AUGUSTA, Kan. -- Friday, July
12, 2013
A former Augusta police officer
has been sentenced in connection to a child sex crime.
Last July, Augusta Public
Safety Officer Jerry Ballinger was arrested on two counts of Aggravated
Indecent Liberties with a Child. The alleged crimes happened in Butler county
between April and July of 2013.
He was bound over for trial in
August, but pleaded guilty in February to one count of attempted aggravated
indecent liberties with a child.
Monday morning, a judge
sentenced Ballinger to 60 months of probation with Community Corrections.
Before probation begins, he will serve 59 days under house arrest.
He must also register for life
as a sex offender and enroll in a sex offender treatment program. If Ballinger
violates probation, he will go to prison for 34 months.
He had been an officer in
Augusta since 1997.