A former Basehor Elementary School teacher has pleaded no contest to attempted aggravated indecent liberties with children.
Floyd M. Rogers Jr. entered the plea Wednesday in Leavenworth County District Court.
By pleading no contest to three counts, Rogers did not admit guilt but signaled he did not want to offer a defense.
He was subsequently found guilty by District Court Judge Gunnar Sundby.
Sentencing was scheduled for Jan. 9. Rogers will remain out of jail while he awaits sentencing.
County Attorney Frank Kohl said Rogers was told as part of a plea agreement that the prosecutor would not oppose the judge granting probation in the case.
Rogers inappropriately touched three female students while working as a fifth-grade teacher at Basehor Elementary School. The crimes occurred during the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years.
Rogers later resigned from his position with the Basehor-Linwood school district after being placed on administrative leave, school officials said.
He initially was charged with three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child under 14 years of age. A trial for those charges had been scheduled for next week.
But each count was amended to attempted aggravated indecent liberties as part of the plea agreement.
Kohl said the charges involved Rogers touching the outside of the victims’ clothing but it was still viewed as inappropriate by the girls and himself.
Speaking after court, Kohl said the plea settlement will meet two major goals of keeping Rogers out of a school setting in the future and requiring him to register as a sex offender.
Kohl said the felony convictions will cause Rogers to lose his teaching license.
Kohl said having the victims testify during a trial was a concern of the girls’ parents.
“They don’t want their daughters to go through that,” he said.
Leavenworth, Kan. —
