photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Jason Edward Dallinga

A Lawrence man convicted of sex crimes against a young girl was sentenced Friday in Douglas County District Court to nearly eight years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced to an additional 21 years as part of a plea agreement with the state.

The man, Jason Edward Dallinga, 41, was originally charged with four counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child by engaging in lewd touching to satisfy a sexual desire, according to charging documents. The charges are in connection with a series of incidents between January 2022 and October 2022, as the Journal-World reported.

As part of a plea agreement, the state split the charges into two cases. One is a case in which Dallinga pleaded guilty in May to one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and one count of indecent liberties with a child, both felonies.

After being convicted on the charges, Dallinga’s criminal record then reflected the two person felonies. He agreed — in the second half of the split cases — to then plead guilty to an additional count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. With the first case included in his criminal history, the court can give him a more severe sentence as well as classify him as a “persistent sex offender” under Kansas law, which will require him to be sentenced to twice the maximum penalty.

The deal was struck with input from the victim’s mother to prevent the victim from having to testify at trial or any other hearing, said Chief Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Tatum.

Judge Stacey Donovan sentenced Dallinga to 61 months for the aggravated indecent liberties charge and 34 months for the indecent liberties with a child charge, to run consecutively for a total of 95 months, or 7.9 years. She then scheduled a hearing on Aug. 31, when, according to the plea agreement, Dallinga will plead guilty to the third charge and will be sentenced to 128 months doubled to 256 months, or 21.3 years, for a total sentence of 351 months, or 29.25 years, also to run consecutively.

Dallinga’s attorney, Branden Smith, said that he would plan to have the plea hearing and sentencing occur at the same time.

The victim’s mother addressed the court Friday and said that her child’s demeanor has changed radically since Dallinga violated her. The mother said her daughter was once a brave and confident girl but is now afraid to make a wrong move for fear that she will be punished or that her parents won’t love her.

“She lost her trust in the world,” the mother said.

The mother said that she would never forget the look on Dallinga’s face when she first confronted him about what he was doing to her daughter. She said Dallinga spent years “manipulating and gaslighting” her about what was happening.

“All I can see is how I failed to protect her from a monster,” the mother said.

She said her daughter at times has said that she doesn’t deserve to live and blames herself for Dallinga’s actions.

“No amount of love or understanding will restore what she (the victim) has lost,” the mother said.

The mother concluded by saying that Dallinga is a danger to everyone around him.

Dallinga then spoke on his own behalf.

“I know my actions … there is no forgiveness for me. There isn’t a day that goes by I don’t think of a way I could have stopped. I’m not well,” Dallinga said.

He added that he hopes that “some time away” will help him become a person who is no longer a danger to those around him.

In addition to his prison sentence, Dallinga will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and will be on lifetime parole after his release.

Dallinga has been in custody on a $250,000 bond since his arrest in December of 2022.