Two men were moved from the Barton County Jail to the El Dorado Correctional Facility this week to serve prison sentences with the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC).
Shannon Hoyt Larson, 34, and Kristopher Levimartin Chappell, 39, were placed in the prison’s Reception and Diagnostic Unit (RDU) on Monday, Dec. 14. All male offenders sentenced to the custody of the Secretary of Corrections are received and processed through the El Dorado facility’s RDU, where they attend orientation and are assigned to a custody classification, appropriate programs and a permanent housing assignment.
Larson was convicted in 2005 of rape - sexual intercourse with a child less than 14 years old, committed in Barton County. In 2008, District Judge Hannelore Kitts also sentenced him to two years in prison for solicitation to commit aggravated indecent liberties with a child older than 14 but younger than 16 years old in Barton County.
He was released March 14, 2019, while undergoing intensive post-release supervision in Barton County through Community Corrections, but a little more than two months later, on May 20, a KDOC warrant was issued for a parole violation. The warrant was withdrawn and his parole continued. On May 15, 2020, a new KDOC warrant was issued for a parole violation. Documents related to the parole violation hearings are sealed, but Larson was ordered to serve his original prison sentence. According to KDOC records, his earliest possible release date is Jan. 7, 2022.
Kristopher Levimartin Chappell, 39, was convicted of aggravated battery of a uniformed county law enforcement officer, Stephan T. Mermis, who was a Barton County Sheriff’s Office deputy at the time, on May 18 of this year. (See https://gbtribune.com/news/on-the-record/monday-night-police-chase-crash-leads-arrest-multiple-charges/)
He received the standard sentence of three years and three months (39 months) for this crime committed while on parole for a felony in Colorado. According to the Kansas Department of Corrections, his earliest possible release date is Oct. 23, 2022.
District Judge Carey Hipp sentenced both offenders. The prosecution was represented by Assistant County Attorney J. Colin Reynolds. Larson was represented by Richard Boeckman and Chappell was represented by Benjamin Fisher.
