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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2014
PAGE 9A
NATIONAL
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Court papers: Wisconsin woman faked pregnancy, stole baby
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOWN OF BELOIT, Wis.
— An hour after a woman reported her newborn son missing from a Wisconsin home, police were questioning her step-sister — found with a prosthetic pregnancy belly, baby clothes and a stroller, but no baby, according to court documents.
It was more than 24 hours after Kayden Powell went missing before authorities discovered the infant, less than a week old, in a plastic storage crate outside an Iowa gas station, miraculously alive and well despite frigid temperatures.
Kristen Smith of Denver had pretended to be pregnant, went to Wisconsin and stole her step-sister's baby from his bassinet as his parents slept, court documents say. Then, police closed in on her, she allegedly abandoned the infant, who was swaddled in blankets. Federal prosecutors in Madison charged Smith with kidnapping Friday afternoon, hours after an Iowa police chief found Kayden.
"He's strong," the newborn's great-uncle, Mark Bennett, said of the boy. "I'm glad that baby is still living instead of in a ditch somewhere on a strange highway."
The discovery of the infant shortly after 10 a.m. Friday capped a frantic search that involved police officers in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa.
It began after the boy's mother, Brianna Marshall, called police around 4:30 a.m. Thursday to report her newborn had vanished from Bennett's home, where she and the baby's father, Bruce Powell, had been staying, according to police and the affidavit.
Marshall said Smith had left the house a couple of hours earlier to return to Colorado. While police were at the house, Smith called on her cellphone. She told police that Marshall and Bruce Powell were planning to move to Denver on Saturday to live with her and she had Kayden's clothes in her car but didn't have the boy.
A search of her cellphone revealed emails in which she said she gave birth on Feb. 5, according to the court document. A search of her Facebook page turned up postings
Police told her to pull over for questioning. An officer met her at a Kum & Go gas station near Interstate 80 in West Branch, Iowa. She was arrested about 5:30 a.m. on an outstanding Texas warrant, but she denied any knowledge of Kayden's whereabouts, the affidavit says.
in which she claimed she was pregnant.
Smith didn't appear pregnant, according to the affidavit. A pregnancy test that was administered while she was in custody came back negative, U.S. Attorney John Vaudreuil said.
Meanwhile, dozens of officers began searched for the child at possible stop-offs along Smith's route from Wisconsin to Iowa. West Branch Police Chief Mike Horihan decided to check the area around a BP station about 500 yards from the station where Smith was arrested. He heard a baby's cries and discovered Kayden in a closed storage crate alongside the building. The newborn was responsive and healthy, the chief said.
Authorities gather at a gas station in West Branch, Iowa, where a missing newborn was found alive on Friday. Police said they found Kayden Powell, who's nearly a week old, after they heard the newborn crying.
Temperatures in West Branch, about 180 miles southwest of the Town of Beloit, dipped below zero Thursday night into Friday. They were still in the single digits when the baby was found.
"I had tears in my eyes," BP station manager Jay Patel said, recalling his reaction to the police chief telling him that the infant had been found. "It's good news, but it's sad, too."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Surprisingly with the weather the way it was, he was surprisingly healthy," Horian, the Iowa police chief, said. "To
be honest with you, that's not what I expected."
The baby was taken to an Iowa City hospital, where he was reunited with his parents and released Friday evening.
Online court records didn't list a defense attorney for Smith. She faces life in prison if convicted.
Police interviewed Smith again after Kayden was discovered, the affidavit said, and she admitted she had taken the baby and left him at the BP station.
Bennett, the baby's great-uncle, told The Associated Press he first met Smith on Thursday night, when he came home and found her, his mother and the baby's mother and father in his house. He said his mother later explained to him that Marshall and her step-sister had the same father but different mothers.
He went to his room in the basement. When he woke up, the baby and Smith were gone.
He said he kept telling Marshall that Smith had to have taken the child, but Marshall refused to believe it. The baby's bassinet was two feet from the parents' bed and he found a paring knife on the ground next to it.
