photo by: Contributed

Joseph C. Hess

A man accused of sexually abusing a Lawrence teen whom he mentored was recently convicted of two felony sex crimes after accepting a plea deal.

Joseph C. Hess, 37, pleaded no contest to two counts of aggravated sexual battery, which are level-five felonies, according to court records. The Douglas County District Attorney’s Office confirmed on Tuesday that Hess was convicted through a plea agreement on Dec. 20.

By taking the plea deal, Hess avoided standing trial on eight felony sex crime charges: two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, five counts of criminal sodomy and one count of attempted aggravated indecent liberties with a child. He was originally scheduled to stand trial on Jan. 10.

Court records indicate that Hess likely has no prior criminal history and is expected to fall under the lowest level of sentencing in the state’s sentencing guidelines. Level-five felonies allow the judge to sentence a convicted individual to either probation or prison.

According to the guidelines, a level-five felony generally comes with either a 24-month probation period or 32 months in prison. If Judge Stacey Donovan chooses to order Hess to consecutive sentences for the two counts, he could face up to 64 months, or a little more than five years, in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 22.

During a preliminary hearing in 2020, the alleged victim, who is now an adult, said Hess started molesting her in 2014, when she was about 14 years old. As the Journal-World previously reported, she told police she saw Hess as a mentor at the time.

She told police that she estimated Hess had abused her more than 50 times over about 14 months and that Hess had told her not to tell anyone. She later testified in court that he had touched her sometimes while she was awake and other times while she was pretending to be asleep.

In 2019, the woman reportedly told police that she “finally stopped feeling she was to blame and she was ready to talk about what happened now,” according to the police affidavit supporting Hess’ arrest.

Additionally, she showed police Instagram messages between her and Hess, though it’s unclear from the documents when the conversations occurred. In the messages, Hess said that he was sorry she ever blamed herself, that he knew he was a bad person and that he hated himself for it, according to the affidavit.

In court, Lawrence Police Officer Brett Horner testified that after the woman made her report, he asked her if she would be willing to record a phone call with Hess. She agreed, so Horner said he loaned her a digital recorder and told her how to do it.

Horner said that Hess admitted to the woman during the call that he had molested her and that he was “deferring a lot,” saying that it had been a bad time in his life.

Hess was arrested in the case on June 20, 2019. He was released from custody after posting a $100,000 cash or surety bond.

Court documents refer to Hess as “Chris,” and according to a financial affidavit, he was a self-employed tattoo artist.