photo by: Wyandotte County Jail

Kenneth Wayne Soap

Last winter, as four pre-teen girls at Lawrence’s Liberty Memorial Central Middle School were discussing a man calling and sending them messages on Snapchat, a teacher happened to overhear them and alerted the school resource officer.

That overheard conversation — about naked pictures and obscene solicitation to 11- and 12-year-olds — led to an investigation of a 43-year-old Lawrence man, which turned up even more disturbing allegations of illicit interactions with still more children, including the exchange of pornographic photos and videos for money and the man’s demands that the young girls call him “daddy.”

These and other details are laid out in the affidavit supporting the arrest of Kenneth Wayne Soap, whose address at the time was listed on the Douglas County Jail booking log as the Lawrence Community Shelter.

Soap was arrested on Aug. 19, as the Journal-World reported, in connection with a felony theft charge in Platte County, Missouri. He has now been charged with one count of aggravated human trafficking, two counts of sexual exploitation of a child, two counts of aggravated trading in child pornography and one count of sexual extortion. All of the charges are felonies and many are off-grid felonies, meaning that if convicted Soap could face life in prison.

After the school resource officer, or SRO, got word from the teacher, he interviewed the four girls, who related how a man with the username “djsoap” contacted them on Snapchat, being sexually suggestive and asking if they wanted to make money. The man even called the girls at school, with one girl saying “everyone was around” the phone “listening to the conversation,” in which the man reportedly talked of raping a child, according to the affidavit.

The SRO obtained a search warrant for Snapchat, and the material that police discovered led them to identify Soap.

Police discovered messages from the suspect saying he wanted to “spoil” a young girl and that he wished to be called “daddy.” Some of the girls, according to the affidavit, recognized that he was a “pedophile,” told him so and blocked him.

While conducting the search related to the Liberty Memorial Central Middle School students, police said they found other interactions between Soap and a 13-year-old girl in which sexually explicit videos, some of them apparently filmed by another young girl, were exchanged. The investigation related to the 13-year-old led to the discovery of other teens, who said they had been sending Soap nude images for money via CashApp. The 13-year-old said she had received $100 to $120 for nude images and also calling Soap “daddy,” according to the affidavit.

When police officers obtained a search warrant in March for the residence of Soap, who was then living in an apartment in the 5100 block of Overland Drive, they interviewed a roommate, who told them of overhearing a phone call that Soap had about an underage girl. Police also reported that Soap had an assortment of books “containing themes of child erotica,” such as “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov and “Let Me In” by John Ajvide Lindqvist.

Police also obtained a search warrant related to CashApp and said they discovered payments in the hundreds of dollars to girls with subject lines like “call me daddy,” “pouty face baby” and sexually suggestive emojis. Police also said they observed payments to “unidentified female names on Venmo.”

Search warrants for electronic devices, such as iPhones and hard drives allegedly belonging to Soap, revealed “numerous pictures and videos of obviously underaged female children naked or engaged in sexually explicit conduct.” In one exchange a girl allegedly asked “can you send me sum money for food daddy?” — to which Soap replied “Ooooh yes Thank u for calling me daddy Such a good girl,” according to the affidavit.

Soap, who is represented by attorney Branden Smith, is being held on a $250,000 bond in the Douglas County Jail and has a bond of $50,000 in connection with his Missouri theft charge, according to the jail booking log.

He has convictions in Douglas County for felony battery, misdemeanor battery and DUI in 2008.

His next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 27.

— Reporter Chris Conde contributed to this report.