Stolen car recovered from Kansas River

A car pulled Friday morning from the Kansas River apparently was put there intentionally, according to police and tow truck workers who removed the vehicle.

“There were signs that this was something that was done on purpose,” said Kevin Raash of TransMaster towing service. “We got the call to remove the car from the river just after 8 this morning.”

The late-model, four-door Mercury Mystique was found nearly submerged. The car left tracks, right, along the river bank across from Burcham Park.

According to Police Sgt. Mike Pattrick, the car was reported stolen just after 7 a.m. Friday from the 1600 block of West Eighth Terrace.

“Somehow the suspect was able to drive the car on to the levee,” Pattrick said. “After that they must have pushed the car. It traveled down the dock and landed in the water.”

The car was one of three reported stolen early Friday. There is no word on the location of the other two cars: a 2000 Honda Civic taken from the 900 block of Louisiana Street, and a 1994 Honda Accord stolen from the 1400 block of Apple Lane. Police had no suspects in custody Friday.

Leavenworth Co. wreck injures Lawrence driver

A Lawrence man was injured Wednesday afternoon when his motorcycle went out of control and flipped on a gravel road 2 1/2 miles north of Tonganoxie.

An accident report from the Kansas Highway Patrol said Steven L. Unfred, 38, was traveling at 2:10 p.m. on a private drive on 219th Street when he lost control.

He was transported to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and released.

D.C. suspect guilty in area PCP case

A Washington, D.C., man arrested after a traffic stop in Leavenworth County has pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute PCP.

Kansas Highway Patrol troopers stopped Paul Douglas, 32, on May 19, 2003, for a traffic violation near Interstate 70, according to U.S. Atty. Eric Melgren’s office. Police discovered a one-gallon jug of PCP in a cooler in the trunk and a pound of marijuana in a suitcase after a trooper ran a drug dog around the vehicle.

Douglas admitted he’d flown from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles to get the PCP and was transporting it back to the nation’s capital.

Douglas faces a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in federal prison without parole. His sentencing will be April 12.

A co-defendant, Mark Seymour, 33, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty to an identical charge in November and will be sentenced Feb. 9.