A Great Bend couple arrested on rape and child abuse charges in 2016 have been sentenced in Barton County District Court.
Todd Lane Leech, 31, was charged and convicted of rape of a child under 14 years old, and Kristi Schwedes, 32, was charged with child abuse and other felonies. She was convicted of two counts of aggravated battery, and charges of child abuse and inhumane corporal punishment were dismissed.
Leech was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison, and Schwedes was placed on probation, Barton County Attorney Amy Mellor said Tuesday.
Police said Leech was the stepfather of four children who lived in the 700 block of Morphy Street in 2016. Three of the children attended Eisenhower School and one was at home.
GBPD officers investigated allegations of child abuse when they were dispatched to Eisenhower Elementary School in 2016 after the three students accused their parents of physical abuse.
During the investigation, sexual abuse allegations also surfaced against Leech.
All four children, between the ages of 4 and 10 years old at the time, were removed from the home and placed in police protective custody.
Mellor said Leech was convicted in March and appeared in court for sentencing on May 26. The conviction stems from a crime involving one juvenile that occurred between June 2010 and June 2011.
At sentencing, Leech was remanded to the Kansas Secretary of Corrections for 176 months of confinement in the Kansas Department of Corrections. He was ordered to lifetime registration as a sexual offender and is subject to lifetime post-release supervision.
Leech was also advised that he could not possess firearms as a result of his conviction.
Schwedes was also convicted in March and was recently sentenced to 24 months of probation, with an underlying sentence of 12 months in custody.