Suspect in bomb scare makes court appearance

The man suspected of causing a bomb scare Monday after trying to rob a downtown business has been charged with attempted robbery.

Kevin E. Voth, 27, Tuesday made his first court appearance in Douglas County District Court by videoconference from the county jail. Prosecutors filed one count of attempted robbery against him, and a judge set his bond at $5,000.

Police allege Voth walked into Blackbird Trading Post, 1011 1/2 Mass., and tried to steal a guitar by showing a device to the cashier and claiming it was a bomb. An Overland Park bomb squad was called to detonate the device, which police found moments after the incident on a park bench in the nearby Japanese Friendship Garden north of the Watkins Community Museum of History, 1047 Mass.

Voth’s next court appearance is scheduled for July 20.

Police investigate apartment intruder

A Lawrence woman told police her dog helped scare away a strange man who barged into her apartment Sunday evening.

Police have no suspects but are classifying it as an aggravated burglary.

The incident happened about 7 p.m. in the 2100 block of Heatherwood Drive. The 23-year-old woman told police she was in the kitchen feeding her dog when she saw the man come through the unlocked front door.

When the dog started barking, the man grew scared and left, she said.

Police have no suspects.

Judge agrees to delay Lawrence murder trial

Despite prosecutors’ objections, a judge has agreed to delay the jury trial for a Lawrence man charged with first-degree murder.

Lafayette Damon Ester Cosby, 24, was scheduled to stand trial later this month for the April 4 shooting death of Robert Tyrone Martin. But Friday a judge granted a defense attorney’s request to postpone the trial until Sept. 20.

Prosecutors in Dist. Atty. Christine Kenney’s office opposed the request.

Cosby is charged with shooting Martin, 28, at close range as Martin sat on a couch during a late-night party at Jefferson Commons apartments, 2511 W. 31st St.

Eyewitnesses testified at a preliminary hearing that Martin and Cosby had been talking alone in an adjoining room shortly before the shooting. They came back into the living room, witnesses said, and nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. Then Cosby got up, walked out of the room, came back in and began shooting, they testified.

Housemates arrested on drug-related charges

Police arrested two Lawrence men during the weekend on suspicion of growing marijuana at their home in the 3700 block of Hartford Avenue.

The two men, ages 21 and 22, were booked into the Douglas County Jail on suspicion of charges including cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to sell. They were released from jail without having to post a cash bond and have not yet been charged, pending laboratory testing of the plants.

Sgt. Dan Ward, Lawrence Police spokesman, said police “received information” that led them to the investigate the men. They arrested the men Saturday after obtaining a search warrant for the home, he said.