The Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Labette County Sheriff’s Office arrested an Edna man for child sex crimes this week.
At noon on Monday, July 7, KBI agents and the Labette County Sheriff’s Office arrested David Stevens, 35, of Edna at the Labette County Sheriff’s Office on suspicion of six counts of sexual exploitation of a child.
The KBI Child Victims Unit began investigating after receiving a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in March. On June 2, KBI agents and deputies from the Labette County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at 215 N. Marks Ave. in Edna.
Following the arrest, Stevens was booked into the Labette County Jail without bond. All subjects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Stevens appeared in court on Tuesday. Judge Fred W. Johnson, after reviewing the charges with Stevens, agreed with the county attorney’s recommendation for a $75,000 bond with bond supervision, no social media, internet or computer access, electronic monitoring (if bonded) and no contact with minor children. The judge appointed Linus Thuston as Stevens’ attorney and scheduled a status hearing for July 29. Stevens asked Judge Johnson about working out a plea at Tuesday’s first appearance, but the judge referred him to his attorney.
The complaint alleges that on March 19, Stevens possessed a visual depiction showing a child under age 14 engaging in sexually explicit conduct. The six counts of sexual exploitation of a child are level five felonies, which means they could require a prison term of 31 to 136 months upon conviction. The term depends on a person’s criminal record, and someone with no or limited criminal history falls into the border box of the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines, which means they will go to prison unless they can convince a judge that a community sentence would better serve them and the community.
Anyone with information related to this investigation is asked to call the KBI at 1-800-KS-CRIME. Anonymous tips can be submitted online at www.kbi.ks.gov/sar.
