Category: CNN Regional

By Nick Sloan, Krista Tatschl

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    JOHNSON COUNTY, Kan. (KMBC) — A former school district employee faces 10 felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child in Johnson County.

Christopher Hills has been charged with ten felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child in Johnson County District Court.

Prosecutors allege Hills unlawfully possessed visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct between February 2024 and August 2026.

The complaint details two separate periods of alleged offenses and cites investigations by local law enforcement, digital forensics experts, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Hills made his first court appearance Monday by video conference.

He requested a court-appointed attorney, telling the judge he could not afford one. Hills worked at Wellsville Elementary School until Aug. 6, the day of his arrest.

In a letter sent to families, the district said none of the alleged crimes occurred on school property or involved Wellsville students.

A $1 million bond has been requested and he’s due in court on Monday afternoon in Johnson County. If Hills posts bond, he would be prohibited from accessing computers or the Internet and from having contact with anyone younger than 18.

Hills is scheduled to appear in court again by Zoom at 10 a.m. Aug. 20.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Robert Chappell

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    SUN PRAIRIE, WI (365 Media Foundation, Inc) — A Sun Prairie family has filed complaints with the Dane County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) and Sun Prairie Police Department (SPPD), and is pursuing legal action, after a Dane County Sheriff’s Deputy followed a 19-year-old woman for more than six miles, handcuffed her father, forcibly threw her to the ground and violently detained her without provocation.

Sun Prairie Police body camera video shows Bryanna Montgomery, 19, was backing away from Deputy Tory Boyce when he grabbed her arm and the back of her neck, throwing her to the ground and kneeling on her back. With the assistance of Sun Prairie Police officer Tyler Chitwood, who also knelt on Bryanna Montgomery’s back, Boyce placed Montgomery in the back of his patrol car.

“I’m about to watch my kid get killed in front of our (expletive) house,” Jovan Montgomery recalls thinking. He said he may pursue therapy, as the whole encounter has given him recurring nightmares.

A Sun Prairie Police Department spokesman said the department is looking into the case but could not comment at this time.

“The Dane County Sheriff’s Office takes all complaints about the conduct of our employees seriously. Maintaining the trust and confidence of our community members is of the utmost importance,” Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barret said in an email to Madison365. “Whenever we receive a complaint, we thoroughly review the matter and take appropriate action based on the outcome of the investigation.”

The following video comes from two SPPD body cameras. The second depicts a better view of Boyce’s actions but is muted, which is against SPPD policy. The video contains profanity and disturbing images.

youtu.be/Q1m7lt0gYOs?si=mZGLeF-gYyLHu0Ew

All eight body camera videos are available at this link: youtu.be/AwpbkPlcdkE

The incident

Jovan Montgomery told Madison365 that he and his daughter Bryanna had gone to Madison’s east side to pick up his other daughter’s car late Wednesday, July 29. Bryanna was driving that car back to their home in Sun Prairie, with Jovan in his car behind. He said he noticed a Dane County Sheriff’s Deputy following closely behind Bryanna on the East Side of Madison, and that the deputy continued to follow her all the way to Sun Prairie.

A ticket mailed to Bryanna subsequently alleges that she ran the stop sign at Portage Road and Hanson Road in the Town of Burke. Google Maps indicates that it’s a 6.6-mile drive from there to the Montgomery home, which is where Boyce finally turned on his lights and pulled Bryanna over.

A DCSO representative said there’s no set policy on how long it should take to initiate a traffic stop after a deputy observes a violation.

“The timeline completely depends on the discretion of the individual law enforcement officer surrounding the anticipated contact,” DCSO Public Information Officer Elise Shaffer wrote in an email responding to Madison365’s questions. “Every contact with the public presents its own unique set of circumstances.”

Madison365 has submitted open records requests for Boyce’s patrol car dash cam video.

The dark blue route is the one Jovan Montgomery said he and his daughter took from the East Side of Madison to Sun Prairie, with Sheriff’s Deputy Tory Boyce following the entire way. Jovan Montgomery said he followed the deputy as the deputy followed Byranna, calling his wife, who was at home. When they arrived home and the deputy turned his lights on, Jovan parked behind the deputy’s car. Jovan got out of his car just as Boyce was getting out of his, and Jovan said Boyce immediately shone his flashlight into Jovan’s eyes and demanded to see his ID. Jovan Montgomery said he asked what crime he had committed, and declined to show his ID.

A law enforcement officer can ask anyone for an ID, and a person can decline that request, unless the officer has reasonable suspicion that they’ve committed a crime, Shaffer said.

“He probably wanted to see if I got a warrant (for arrest),” Jovan Montgomery said. “I don’t. Once he saw me, he saw a Black man, and he’s like, ‘target acquired.’”

