Common Law, episode 11: Seeking sentencing consistency

Aug. 18, 20098:30 a.m.

Oscar Ortiz was one of four men convicted of an armed robbery that netted them $7 last year. Three different judges granted the others probation but prosecutors asked Judge David Kaufman to send Ortiz to prison. Ortiz, supported by his family, told Kaufman that seven months in the county jail was enough for him to know he didn’t want more time behind bars.

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Woman says man impersonated police officer to gain entry to her house

Feb. 26, 20097:01 p.m.

A 35-year-old woman testified this morning that a man posed as a police officer as a ruse to attack her inside her Wichita home.

Sedgwick County District Judge Joseph Bribiesca ordered Michael W. Young to stand trial on two counts of aggravated kidnapping, one count of aggravated robbery and one count of attempted rape following a preliminary hearing.

Young, 51, pleaded not guilty.

The woman identified Young in court as the man who blocked her car with his vehicle in her driveway Sept. 5, as she tried to leave with her 3-year-old daughter. She is not being identified because of an Eagle policy not to name potential victims of sex crimes.

She said Young displayed a badge and a gun and told her he had a search warrant to look for a man, who he named, but whom she didn’t know. She testified Young ordered her and her daughter into the house in the 1300 block of North Pershing, and took her to the basement. There, he pulled a gun on her, took her cell phone, threatened her and tried to sexually assault her.

At one point, the woman testified, she thought she was going to die and asked to say good-bye to her daughter.

The woman then said she fought with the man in the basement and the kitchen, where they both reached for knives. She ended up grabbing a pizza cutter and he a butter knife.

The woman said she and her daughter eventually scrambled out of the house. Young, she said, jumped in his car and drove away.

Young’s trial is tentatively set for April 20.

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Armed robbery earns men $7, up to nine criminal charges

Feb. 19, 20094:20 p.m.

Four men could face years in prison over an armed robbery that netted them $7 in cash.

The men, ranging in age from 18 to 20, were arrested after Wichita police said four people were held at gunpoint on Dec. 12 in the 2100 block of North Broadway.

Set for preliminary hearing next week on nine criminal charges are Rodolfo Ortiz, 20; Oscar C. Ortiz, 19; Wilson J. Agosto, 19; and Rene W. Ibarra, 18.

Prosecutors said the four men pointed guns at two men and two women and demanded money. They received $7 in cash from one of the women, according to the criminal complaint.

That alone brought one charge of aggravated robbery and three counts of attempted aggravated robbery against each of the men. The minimum prison sentence they could receive for the aggravated robbery charge is 4 1/2 years.

But there’s more.

Police reports say the group also knocked out the windows out of a sport-utility vehicle and two pick-up trucks and took $20 in speakers. Add three counts of criminal damage to property and misdemeanor theft, which could bring another 12 months in jail on each count.

Two of the men, Wilson Agosto and Oscar Ortiz, also had prior convictions as juveniles, which prevented them from carrying handguns. Now, they stand charged with criminal possession of a firearm.

If convicted of all the charges, and sentences run consecutively, the men could face between 12 and 52 years in prison.

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Couple’s spat leads to their arrest as robbery suspects

Aug. 22, 20085:53 p.m.

A man and a woman fighting with each other drew the attention of Wichita police this week, who arrested them after seeing they fit the description of a couple who attacked and robbed a 79-year-old man just an hour earlier.

Terry Ross, 25, and Kelly Baalmann, 33, were charged today with aggravated robbery.

The older man who lived in th 200 block of South Chautauqua called police to report being robbed just before 8:30 Wednesday morning. Detective Ken Davis said in his report that the man told police he answered a knock on his door to find a woman standing with a towel wrapped around her head, claiming to be involved in an accident. As he opened the door, another man pushed his way into the home and began beating the resident. The couple took $100 out of the man’s pocket and fled. A neighbor upstairs heard the commotion and saw the couple leave in a green truck.

About an hour later, police received a call of a couple fighting in a green truck in the 6300 block of Eilerts, less than 3 miles from the reported robbery. Police found Baalmann with a swollen eye and scratches on her face and arms. Ross had scratches on his face and neck, police said. Officer Valerie Shirkey said she asked Baalman how she’d gotten hurt. Baalman replied “gymnastics injuries.”

Judge Eric Yost scheduled the couple for a preliminary hearing Sept. 9. Yost set Baalmann’s bond at $75,000 bond and $100,000 for Ross.

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