To many residents of Westgate Apartments, John T. Whitehead appeared to be a trustworthy and friendly – if sometimes erratic – neighbor.

He encouraged the children in the complex to play with him at the local park, something parents said they thought was harmless. He rode down the slide with the kids, wrestled with them, offered them sodas and gave them piggy-back rides.

“It was stuff that on the face of it looked innocent,” Assistant Dist. Atty. David Melton said.

But after Lawrence Police received a complaint about Whitehead earlier this year, they began investigating and found a more disturbing reality. The physical contacts he had with children were a way to sexually arouse himself, and he maintained a collection of thousands of photographs of children – some he had taken himself, and others he’d clipped from magazines and newspapers.

Most of the photographs were of young boys. Many had been decorated with word balloons coming from the children’s mouths with phrases such as “Does it tickle.”

The details came out Thursday at a sentencing for the 30-year-old Whitehead, who recently entered a plea to one count of aggravated indecent solicitation of a child.

• KBI.com: Registered offenders search
• Map of registered offenders in Douglas County

The sentence he received from Judge Stephen Six, including 24 months’ probation and court-ordered therapy, was less severe than what he could have received had he not been allowed to enter a plea agreement. He initially was charged with aggravated indecent liberties with a child – involving three victims ages 6, 9, and 11 – which carries a presumed prison sentence of at least 55 months per count.

But prosecutors said they thought a plea was the best solution, given factors including the ages of the victims and the possibility that not all members of a jury would think his actions fit the definition of child molesting.

“What we had were really contacts through clothing,” prosecutor Melton said.

Whitehead will be prohibited from having unsupervised contact or physical contact with children while on probation.

The judge gave him credit for the 47 days he served in jail while his case was pending. He will be required to register as a sex offender.The incidents that led to Whitehead’s arrest all happened at Westgate Apartments, 4641 W. Sixth St., between March 2001 and April 2005. According to statements in court, Whitehead admitted that he sought out contacts with the children as a way to become aroused.

“These contacts became so intense for him that he found himself having to go and sexually gratify himself, then seek out other contacts,” Melton said.

One victim’s mother testified that at the time she met Whitehead in 2001, she was vulnerable as a single mother dependent on welfare assistance. She said he came to her door every day asking if her two sons could come outside to play.

“John appears charming … and he has fooled many people for many years,” she said.

She said at times Whitehead would not take his medication and that he once threatened to burn down her apartment building. She said she complained about Whitehead to the apartments’ management but was told that he was harmless. She did not specify the nature of the medications.

Whitehead, who is on disability, according to statements made in court, does not have a job and worked as a volunteer at Heartland Medical Clinic.

Whitehead stood up in court and apologized to the victims. He said that while trying to address other personal problems, his attraction to children was “pushed on the back burner.”

“I’ve had it hidden inside me since I was a little kid,” he said. “I was afraid to talk to anybody about it. … I will do my best to correct my problem.”

Both prosecutors and the victims’ mothers credited the work of Det. Tyson Randall and other investigators from the Lawrence Police Department.

“They took the tip and ran with it and began interviewing people,” Melton said. “There was really a lot of legwork on Tyson’s part and the other detectives he was working with.”