Kansas City man in sentenced to 35 years for sex crimes against a child in 2019

A Kansas City man was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Friday for a string of crimes against a child in the Brush Creek area in 2019.

Gerald Smith was convicted of statutory sodomy in the first-degree, assault in the first-degree and endangering the welfare of a child.

Smith was sentenced on Friday in Jackson County Court to serve, consecutively, 20 years on the statutory sodomy conviction and 15 years on the assault in the first-degree conviction. The endangering the welfare of a child conviction will run concurrently to the assault conviction, according to a Jackson County Prosecutor’s office news release.

Police were called Sept. 13, 2019, to the area of Blue Parkway and Lawn Avenue about a naked girl found in the middle of the road. Officers found her and she was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment, according to the release.

Kansas City detectives used video, cell phone records and other data to find the defendant. In April 2020, Detectives were alerted that the defendant’s DNA was found on the victim.