WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - A former police officer who has served as safety supervisor for the Wichita school district for seven years is facing multiple sexual abuse charges stemming from a decade-old case reported to Wichita police more than a year ago.
Alex Robinson, 51, was charged Thursday with two counts of criminal sodomy, three counts of aggravated indecent liberties, one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and two counts of indecent liberties with a child, The Wichita Eagle (https://bit.ly/1gq7uoK) reported.
The charges involve three victims, who ranged in age from 11 to 14 at the time of the alleged crimes, according to the criminal complaint filed in the case.
Robinson, a longtime mentor for at-risk youth, was taken into custody Wednesday. In addition to the sex crimes, he was charged with being a fugitive from justice.
He was being held on $100,000 bail and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing March 27.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett would not disclose specifics about the out-of-state warrant that prompted Robinson’s arrest on the fugitive charge, including the agency that issued the document and the allegations in it.
Robinson’s attorney, Kurt Kerns, said in an email Thursday night that the investigation is still in an early phase and emphasized that his client is presumed innocent.
“Anyone can throw disgusting accusations,” Kerns wrote. “The sad fact is that these type of accusations are like acid. They burn and injure the moment they make contact, regardless of a good man’s innocence.”
Robinson initially was questioned and arrested on suspicion of six child sex crimes in January 2013 after a 24-year-old man told police Robinson molested him as a 12-year-old boy. He was released on bond and has been on paid leave from the district ever since, drawing $75,790 a year.
Two additional victims surfaced during the yearlong investigation.
Robinson made a first appearance Thursday afternoon in Sedgwick County District Court via video link from the jail. He was dressed in a red jail jumpsuit and acknowledged to Judge Joe Kisner that he understood the charges.
One of Robinson’s charges - aggravated indecent liberties with a child, involving lewd touching of an 11-year-old - falls under Jessica’s Law, which upon conviction requires a mandatory life sentence without parole eligibility for 25 years. The crime involving that child allegedly occurred between June 1-3, 2012, according to the criminal complaint.
The oldest allegations involve sex acts with a boy between September 2000 and September 2002, and are being charged under an exception to the five-year statute of limitations allowed at that time for sex crimes.
Robinson worked 22 years for the Wichita Police Department before beginning work with the school district in 2006. He is a former volunteer for nonprofit mentoring organization Real Men, Real Heroes and the Boys & Girls Club of South Central Kansas.
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Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, https://www.kansas.com
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