photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Kenneth Wayne Soap, left, appears with his attorney Branden Smith Wednesday in Douglas County District Court.

The Douglas County District Attorney’s Office and the lawyer for a man accused of numerous sex crimes are attempting to reach a “global resolution” for five separate cases the man is facing.

The process involves working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which could potentially file federal charges against the man, Kenneth Wayne Soap, for allegedly preying on girls at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School and elsewhere.

That case, involving multiple counts of sexual exploitation and child pornography, was dismissed locally and now is expected to reappear as federal charges.

Branden Smith, Soap’s attorney, told Judge Amy Hanley on Wednesday that attempts to reach the assistant U.S. attorney handling the case had so far been unsuccessful. Smith asked for a continuance, to which the state did not object, and which Hanley granted. Soap’s next court date is now scheduled for Oct. 31.

In the other local cases, Soap, 45, is facing multiple counts of rape, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated criminal sodomy, criminal sodomy with an animal, DUI, battery on a law enforcement officer and other offenses.

The alleged sex crimes span several years, beginning in 2008.

He has been in jail since his initial arrest two years ago, on a bond of $250,000.

Soap has yet to be arraigned in the local cases he now faces, so his right to a speedy trial has not begun to run.