Wichita — A federal judge has declined to jail a Newton man awaiting trial on charges that he physically and sexually abused residents of a home for the mentally ill.
Arlan Kaufman, 68, and Linda Kaufman, 62, face 35 criminal charges, including health care fraud and holding clients in involuntary servitude.
They have pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Prosecutors on Wednesday asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald Bostwick to revoke Arlan Kaufman's house arrest following an incident involving probation officers who came to his home to check on the couple's electronic monitoring equipment.
Bostwick did not revoke the bond but warned Kaufman to cooperate with probation officers.
The judge also denied a defense request to ease the conditions of the couple's house arrest.
Attorneys for the Kaufmans asked the court to end the house arrest and ankle monitoring for the couple. In response, the government argued the request should be denied and filed a motion seeking to jail Arlan Kaufman pending trial.
Prosecutors cited a report from probation officers saying they feared for their safety during a visit to the Kaufmans' home on June 30.
Probation officer Lynn Harris testified that Arlan Kaufman became agitated during a home check of the monitoring equipment and told her to leave.
Harris told the court she left the house to "de-escalate" tensions and prevent the situation from getting worse.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Tanya Treadway said the incident demonstrated Kaufman was capable of a level of violence that bolstered the government's concern about the protection of residents of the home for the mentally ill.
Arlan Kaufman's attorney, Thomas Haney, argued that Kaufman was upset because his wife was crying and wanted the probation officers out of the home.
"He was rude," he said.
The judge said there was no excuse for Kaufman to threaten officers of the court who were doing their job to keep him out of jail.
"I think the conduct is more than rudeness, as defined by counsel," Bostwick said.
Arlan Kaufman later apologized to her at a subsequent visit July 27, Harris testified.
The government's indictment alleges Medicare fraud, mail fraud, manufacture of false documents, obstruction of a federal audit, forced labor and involuntary servitude. It also accuses the Kaufmans of forcing group home residents to perform sexually explicit acts and videotaping sexual contacts during purported nude therapy sessions.
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