photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Lorene Rose Martins

The former wife of a convicted child molester was sentenced on Thursday to probation in Douglas County District Court for hiding her then husband’s crimes from police.

Lorene Rose Martins, 48, of Lawrence, pleaded no contest to two felony counts of aggravated endangerment of a child on Sept. 9. The charges relate to a November 2017 incident in which she prevented one of her husband’s victims, a teenage girl, from telling police that he had molested her.

Martins appeared in court via Zoom Thursday, and Judge Gunnar Sundby sentenced her to 12 months in the Kansas Department of Corrections, which he then suspended to 12 months of probation, in accordance with Kansas sentencing guidelines.

During the sentencing hearing, Martins’ adult son, Robbie Madden, told the court that Martins was once a respected woman but that she changed when she met Timothy Glen Martins, who became her husband. Madden said Lorene had birthed two children before graduating from high school and had still managed to put herself through college. But he told the court that he now feared for Lorene’s three adopted children.

“Now we are at a point where she has three more children she adopted that she can abuse psychologically,” Madden said.

One of her ex-husband’s victims, now an adult, also addressed the court, expressing similar concerns that Martins was still in a position to care for children.

“Despite knowing her husband was a child molester, she allowed more children to be brought into the house,” the woman said. She said the adoption process began before Timothy had been arrested.

The woman said that Lorene stood by as Timothy abused children in his care and that no level of punishment Lorene could receive would replace what the woman had lost, her childhood.

“She (Lorene) still denies what happened and tries to convince people it isn’t true,” the woman said.

As previously reported by the Journal-World, Timothy, 48, was convicted in May in Douglas County 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; he said he lied to Lorene, saying it was an accident, and she did not report him to authorities.

The victim testified that police were at the Martins’ residence asking 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 Martins declined to speak at the sentencing hearing when the judge asked if she had anything to say.

She acquired her license to be a professional counselor in January of 2019, a little more than a year after the November 2017 incident in which she told the victim to lie. Her license as a professional counselor is still listed as active as of Oct. 6, according to the Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board (KBSRB).

The Journal-World reached out to the regulatory board in September and a representative said that he could not say whether Martins’ convictions would result in the loss or suspension of her license because every case was unique and required a full investigation, but that the board did consider person-felony convictions when determining whether to renew or revoke a license. Martins was required to inform the board within a “reasonable period of time” that she had been convicted, according to KBSRB regulations. Her license is up for renewal in January 2023.

Martins divorced Timothy, a former Douglas County employee and Shawnee County corrections officer, in May. He was sentenced in June to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Timothy Glen Martins is pictured in Douglas County District Court on Thursday, June 23, 2022, after his sentencing in a sex crime case.