photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Preston Meier Jones

A Manhattan man was sentenced to two years of probation on Thursday in Douglas County District Court for attempted aggravated battery in a case in which he was originally charged with raping a teenager.

The man, Preston Meier Jones, 22, pleaded no contest in July, as part of a plea deal, to one count of attempted aggravated battery with a sexually motivated finding, as the Journal-World reported. The charge relates to an incident on Jan. 3, 2022, involving a 16-year-old girl.

Judge Amy Hanley sentenced Jones to 18 months in prison, then suspended that to two years of probation, in accordance with Kansas sentencing guidelines. She also ordered Jones to register as a sex offender for 15 years.

The victim did not appear in person but gave the court a victim impact statement, which was not read aloud in court. However, Hanley said that it was clear from the statement that Jones’ actions had caused the girl a great deal of trauma.

Hanley said that in many plea agreements between defendants and the DA’s office the victim’s feelings appear to be overlooked but she wanted Jones to know that she would not be “glossing over” what happened to the girl. She said she was granting Jones probation only because Kansas law required her to based on the level of conviction the state had agreed to.

Jones’ attorney, Dakota Loomis, asked the court to waive additional costs and fees for Jones since he would be attending college this semester. Hanley agreed to waive Jones’ attorney fees but not court costs. Jones told Hanley that he would be attending K-State.

Hanley admonished Jones, reminding him that he was not to use any drugs or alcohol while on probation and that she was well aware of what typically happens at college. Jones said he was “crystal clear” with those conditions. Jones then asked the court to be clear that so long as he does not violate any conditions of his probation that he would not be revoked and ordered to go to prison.

“That’s the incentive,” Hanley said.

Loomis said that Jones would be applying to transfer his probation supervision to Riley County. Hanley said that wouldn’t be a problem, but that if Riley County alleged any probation violations, it would be the Douglas County court system that would determine whether he would be ordered to serve his prison time.

Hanley then ordered Jones to undergo a sex offender evaluation and a psychosexual evaluation and to follow any treatment recommendations from those evaluators.

The court scheduled a plea hearing for Jones on Oct. 23 for a pending DUI case from February 2023 that Jones agreed to plead guilty or no contest to as part of his plea agreement in the battery case.

Jones was originally charged with one count of rape, one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of distributing alcohol to a minor, all felonies, according to charging documents. The charges are all related to the same 16-year-old victim.

According to an affidavit in support of Jones’ arrest, the girl told police that she and Jones were dating and had engaged in consensual sex that night but that she was very drunk and blacked out. Jones continued to perform sexual acts on the girl and recorded the incident. Police later recovered the video and confirmed that the girl appeared “highly intoxicated” before she crawled away from Jones and passed out while Jones then followed behind the girl and violated her.

An arrest affidavit is a sworn document detailing the probable cause behind a person’s arrest. Allegations contained in affidavits have not been proved in court.