photo by: Mugshot courtesy of the Kansas Department of Corrections

George Joseph Burgess Jr. is pictured with the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

A Lawrence man serving prison time for identity theft has been charged in Douglas County District Court with the rape of a 7-year-old.

The man, George Joseph Burgess Jr., 44, is facing one count of rape and three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, according to charging documents. The charges are all off-grid felonies, and each could come with a life sentence if Burgess is convicted. The incidents are alleged to have occurred between October 2017 and October 2018.

Burgess was convicted in Douglas County of two felonies in May 2022 for identity theft and removing an electronic monitoring device and is serving 22 months in prison, according to court records. He was also convicted at that time of three misdemeanor counts of violating a protection order or stalking.

He was brought to Lawrence by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office from the Oswego Correctional Facility in southeast Kansas and is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday; a $100,000 cash or surety bond has been set for Burgess.