A Sweet Springs man who plead guilty to sex-related felony charges for an incident involving a juvenile female earlier this year appeared for his sentencing hearing in Saline County on Monday, October 22.
According to a probable-cause statement, on June 19, the victim’s mother reported to authorities of the unwanted sexual incident which occurred a few weeks before at city park in Sweet Springs.
According to online court documents, 27-year-old Kenneth L.A. Walden was charged with Class D Felonies for Statutory Rape in the Second Degree and Statutory Sodomy in the Second Degree.
Walden withdrew his original plea of not guilty and entered a plea of guilty as charged on September 10. The court accepted the plea and found Walden guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
During the sentencing hearing at Saline County Circuit Court, the court sentenced Walden to serve five years for each charge in the Missouri Department of Correction, which will run concurrently. However, Walden will first serve 120 days of shock incarceration, and then the case will be reviewed to see if Walden will need to serve the rest of the five year sentence.
After the hearing, Walden was remanded into the custody of the Saline County Sheriff’s Office for delivery to the Missouri DOC.