"You stole him like you're stealing something from the grocery store," the great-uncle said. "Nobody in their right
"I could have woke up to a bloody mess," Bennett said. He said he hopes Smith gets locked up for life.
mind should have thought of that."
Smith appears to go by multiple names and has had run-ins with the law in multiple states, authorities said. The Texas warrant stems from a felony indictment charging her with tampering with government documents last year while she was in jail in Colorado.
A spokesman for the Arapahoe County, Colo., sheriff's office declined to discuss the details of her arrest there. A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office in Tarrant County, Texas, said it's not clear why Colorado authorities released Smith instead of sending her back to Texas.
DUI FROM PAGE 1A
Despite the popular belief that police officers are hustling at the end of each month to meet their citation quota, McKinley said that is not true in Lawrence.
I've been here for 23 years and we have never had any kind of quota," McKinley said. "Sometimes, if we're working for KDOT on one of their grants, they set targets or goals that they want you to meet — like one seat belt citation per hour. That's not anything that is set by our department, that's KDOT trying to enforce a law for their department."
Edited by Chelsea Mies
BILL FROM PAGE 1A
Emily Harsh, a senior from Topeka, said she doesn't see how people would disagree with increasing penalties for driving under the influence. "I don't really see how anyone could reasonably have an opposing stance," Harsh said. "I suppose if somebody is foolish enough, perhaps."
The law will take effect on July 1,2014.
- Edited by Kaitlyn Klein
PARK FROM PAGE 1A
a necessary step for moving this project forward."
a necessary step for moving this project forward."
"I am one of only a handful of people who have a car," said Maddie Level, a freshman from Wichita. "This will impact getting home and people getting rides. It's going to be a big change for everyone involved. I understand why they are doing this, but at this time it is extremely inconvenient."
For students wanting a refund or permit change, bring your KUID and parking permit to the Parking and Transit Office in the Allen Fieldhouse Garage at 1501 Irving Hill Road. The Parking and Transit Office is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
NATIONAL
Edited by Chelsea Mies
3,000 birds rescued in cockfighting bust
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - More than 3,000 birds were rescued in a three-county cockfighting takedown in New York this weekend that resulted in nine felony arrests, according to the state Attorney General's Office.
In a statement released Sunday night, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said it was the largest cockfighting takedown in New York state and among the largest in U.S. history.
"Operation Angry Birds" simultaneously targeted locations in Queens, Brooklyn and Ulster County with assistance from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Ulster County Sheriff's office. Schneiderman said.
"Cockfighting is a cruel, abusive and barbaric practice that tortures animals, endangers the health and safety of the public and is known to facilitate other crimes." Schneiderman said.
In Queens, authorities raided a cockfighting bimonthly event where 70 people were taken into custody, including six who were arrested on felony prohibition of animal fighting charges. The ASP-
At the cockfights, spectators were charged admission fees and an additional fee for a seat within the secret basement location that housed the all-night fights, authorities said. Alcohol was sold without a permit and owners and spectators placed bets on the fights with individual wagers reaching $10,000.
In Brooklyn, a pet shop was raided where 50 fighting birds were rescued from a basement beneath the pet shop. The pet shop's owner was arrested on a felony charge and cockfighting contraband, including artificial spurs and syringes used to inject performance enhancing drugs into the roosters, were also found.
The pet shop owner was charged with prohibition of animal fighting, prosecutors said.
Authorities also raided a 90-acre farm in Plattekill, rescuing as many at 3,000 birds. The farm's owners charged rent to cockfighting enthusiasts from various other states, including, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts to board, feed and care for roosters that were bred and trained to fight, prosecutors said. A farm manager and a farm hand at the scene were arrested.
CA took control of 65 fighting birds, authorities said.
Authorities said the roosters had razor-sharp gaffs attached in place of their spurs and were locked in small pens to be wagered on. The ASPCA has established a temporary shelter to house and care for the animals.
In New York, cockfighting and possession of a fighting bird at a cockfighting location are felonies and each charge carries a maximum penalty of four years in jail and a fine of up to $25,000, according to the attorney general's office.
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