(KAIR)--The former Atchison County Emergency Management Director turned City Administrator for the City of Valley Falls following his
Atchison County termination, is now jailed in Atchison County.

Wesley Lanter is currently serving a 15-day stay in the Atchison County Jail as part of his sentencing for failure to stop at an accident, interference with law enforcement, and official misconduct, with all three counts connected to a September, 2023 UTV crash in Atchison County where Lanter was among now-terminated emergency personnel that authorities say helped the driver escape the scene to avoid arrest for being under the influence at the time of the injurious crash.

Lanter's sentencing hearing was held last week in Atchison County District Court, on November 5, with Lanter, following the hearing, ordered to begin his consecutive 15-day jail term, which will be followed by another 30 days, to be served within 9- months, according to court documents. The original sentence was for 12 months in the County Jail on each count, but that was suspended to 15 days per count.

Lanter was additionally ordered to serve 2-years of probation. His request for monitored house arrest, or work release, was denied.

He pleaded guilty to the three counts in August.

Lanter was arrested in May, 2024, following what Atchison County Sheriff Jack Laurie, at the time, called "a comprehensive six-month investigation." Lanter had been terminated, after 10-years of Atchison County employment, the previous February 6 and, weeks later on February 22, was hired as Valley Falls City Administrator.

Five others were also arrested that May, including two of Lanter's emergency management employees.

The UTV, which crashed on a bridge near 250th and Graham Roads, in rural Atchison County near Effingham, left one passenger injured and hospitalized with what authorities at the time said were "severe, life threatening injuries."