Wichita ? Law enforcement officials honored a federal agent Wednesday who took up the case of mentally ill residents found abused at a group home operated by a Newton couple.

Dan Coney, special agent with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Inspector General, received a Guardian of Justice award at the Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee conference in Wichita.

In the Newton case, a federal jury found Arlan Kaufman guilty of 31 charges and his wife, Linda, of 30 charges, including health care fraud, Medicare fraud, forced labor and holding clients in involuntary servitude. Arlan Kaufman was sentenced to 30 years in prison and his wife to seven.

“It was Dan’s tenacity that kept the Kaufman case alive,” said U.S. Atty. Eric Melgren in a news release. “If it weren’t for him the case would never have been prosecuted.”

Also receiving Guardian of Justice awards were Scott Bonham, a detective with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, and Jeff Harris, a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Bonham was honored for his work on the prosecution of Andre Ivory, Pamela Tyler, Chaconie Edwards, Kim Sanders and Kyle Crayton. They were charged in connection to the 2004 killing of a witness who was to testify at Ivory’s drug trafficking trial

Harris was recognized for his work on the prosecution of Demetrius Hargrove, who was convicted on three capital murder counts and one count of conspiracy to kill a federal witness.