After declining to provide an ID, Jovan Montgomery walked onto his front lawn and requested Boyce summon assistance from the Sun Prairie Police Department (SPPD), because he knew SPPD uses body cameras. Eight SPPD officers arrived very shortly thereafter.

SPPD body camera video indicates that Boyce told SPPD officers “he’s detained, she’s detained,” pointing in turn at Jovan and Bryanna Montgomery. Jovan Montgomery’s wife and Bryanna’s stepmother, Emily Wendt, was also outside and vocally confrontational with police, but was not detained.

Wendt is white. Jovan and Bryanna Montgomery are Black.

SPPD officer Tyler Chitwood wrote in an incident report that he asked Boyce if he wanted Jovan Montgomery in handcuffs, and that Boyce said yes.

Chitwood’s body camera video shows that he asked, “You want him actually detained?” And Boyce answered, “Yes, with the way he’s acting,” as Jovan Montgomery, standing on his front lawn, took a step back with his arms folded.

Chitwood and officer Odalys Gloria then placed Jovan Montgomery in handcuffs. Chitwood wrote in his report that Jovan Montgomery offered “passive resistance” by tensing his arm, but complied.

Shaffer said Wisconsin law enforcement officers “are allowed to handcuff a person when that person is under formal arrest, placed in protective custody, or when a law enforcement officer has specific articulable facts showing the person poses a safety or flight risk during temporary detention.”

Madison365 has submitted open records requests for Deputy Boyce’s incident reports to ascertain whether he articulated any such facts. Shaffer could not answer whether his reports contain such facts.

Video recorded by Chitwood and Gloria then shows Boyce speaking with Bryanna Montgomery on the sidewalk. Boyce said he wanted to “explain the traffic stop” and seemed to indicate he wanted Bryanna Montgomery to move closer to the street for that purpose. It’s unclear why he couldn’t explain the traffic stop where they were standing, on the sidewalk.

Bryanna Montgomery did not seem threatening, nor did she seem to be attempting to flee. However, when she refused to walk with Boyce toward the street, he grabbed her upper arm with one hand, the back of her neck with the other and threw her face-first to the ground, on the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the curb. While Wendt screamed and implored officers to get off of her, and Jovan told Bryanna to hold still and calm down, both Chitwood and Boyce knelt on her back while securing her in handcuffs. She said once that she couldn’t breathe. Once they had her cuffed, Chitwood asked whether she needed an ambulance; she said no. They then walked her to a patrol car and she voluntarily got in the back seat, saying, “I weigh like 20 times less than both of you. You don’t need two grown men on my (expletive) back.”

A few minutes later, a DCSO Sergeant arrived and walked Jovan toward his garage door, away from the SPPD officers. Jovan said he explained the situation to the sergeant and the sergeant unlocked the handcuffs on him and instructed SPPD officers to get Bryanna out of the squad car and unlock the handcuffs on her. Boyce told Bryanna that he would mail a ticket, and the police all left.

Bryanna Montgomery then received tickets in the mail for failure to obey a traffic sign, for following too closely and for driving without her driver’s license on her person. Jovan Montgomery received a ticket for following Boyce too closely. That ticket indicates the violation happened on Main Street in Sun Prairie, even though all three vehicles avoided Main Street due to road construction.

“This was a big deal”

After the police had all left, Wendt and Jovan Montgomery took Bryanna to the emergency room, where she was treated for a racing heart rate, difficulty breathing, and abrasions to her legs.

A little over a week later, during an interview with Madison365, Jovan seemed more traumatized than Bryanna was.

“You’re supposed to de-escalate,” he said of his expectations of police. “You’re supposed to make sure people feel safe. I don’t even feel safe in front of police anymore.”

He said he remembers hearing Bryanna say, “We’re not doing this today” to Boyce, and thinking she meant, “we’re not doing what you guys just did a week ago with Corey (Ruiz),” referring to the man shot and killed by Madison police on July 22, just a week before this encounter. “That’s not gonna happen. You’re not gonna do any violence or murder somebody in front of our house. I’m no threat.”

Bryanna said she felt more disrespected than fearful.

“You’re not even talking to me like I’m a human,” Bryanna said. “You’re talking to me like you own me.”

“It just seemed like it was just a really bad day, and it seemed like the deputy wanted to make it a worse day,” Jovan Montgomery said. “I really feel that I was being targeted… as a Black man.”

The family has filed complaints with both DCSO and SPPD. They have also consulted an attorney and are considering a lawsuit against both agencies.

“I want a public apology towards me and for my child, because a routine traffic stop should not turn into where people are being thrown around like rag dolls or like we’re slaves,” Jovan said. “Those days are over with.”

