Jackson County Legislator Manny Abarca — voted legislative chair just last week — has been charged with two counts of Harassment by Telecommunications Device in Hutchinson, Kansas.
This is the third time Abarca has been charged criminally since June.
Abarca is scheduled for arraignment in the central Kansas city on Jan. 30, according to online records.
In a matter of hours in June, Abarca was criminally charged in Missouri and Kansas in connection with a domestic dispute and the disappearance of his then 2-year-old son.
Abarca allegedly made harassing calls on New Year’s Eve morning to a house in Hutchinson, according to a Hutchinson police report.
The victims were listed as his wife, Alexis Garcia, and his three-year-old son.
Reached by phone and asked for comment on these most recent criminal charges, Abarca said “I don’t know anything about them” and said KCUR should call his lawyer.
Attorney David Bell did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The two misdemeanor charges accuse Abarca of making a call “with intent to abuse, threaten or harass a person,” according to the charging documents.
No details of what was threatened were available.
Abarca’s June charges included one in Kansas City Municipal Court for violating a protection order "by failing to return the minor child" to his mother.
He has a hearing on that case Feb. 20.
The Johnson County District Attorney charged Abarca with one count of domestic battery, according to online jail records. Charging documents accuse Abarca, 37, of "rude physical contact" with a family member in Shawnee, Kansas.
There is a scheduling conference for that case on Feb. 11.
Abarca was elevated to Jackson County Legislature chair Jan. 12 on a 5-4 vote.
He was elected in 2022.
