Shawnee Mission East teen charged in sex assaults pleads guilty
A 15-year-old boy charged with sexually assaulting two classmates at Shawnee Mission East High School pleaded guilty Thursday to amended charges.
The Leawood boy pleaded guilty in the juvenile division of Johnson County District Court to two felony counts of aggravated battery.
As part of the plea agreement, attorneys will ask the judge to find that the crimes were sexually motivated.
He initially had been charged in September with three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a minor. The charges involved incidents on Sept. 14 involving two girls who were younger than 16. He also had been charged with lewd and lascivious behavior in an April 2015 incident at another school where he allegedly exposed himself to another girl.
The three girls in those incidents are listed as victims in the two felony counts the boy pleaded guilty to Thursday.
The plea agreement calls for the teen to serve 10 days in the juvenile detention center and be placed on probation for two years.
The judge granted a request from the boy’s attorney, Lindsey Erickson, to allow the boy to self-surrender to the detention center Thursday afternoon.
The finding that the crimes were sexually motivated will require the boy to be placed on the Kansas offender registry for five years. Because of his age and the level of crime, his name will not be available to the public, but law enforcement agencies will have access to the information.
He also was ordered to have no contact with the victims in the case.
District Judge Tom Foster scheduled sentencing for April 6. He will take up how much restitution is owed to the victims at that date.
The case touched off a metrowide protest against sexual assault. Hundreds of students at Shawnee Mission East and schools throughout the area wore black to express their support for the victim and posted photos on Twitter.
Tony Rizzo: 816-234-4435, @trizzkc
This story was originally published December 1, 2016 at 11:27 AM with the headline "Shawnee Mission East teen charged in sex assaults pleads guilty."