Wendt said she wants “some accountability that something’s going to change. There’s going to have to be some monetary compensation, too. This is trauma… what we want is acknowledgement. We want Byranna’s case to mean something for change. This was a big deal.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Matthew Rodriguez

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    LOS ANGELES, California (KCAL, KCBS) — The Los Angeles Police Department officer accused of illegally recording his coworkers allegedly saying sexist, homophobic and racist remarks.

Daniel Flores, 43, faces 16 counts for allegedly recording his colleagues without their permission that could lead to a sentence of up to 13 years in prison. The LA County District Attorney’s Office said he secretly recorded his coworkers 122 times while working at LAPD’s Recruitment and Employment Division in 2024.

“[The] defendant’s motive to make the recordings was less altruistic and more personally motivated to avoid being transferred to patrol and to reap a financial windfall from suing the City of Los Angeles,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said.

Flores claimed in a hostile-workplace lawsuit filed against the city in June that he recorded the conversations as part of a “lawful investigation” into officers using slurs. He also claimed that the hostile workplace environment began in late 2021 when a new supervisor took over his division. Flores claimed the supervisor “repeatedly made derogatory statements and fostered an environment in which other employees were encouraged to do the same.”

Flores said he submitted complaints about his coworkers’ comments and more than 120 recordings to LAPD’s Internal Affairs Division and the LA Police Commission in January 2025.

“One can address important issues by going through the proper legal channels,” Hochman said. “If one chooses a law-breaking path instead, then the consequences will be straightforward and significant.”

His attorney, Alan Jackson, said Flores was being targeted for reporting racism within the department.

“Makes no sense. It’s abusive,” Jackson said. “From now until this case is over, we will defend Mr. Flores as vigorously as we possibly can against what we think is prosecutorial overreach, desperate prosecutorial overreach.”

In court filings, some colleagues said Flores at times made references to the desire to earn large payouts from the department in the form of civil lawsuits, which he allegedly referred to as the “LAPD lottery.” Prosecutors said Flores used the recordings to cash in on his job at the department without working. Prosecutors also claimed he altered the recordings to omit his participation in the allegedly bigoted conversations.

Last Thursday, Mayor Karen Bass denounced the “alleged racist, sexist, and homophobic comments” but shared her concern about the charges dissuading future whistleblowers from reporting “egregious behavior.”

“While I understand that it is inappropriate and a crime to record colleagues without their consent, these charges certainly send the wrong message that calling out egregious behavior could land you in prison,” Bass said. “I am worried that this will deter whistleblowers and discourage officers from using the appropriate reporting channels in the future.”

After prosecutors filed the charges, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said he supported prosecutors filing charges against Flores.

“I am committed to ensuring the workplace is professional, respectful, and free from misconduct, and any employee who violates those standards will be held accountable,” McDonnell said.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Carmela Karcher

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    ARDEN-ARCADE, California (KOVR) — More than 200 Arden-Arcade residents packed a community meeting Monday night, demanding answers over a planned re-entry home for formerly incarcerated people that is set to open next month.

The home, along Norris Avenue in the northern Arden-Arcade area, has sparked opposition from neighbors and local officials who say its location near multiple schools and in the middle of a residential neighborhood is inappropriate.

The nonprofit operating the home, Inside Circle, purchased the property and plans to house people transitioning back into the community after serving time in prison.

“I want to know how they were first allowed to even purchase a property within that short distance of a school,” one resident said.

CBS News Sacramento first reported on the planned re-entry home last month. Some neighbors said they were caught off guard by the project, with some saying they live next door to the property and were unaware of the plans until recently.

The proximity to schools was one of the biggest concerns raised Monday night. Residents pointed to several nearby campuses, including one they said shares a fence line with the property.

“I think that there needs to be change to the legislation here that would prevent this type of program from being put smack in the middle of a family-oriented community next to schools,” resident Bryan Hiestand explained.

Sacramento County Supervisor Rich Desmond opened the meeting by saying he supports rehabilitation and successful re-entry for people leaving prison but believes the Norris Avenue property is the wrong location.

“We all have a vested interest in making sure they rehabilitate, they re-enter community, and they are successful,” Desmond said. “But this is the wrong location, and I wish they had worked with my office and with the sheriff’s department on finding a more suitable location for this program.”

Inside Circle CEO Eldra Jackson was there to hear all of it, laying out the groundwork of how the program works and to answer any questions.

“We have established strict, multi-layered screening criteria,” Jackson explained. “Individuals with any history of serious offenses against minors, sex offenses, arson, or high-risk sexually violent convictions are operationally banned from our home. Furthermore, every single person in our home remains under active legal supervision by either Sacramento County Probation or State Parole.”

