photo by: Mugshot courtesy of the Kansas Department of Corrections

Charles Joseph Goeser is pictured with the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

A Leavenworth man who was accused of entering a garage, taking a bicycle and damaging a car while a woman and her child were inside the home entered a guilty plea Tuesday in connection with the incident.

The man, Charles Joseph Goeser, 37, was charged in Douglas County District Court with one count of aggravated burglary and one count of criminal damage, both felonies, and one count of misdemeanor theft, according to charging documents. He was scheduled for trial on Wednesday, but instead he pleaded guilty Tuesday to all three counts.

Goeser said he wanted to show the court that he was taking responsibility for his actions. He told the court that he believed his criminal history would put him in the highest category on the Kansas sentencing guidelines.

Judge Amy Hanley asked Goeser whether he understood that he could still go to trial — and that, if he was correct about his criminal history, he could face a minimum of 154 months, or over 12 years, in prison for the burglary charge by entering a guilty plea. Goeser said he understood, and then Hanley asked if he had any mental health issues that would affect his decision.

“Anxiety about this decision, but I think I am making the right decision,” Goeser said.

Hanley then ordered Goeser to appear in court on Feb. 13 to schedule a date for sentencing. He has been in custody on a $20,000 bond.

Senior Assistant District Attorney David Greenwald said that Goeser was entering a plea without a plea agreement with the state, and that the state would be asking the court to impose the most severe sentence possible. The maximum prison sentence for the burglary count is 172 months, or more than 14 years; in addition, Goeser could face as much as 17 months in prison for the criminal damage charge and one year in jail for the theft charge, in accordance with Kansas sentencing guidelines.

The charges are in connection with an incident on June 18, 2023, in the 500 block of Stoneridge Court. According to an affidavit in support of Goeser’s arrest, neighbors saw a white Ford F150 park outside of a residence and a man, later identified as Goeser, entering the open garage and exiting with a bike. He loaded the bike into the truck and drove away, according to the affidavit.

The neighbor got into his vehicle and followed the truck and took a picture of it with the license tag number while he called the woman who lived in the home and told her what had happened, according to the affidavit; the woman, who was at home with her daughter, was unaware that anyone had been in the garage.

Police later met with the woman’s husband, who told them his Trek bicycle, with a value of $630, that was on a rack above his car in his garage had been stolen and and his car hood was dented. The man estimated the hood would cost $2,000 to repair.

With the license plate number from the neighbor, police were able to track the truck to Walmart, 550 Congressional Drive. According to the affidavit, they found Goeser sitting in the vehicle and observed a Trek bicycle in the back of the truck matching the description of the stolen bike, along with three other bicycles. Goeser was then taken into custody.

The owner of the Trek bicycle retrieved his bike after that, and the other bikes were entered into evidence along with a number of tools that were in the front seat of the vehicle, according to the affidavit.

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

Goeser has a history of burglary charges in Leavenworth County and was released from prison in February of 2023, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records. He was convicted in 2010 for aggravated burglary and attempted aggravated burglary and again for two counts of burglary in 2018.