Steve Neavling

An initiative by Blue Cross and Blue Shield to promote good health seemed to work too well when some municipal employees of Kansas City were reporting excessive, grueling exercise sessions to earn gift cards.

It was so unreal, in fact, that the scam caught the FBI’ attention, which resulted in an  investigation, KCTV 5 reports.

One employee claimed to have participated in the Olympics, four triathlons, three duathlons, three marathons and two half-marathons. Others were reporting the same kind of strenuous activity, KCTV 5 reported.

Six Kansas City municipal workers and a Jackson County correctional employee have been indicted by a grand jury.

Kevin Perkins/fbi photo

Kevin Perkins is moving up.

The veteran FBI agent has been named the agency’s associate deputy director, the number three spot at FBI headquarters. He’s  replacing Thomas J. Harrington, who is retiring.

In 2009, he was named assistant director of the bureau’s Criminal Investigative Division.

He joined the FBI in 1986 and has worked in Kansas City, Baltimore, Philadelphia and headquarters.

Joe Allen, a former federal prosecutor in Detroit, has been named acting Assistant Director of Public & Governmental Affairs for ATF in Washington, an agency that has had its share of public relations problems in wake of its Operation Fast and Furious.

Allen, who replaces Gregory K. Gant, will head up the division which includes media relations, legislative affairs and liaison work. Gant has moved to the Kansas City division as an assistant special agent in charge.

Allen has worked as a prosecutor in Detroit and a lawyer at the Department of Justice in Washington.

He is currently on loan to the ATF headquarters. His official assignment is general counsel for the ATF in the Detroit Division.

The feds have busted a Roman Catholic priest in Missouri on charges of producing and possessing child pornography after he allegedly took photos of girls ages 2 to 12 on church property over a six year period, including in the choir loft.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas City charged Shawn Ratigan, 45, of Independence, Mo., in a 13 count indictment on Tuesday.

“When a person who has been placed in a position of trust exploits and victimizes children, he victimizes the entire community,” U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips said. “Today’s indictment sends a strong message that we will not tolerate this criminal behavior.”

Ratigan, 45, was the parish pastor at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Kansas City, Mo., and more recently served as chaplain to the Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Eucharist in Independence.

A word to the unwise: Don’t shoot at FBI agents.

Nicholas Henry, 28, Kansas City, Kan., was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison for attempting to kill an FBI agent and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.

In his plea, Henry admitted that on Nov. 1, 2009, he fired at an FBI Task Force Officer in a parking lot at 151st and Ridgeview Road in Olathe, Kan. where he was in a stolen pickup truck, authorities said.

When the task force tried to arrest him, he produced a .40 caliber handgun and fired two shots at one of the agents who was about 10 feet away. He missed.

Other agents returned fire and hit Henry 14 times. He survived.

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

Matt J. Whitworth

Kansas City Acting U.S. Attorney Matt J. Whitworth has been named a U.S. Magistrate Judge, the U.S. District Court in Western Missouri announced.

Whitworth, who became acting U.S. Attorney on March 1,  has been a federal prosecutor in the Kansas City office since 1988. He is a 1983 graduate of the Univerity of Arkansas School of Law.

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