That explanation did little to ease concerns for some residents, who called for the property to be sold and the program relocated.

“I think the best solution is that Mr. Jackson considers selling the property, doing it at a reasonable price, and move it somewhere that makes a lot more sense,” one resident said.

Why the county and city can’t simply stop it The dispute also centers on who has authority over the home.

While Sacramento city and county officials have voiced opposition, state law limits the ability of local governments to block certain re-entry programs operated as residential homes for up to six people.

That means the county and city cannot simply prevent the home from opening based on local opposition as long as it meets the requirements established under state law.

Desmond said he plans to continue working with state officials to determine whether there is a way to stop the project or move it to another location.

Meanwhile, residents are organizing a petition opposing the home and are pushing for the operation to be shut down or relocated.

Inside Circle plans to hold additional community meetings as it prepares to open the home next month.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Brady Halbleib

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    LOOMIS, California (KOVR) — More than a year after the Del Oro High School girls softball team traded their smartphones for basic flip phones as part of a monthlong mental health challenge, players and parents say the experiment continues to influence how they use technology.

The team took part in the “digital detox” last year after Jennifer Christensen, whose daughter Addy played on the team, challenged the athletes to give up their smartphones for an entire month.

Christensen said she initially wasn’t sure whether the players would agree.

“I did not foresee 100% participation,” she said.

The challenge was designed to encourage the teens to step away from social media and constant smartphone use while focusing on their mental health.

Addy Christensen also participated in a separate experiment during the detox, undergoing brain scans throughout the month.

According to the Christensen family, the scans showed changes during the early stages of the detox that were described as resembling withdrawal. Later scans showed improvements in areas associated with decision-making, impulse control and retention.

Now, more than a year later, Jennifer Christensen said she has noticed what she believes are lasting behavioral changes.

“One thing that I’ve noticed for sure and something that was reported back was regulatory capability,” she said.

She described that as a greater awareness among teens of when and why they reach for their phones, particularly when they are anxious.

“Not always grabbing the phone now, but rather sitting with themselves and processing it,” Christensen said.

For Christensen, the most noticeable changes have gone beyond phone use.

She said she and other parents have noticed some teens appearing more confident, with better posture, stronger eye contact and more fluid speech.

“To come out on the other side in the ways she has is really exciting,” Christensen said of her daughter.

The experience has also turned the mother-daughter duo into advocates for mental health awareness and more intentional technology use.

Jennifer and Addy have since been invited to speak at events, sharing what they learned from the digital detox with other families and communities.

Christensen’s advice to parents considering a similar experiment is straightforward: The transition may be difficult, but she believes the potential benefits are worth it.

“They won’t even look like they did at the beginning of the digital detox and it’s only in positive ways,” she said.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Logan Smith

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    KEENESBURG, Colorado (KCNC) — On the first day of school, a Colorado grade schooler learned the consequences for not listening to his mother.

Keenesburg resident Amanda Stolz was driving her son, Colton, to school Monday morning when she encountered one of the town’s officers.

“He was giving me some trouble,” Stolz said of her son. She wanted to take Colton’s photo on his first day of 5th grade.

Colton resisted.

She turned to the law for help.

“[S]o Officer Jack had to step in,” she later recounted on social media, “and inform him that refusing your mom a first-day-of-school picture is, in fact, against the law.”

The emergency lights came on and the handcuffs came out. Keenesburg Officer Jack Ross briefly took Colton into custody.

“It was awesome that Officer Jack took it serious,” Stolz told CBS Colorado. “We were like, ‘Well, I guess we have you back-to-school pictures now, don’t we?'”

CBS Colorado is trying to confirm which state statute was cited as the offense, and also whether booking photos are allowed in the school’s yearbook.

Meanwhile, mom…er, Stolz…couldn’t help celebrating online.

“Here’s to 5th grade buddy!”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Spencer Wilson

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    GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado (KCNC) — Five 17-year-old boys were killed in a car crash over the weekend in western Colorado when the vehicle they were in went off the road and off the edge of a cliff. It happened along Lookout Lane in Orchard Mesa, which is south of Grand Junction.

A driver called 911 after spotting the wreckage off the side of the roadway on Sunday morning. First responders then raced to get to the crash scene and used ropes to descend down the cliff, but there were no survivors.

Because the people who died are all minors, police are not identifying the victims. Police said three had seat belts on and two did not.

An investigation is underway into whether speed played a role in the crash.

Grand Junction police said they are offering support through the victim services unit.

“Those professionals who deal with mental health and grief counselors, any type of professional like that, they are so vital for people to talk to,” said Kelly Clingman of the Grand Junction Police Department.

Mesa County public schools start back up on Tuesday. The Mesa County Valley School District says it will have resources on hand for students and staff.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.