One of eight people working through Lyon County District Court on charges ranging from human smuggling and illegal dentistry to drug possession will return to court next month. Another returns to court this week.
Francisco Pichardo-Machado now has a pretrial hearing Aug. 15 on charges of making false information, marijuana possession and paraphernalia possession.
Hearings for other defendants are as follows:
*Wednesday: Martha Lopez-Alvarado on charges of identity theft, interference with law enforcement, marijuana possession and paraphernalia possession. Lopez-Alvarado is both a defendant and witness in this case
*Aug. 18: Martin Pichardo-Machado on charges of making false information, marijuana possession and paraphernalia possession; Hugo Cardona-Argueta on charges of identity theft, interference with law enforcement, marijuana possession and paraphernalia possession
*Sept. 15: Iris Sandoval-Flores on charges of human smuggling, identity theft, dealing in false ID documents and unlicensed practice of dentistry or dental hygiene
Three defendants in the case failed to appear for their most recent hearings:
*Rigoberto Sandoval-Sandoval and Ana Raquel Figueroa were supposed to have separate hearings last month on charges of unlicensed practice of dentistry or dental hygiene and unlawful obtaining a prescription-only drug
*Edwar Benavidez-Sanchez, listed on the Kansas District Court Public Access Portal as Jerlin Jeovanny Cerna-Arguello, was supposed to have a preliminary hearing last week on charges of identity theft, identity fraud, making false information and dealing in false ID documents
Warrants have been issued for these three individuals.
The defendants are accused of varying involvement in a plan to create and sell false identification documents while using Sandoval-Flores’ home for an unlicensed dental operation between January 2024 and this past May.
