photo by: Mugshot courtesy of KBI Sex Offenders Registry

Ray Charles Atkins Jr. is pictured with the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

A Lawrence man who was convicted of rape and who was granted probation nine months ago is now back in the Douglas County Jail after being accused of violating probation.

A jury convicted Ray Charles Atkins Jr., then 23, of one felony count of rape in August 2022 for an incident on July 19, 2019, in Lawrence. He was 19 at the time and the girl he was convicted of raping was 17. Senior Judge James Fleetwood in November 2022 sentenced Atkins to nearly 13 years in prison but suspended that term to just five years of probation, a ruling that the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office has appealed.

Atkins appeared Wednesday in Douglas County District Court on the probation violation charge. The nature of the alleged violation, for which he was arrested Friday, has not yet been made public, but he is now being held in jail without bond pending his next court date on Aug. 16.

Atkins’ court appearance is the second this month in which a man who was convicted of a sex crime and given probation is back in court after having been accused of violating probation. The other case was that of Trey Gibson, who was in court Aug. 1 to face an accusation that he violated his probation, as the Journal-World reported.

Gibson was convicted of a sex crime against a child and was sentenced on June 28, 2022, to 10.5 years in prison, which Judge Stacey Donovan suspended to five years of probation. The nature of Gibson’s alleged probation violation isn’t clear, but he is due back in court on Sept. 13 for a hearing. A $15,000 own-recognizance bond has been set for Gibson in the probation violation case.

The DA has also appealed Gibson’s sentence, arguing in his case as well as Atkins’ case that the sentence was too lenient for such a serious crime and should have involved a prison term under the state’s sentencing guidelines.