A Slater Police Officer who was suspended and charged with a sex-related felony involving a juvenile early last year, changed his plea and was sentenced during a court proceeding on Monday, March 19.
According to a release from the Saline County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, 30-year-old Benjamin Thomas entered a plea of guilty to a felony for endangering the welfare of a child.
As part of the guilty plea, Thomas was sentenced to five years of supervised probation, with conditions requiring him to register as a sex offender, have no contact with the victim and no unsupervised contact with any person under the age of 17.
Saline County Prosecutor Don Stouffer said even though the victim would not cooperate in the prosecution, he continued with legal action against Thomas as he was an officer which swore to protect children from the same offense that he committed.