A former Basehor elementary teacher has been sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years of probation for attempted aggravated indecent liberties of children.
Floyd M. Rogers Jr., who was prosecuted for inappropriately touching three female students, was taken into custody at the conclusion of a sentencing hearing Friday to begin serving his jail term.
District Judge Gunnar Sundby said Rogers can serve his jail sentence over the course of 15 weekends. Sundby authorized this arrangement so Rogers can maintain his current job.
In November, Rogers pleaded no contest in Leavenworth County District Court to three counts of attempted aggravated indecent liberties with a child.
The crimes occurred during the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years while Rogers was working as a fifth-grade teacher at Basehor Elementary School.
Rogers, 46, Bonner Springs, later resigned from his position with the Basehor-Linwood school district after being placed on administrative leave, school officials said.
Rogers had been charged with three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child.
But the charges were amended to attempted aggravated indecent liberties as part of a plea agreement.
Rogers indicated that he did not wish to speak Friday in court before the pronouncement of the sentence. But his attorney, Christopher Williams, addressed the judge.
“This has been a very difficult case for Mr. Rogers,” Williams said.
The attorney said Rogers was adamant that he didn’t do the crimes for which he was accused but believed there was sufficient evidence for a conviction.
Williams said Rogers was supposed to have committed the crimes in a classroom full of fifth-graders. The attorney questioned why there weren’t more witnesses to the crimes.
He also said there were “testimonial problems” with the victims.
Williams said his client will never teach again. The attorney said teaching had been one of Rogers’ lifelong dreams.
The mother of one of the victims also spoke in court Friday. She said her daughter has been in counseling since the incident with Rogers.
“Mr. Rogers used his teaching position to take advantage of these girls,” the mother said.
She asked that Rogers pay for the crimes.
A pre-sentencing investigation report recommended a 60-day jail sentence in addition to probation.
Williams said such a jail sentence would cause Rogers to lose his job.
County Attorney Frank Kohl said the “shock time jail sentence” in the pre-sentencing report had not been discussed as part of the plea agreement. He said such a sentence was left to the judge’s discretion.
Kohl said it was the goal of the prosecution for Rogers to never again be in a classroom setting with children.
Kohl previously said the felony convictions will cause Rogers to lose his teaching license.
Sundby, who was assigned to the case after another judge retired, said he had reviewed a transcript of a preliminary hearing held for Rogers. Sundby said he believed crimes had occurred.
For each count, the judge sentenced Rogers to 36 months of probation. These probation periods will be concurrent, which means Rogers will be on probation for three years.
Sundby said the probation will involve intensive supervision.
Sundby also sentenced Rogers to 10 days in jail for each count for a total of 30 days.
Rogers will be required to meet other conditions as part of his sentence including registering as a sex offender and avoiding contact with people under the age of 18.
Leavenworth, Kan. —
