photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World Photo

Mark Duane Strand is pictured on Feb. 26, 2026, in Douglas County District Court.

A 74-year-old Lawrence landlord is standing trial this week on multiple allegations of child sex crimes dating back to 2016.

According to the state, the defendant, Mark Duane Strand, took indecent liberties with three girls under the age of 14, including raping one of them repeatedly when she was under 10. In all, he is charged with eight sex crimes and two other offenses related to allegations that he tried to keep the girls from testifying against him by offering them scholarship money.

Strand met the girls in 2016 when they moved into one of his several rental properties. He had befriended a relative of theirs and had hired the relative to be a handyman in exchange for rent. The abuse started almost immediately, prosecutor Devin Canfield told the jury Tuesday morning during his opening argument, and it continued as the relative fell further and further behind in rent.

In that relative’s own criminal case, it was said that he was “paying” his rent by allowing Strand sexual access to the children, though Canfield did not explicitly allege that in his opening.

The relative, Cormick Ferrell, was convicted in July 2023 of related crimes via a plea deal and was sentenced to four years in prison for aggravated sexual battery and aggravated child endangerment, as the Journal-World reported. He was originally accused of sexually trafficking children, 6 and 7 at the time, to Strand.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Cormick Gabriel Ferrell is pictured during a preliminary hearing on Feb. 24, 2023, in Douglas County District Court.

Defense attorneys challenged Canfield’s version of events, telling the jury that the case was not about facts but about “stories” — both inconsistent and nonsensical — that had originated in the “chaotic and complicated” household of the girls. Attorney Kyleigh Rupe characterized the family life as abusive and neglectful, in which kids were “left to fend for themselves.”

Rupe also said that the allegations had coincided with the relative’s eventual eviction, and she asked jurors to evaluate whether witnesses, as they take the stand in coming days, had something to gain from Strand being found guilty.

One matter that jurors will have to grapple with is that Strand already has a child sex crime on his record — a fact that was disclosed by the defense to potential jurors earlier Tuesday during jury selection. Attorney Kirk Redmond, after mentioning the conviction, grilled potential jurors over whether they could be fair and impartial knowing that about Strand. Some admitted that they could not be, while many more answered that they believed they could consider only the evidence presented at the current trial in reaching a verdict.

In the prior conviction, according to federal court documents, Strand accepted a plea deal in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in December 2019, when he was convicted of knowingly attempting to coerce and entice a minor to engage in sexual activity.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Mark Strand appears Monday, April 6, 2026, in Douglas County District Court.

According to an affidavit supporting Strand’s arrest on the federal charge, in April 2017, he responded to a Craigslist advertisement and said he was looking for “taboo” sexual activity, but unbeknownst to him he was communicating with federal agents. He reportedly expressed interest in sexual activity with a 9-year-old and discussed traveling to Miami. He shared a photo of himself that had been published on KU’s website, which showed his real name, phone, email and home address. Strand was previously employed at the KU School of Business for 20 years as a building and facility manager.

He continued to discuss the plan with the agents until February 2018. Conversations then stopped for about a year, but Strand re-initiated discussions in May 2019, when he said he was now retired and wished to travel to Florida. He again expressed interest in sexual activity with the purported child, who the agents told him would have been 12 at the time. Strand reportedly told the agents he would pay $100 to engage in sexual activity with the girl. On July 12, 2019, he traveled to Miami Beach, where he met an undercover agent and was arrested.

He was sentenced on Feb. 26, 2020, to 12 years in prison for the conviction.

The Lawrence girls’ claims were not reported until 2019; it was only then, Canfield said, that they felt safe talking to police, knowing that Strand was in custody in Florida and couldn’t get at them.

While he was in custody, he allegedly contacted caretakers of the girls and asked that the girls sign affidavits recanting their testimony. He also allegedly offered to provide scholarship money to them but wrote that “the case would have to over” before he would pay, as the Journal-World reported.

Strand’s trial is expected to last through Friday.

Previous coverage

Nov. 6, 2021: Lawrence man facing charges of human trafficking for allegedly allowing children to be assaulted in exchange for rent

Nov. 20, 2021: Lawrence landlord serving 12 years in federal prison for child sex crime is facing similar charges in Douglas County

Sept. 16, 2022: Lawrence man facing human-trafficking charges is charged with another child-sex crime

Feb. 25, 2023: Man accused of trafficking children is ordered to stand trial in a 2nd sex crime case

July 24, 2023: Lawrence man originally charged with trafficking children in exchange for rent avoids trial and enters plea to lesser crimes

Nov. 21, 2023: Lawrence man originally charged with trafficking children in exchange for rent is sentenced to 4 years in prison

March 10, 2026: Former Lawrence landlord accused of sexually abusing kids faces new charges of interference and witness intimidation

April 6, 2026: Property manager says landlord accused of child sex crimes asked him to get victims to recant; scholarships mentioned as inducement