photo by: Kansas Bureau of Investigation Sex Offender Registry

Darian Michael Willis

A convicted child-sex offender was charged on Wednesday in Douglas County District Court with attempted kidnapping.

Darian Michael Willis, 27, of Eudora, faces one felony count of attempted kidnapping and one felony count of aggravated intimidation of a witness. The charges stem from an incident on Feb. 25, 2022, when Willis allegedly tried to force a woman into a car and threatened her, according to charging documents.

Police were dispatched around 4 a.m. on Feb. 25 to a domestic battery incident, according to the Lawrence Police Department incident log. The address of the incident was redacted from the log.

Willis was convicted in 2018 in Douglas County of one felony count of indecent solicitation of a child between the ages of 14 and 16, according to court records. The charge relates to an incident on Dec. 31, 2017, when he reportedly tried to get a child to perform a sex act. While he was charged for soliciting a 14- to 16-year-old, the age of the victim is listed as 13 at the time of the incident, according to the charging document.

Willis pleaded no contest to the charge in September of 2018 and was sentenced by Judge Paula Martin to 20 months in prison; she then suspended the sentence to 24 months of probation in line with Kansas’ sentencing guidelines, according to court records. Willis was released from probation in November of 2020 and had two years of post-release supervision to serve. He must register as a sex offender until 2043, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation Offender Registry.

Willis was arrested on the attempted kidnapping charge around 3:40 p.m. Tuesday and was released on a $7,500 bond later that afternoon, according to the jail’s booking log. He is next scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 13, for a status update.