Probation but no more strip clubs, marijuana for man convicted in sexual exploitation case, judge orders

Defendant said he’s changed after being caught up in wrong ‘lifestyle’

photo by: Mike Yoder

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St.

A Wichita man was granted probation for encouraging two teen girls to dance at a Lawrence strip club.

However, as a special condition of that probation, he’s not allowed to go to any adult entertainment venues or partake in alcohol or drugs.

Judge Peggy Kittel sentenced Daelin T. Williams, 25, on Friday in Douglas County District Court.

Williams said that when he committed the crimes he’d been caught up in “living that lifestyle” and now realizes he was wrong.

“I totally messed up,” he said. “I take full responsibility.”

Williams’ convictions, two felony counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a child, combined with his criminal history call for probation under Kansas sentencing guidelines. Kittel said she was surprised by that, given the crimes, but agreed to the probation, which prosecutor Alice Walker and defense attorney Skip Griffy recommended in Williams’ plea agreement.

Williams’ probation is two years, with an underlying prison sentence of 28 months if he fails on probation.

He must register as a sex offender for 25 years and also will be on supervision the rest of his life, due to the nature of the crime.

“You really went off the rails in my mind,” Kittel said. She added that she hoped the probation and special conditions would help him keep his life on track.

Williams said he didn’t have a juvenile record, that his mom made him go to church and that he spent a lot of his time in middle and high school playing on the basketball team. He even started college at Wichita State University.

Then, he said, he met some friends who had him smoke marijuana with them and that progressed into “flying the wrong way.”

He said he was now close to completing a degree in business management.

In the charges Williams was convicted of, prosecutors wrote some specifics about what he did on a day in late January 2017.

photo by: Kansas Bureau of Investigation

Daelin T. Williams

Williams drove one girl, then 17, from Wichita to Lawrence, provided her a fake ID and “encouraged” her to strip at Allstars, an adult club at 913 N. Second St. in North Lawrence, according to the charges. He drove the other girl, also then 17, from Topeka to Lawrence and encouraged her to strip at the same club.

Those acts were committed in an attempt to sexually exploit the girls, according to the charges.

Williams was in jail custody during his sentencing hearing on Friday.

He had been out on bond but didn’t come to court for his previously scheduled sentencing hearing on April 29. He was eventually arrested on a warrant for failing to appear.

His attorney said he’d gone back to Wichita and was living with relatives.

“He got away from the court, away from Lawrence and hoped that this was going to fall through the cracks,” Griffy said. “When law enforcement knocked on his door, he realized that it didn’t.”

Contact Journal-World public safety reporter Sara Shepherd

COMMENTS

Welcome to the new LJWorld.com. Our old commenting system has been replaced with Facebook Comments. There is no longer a separate username and password login step. If you are already signed into Facebook within your browser, you will be able to comment. If you do not have a Facebook account and do not wish to create one, you will not be able to comment on stories.