photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Lorene Rose Martins

The wife of a convicted child abuser has been charged with child endangerment after not reporting her husband’s crimes in Douglas County.

Lorene Rose Martins, 47, of Lawrence, has been charged with two felony counts of aggravated endangerment of a child and one misdemeanor count of intimidation of a witness, according to court documents. She was booked into the Douglas County Jail on Saturday.

The charges relate to a November 2017 incident where she allegedly failed to contact police after her husband, Timothy Glen Martins, 47, had engaged in aggravated indecent liberties with a child and then allegedly told the victim to lie to police about the incident.

As previously reported by the Journal-World, on May 5, Timothy Martins was convicted of four counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and one count of indecent liberties with a child. During his trial he told the jury that he regularly cuddled with young girls in their home while the girls were naked.

During Timothy’s trial he testified that he told Lorene that he crossed the line with one of the children and kissed the child’s breast; he said he lied to Lorene, saying it was an accident, and she did not report him to authorities.

The victim testified that police had asked questions about Timothy abusing her but that Lorene had pleaded with the victim to lie.

“So I did,” the victim said. “I told them I made it up.”

Lorene was charged in January of 2021 with similar aggravated endangerment counts, and at that time the charges also specifically included a failure to report count, according to court records. The state alleged that Lorene was a licensed counselor and hence a mandatory reporter of child abuse.

The failure to report charge was dismissed separately in that case by Judge Gunnar Sundby because her defense attorney, Dustin Curry, argued that Lorene was not a licensed therapist with a professional relationship with the victim at the time of the incident, according to court records.

Lorene acquired her license to be a professional counselor a little more than a year after the alleged incident, in January of 2019, according to the Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board.

The rest of the charges were dismissed in February of 2022, while the state was preparing its case against her husband. The reason listed in the motion for dismissal filed by Deputy District Attorney Joshua Seiden was “for necessity.”

Lorene was listed as a co-defendant when she and Timothy were first arrested in 2021, and she was held on a $100,000 bond, according to court records. For the refiled charges, Lorene was given a $5,000 bond and was released later the same day. Her next court appearance has yet to be set.

Lorene filed a petition to divorce Timothy on Jan. 20, according to court records.

Timothy is scheduled to be sentenced on June 23; he faces a potential life sentence.