parked outside, and we understand when that happens, please take the extra second and take the garage door opener with you!

Numerous vehicle burglaries were also reported recently and once again GPS Units are the most popular targets and as usual most of the vehicles were left unlocked. Incidents were reported near 113th & Mullen, 82nd & Twilight, 90^th & Pflumm (likely part of a pattern where we have had several incidents just before dawn in the area), two cases in Four Colonies near 81^st & Monrovia both involving broken windows, and 99^th & Lone Elm where a briefcase with a laptop and personal papers were taken. Although the laptop has not been pawned it appears as though the suspect(s) are attempting to log into the victim’s personal accounts.

THEFTS

Another cell phone theft from a city pool, numerous shoplifters and identity theft fraud cases were reported recently. Of course when it comes to internet fraud it means nothing that you still have the card in your physical possession. In fact, in most of the cases you do. Officers also took several theft reports where items were left behind for just a minute as well as several Theft of Services reports (jilted cab fares) and defrauding an innkeeper. In that case the identified suspect has a lengthy criminal record and is also believed to be part of a roofing scam. For those not familiar with these crooks, and their counterparts the driveway re-sealers, every summer they descend on the metro area and offer to re-roof or re-seal a driveway, almost always requiring up front payment for shoddy or incomplete work. Most unfortunately is that they like to target our elderly residents who sometimes have a difficult time refuting their “quick sales pitch”.

There is a new law on the books that is designed to help Identity Theft victims start the process of getting their good name back. The law requires that law enforcement agencies assist their residents by taking police reports for ID theft cases even when it is clear the ID was used in a different location. We’ve have always done this as a service for our residents and this last week we also took a report for an out-of-city resident who banks in Lenexa.

One of our residents recently started receiving calls from collection agencies and a fraud detective from another metro area police agency. He contacted the detective who told him they had found several checks in his name at a home in his city. The victim said that he had cleaned out financial papers and had tossed a number of unwritten old checks into a recycling bin without shredding them. This is one of opportunistic cases that has created more problems than it needed to, and it is quite likely that detectives in multiple agencies will spend many hours investigating the cases. It all could have been prevented had our resident just used a shredder!

One of our larger companies in town has also become a victim recently when several out-of-state residents have received fake checks in the company’s name along with instructions to cash the check and keep a percentage back for themselves. Several suspicious persons have called the company to find out the checks are counterfeits.

CRIMINAL DAMAGE

Every summer law enforcement agencies deal with idle bored juveniles some of whom decide it a good idea to damage other people’s property. Early on 060909 a large number of car windows were broken in northern Lenexa and southern Shawnee neighborhoods. Shawnee PD took approximately ten reports and we took eight. Our cases took place in Greystone West on 76^th Terr and 77^th St.; in Ashley Park on 75^th Pl near 75^th Terr; and on Widmer near 75^th Terr.; and near 77& Monrovia. In other cases of likely juvenile criminals acting up, on early Sunday and Monday about a dozen mailboxes on Long St near 75^th, 82^nd & Twilight, 82^nd & Parkhill were damaged and a community mailbox near 93rd & Brentwood was pried open.



ASSIST OUTSIDE AGENCY CASES

Lenexa PD officers recently assisted the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation on two separate large investigations. The KBI case involved a narcotics investigation where two persons were arrested. One of which is a 38 year-old man Lenexa man is well known to area law enforcement. In the FBI assist, officers and agents served an arrest warrant for Possession and Distribution of Child Pornography on a 19 year-old Lenexa man. Several persons commented in this case that they would not have suspected this young man as “being the type” who would be involved in this type of criminal activity. Of course law enforcement officers are rarely surprised at anything, and our response to that is that you should never judge a person by their cover but by their character.

HEAT WAVE

Please check on your elderly neighbors during this extreme heat wave. There are “cooling centers” available throughout the metro area. In Lenexa and Johnson County the local library branches are the most convenient centers to get to.

The Police Department asks that anytime you see suspicious activity to please call 9-1-1.