Former Pedophile Officer Jerry Ballinger Will NOT go to Prison After Rape of Child

A former police officer and mentor gets probation—not prison—after pleading guilty to child sex crimes.

Last year, Augusta cop Jerry Ballinger was arrested and charged with having sex with a 14-year-old girl. He entered a plea agreement and will serve his punishment outside the walls of prison.

Some are calling and a slap on the wrist.

Ballinger pleaded guilty in February to one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. And just this week, KAKE’s I-Team was the only TV crew in Butler County when Ballinger was sentenced to five years probation.

When the I-Team heard that sentence, we dug deeper to find out what the average sentence is for first time sex offenders.

In Kansas, it's is up to eight years behind bars and the convict will be placed on the state’s sex offender registry for the rest of their life.

Here’s what Judge David Ricke told the 44-year-old former cop in court:

“Ballinger falls into a category of offender who present a problem and concern for society,” he said, “and therefore must be watched closely the rest of his life and supervised.”

Ballinger worked in law enforcement for more that 20 years. He met his 14-year-old victim at the Augusta public safety office when she was volunteering as a junior firefighter.

The girl, a middle school student at the time, testified during a preliminary hearing that the cop befriended her. She said he took her out to the country several times and the two had sexual intercourse last year.

The victim’s father said he is furious with the probation sentence. He said what happened to his little girl will scar her for the rest of her life.

Assistant Butler County Attorney Cheryl Pierce prosecuted the case. She said that based on the fact that he’s 44-years-old and was a cop at the time, and the victim was a 14-year-old girl, Ballinger should be in prison based on that fact alone.

Butler County Attorney Darrin Divinney told the KAKE I-Team he entered the plea deal with Ballinger, saying, “Some cases have overwhelming evidence. This one had only circumstantial evidence. Given that fact, there was a far greater risk of acquittal.”

Divinney told the court he did not join in the defense request of just probation, but he also didn’t actively oppose the request.

Judge Ricke ruled that Ballinger would be better served for treatment on probation instead of behind bars, based on a doctor’s report.

“... The strength of doctor Steffan's evaluation report, which indicated that defendant was a low risk to reoffend, that the defendant was amenable to treatment, and that he had a favorable prognosis for treatment, and that he was favorable candidate for probation."

For many in the community, the sentence was a big disappointment.

Former Officer Robert Kennedy Convicted of Sexual Assault Gets Early Release

A former city police lieutenant convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy won an early release from a parole board Thursday.

Robert Kennedy, who served 12 years as a lieutenant with the city's police department, is scheduled to be released on July 9 after serving 18 months in prison — exactly half his sentence. He was convicted of second-degree sexual assault, risk of injury to a minor, illegal sexual contact and third-degree possession of child pornography after a teenager said he and Kennedy engaged in oral sex.

Kennedy was one of seven men, including a judicial marshal and a city businessman, with whom the boy said he had sex in 2007, sometimes for money.

Although Kennedy, 48, didn't comment in January 2009 when he was sentenced to three years in prison, he gave the parole board detailed answers and explanations over the course of 45 minutes as he pleaded for his release on Thursday morning.

"Why I did that single incident is open for exploration," Kennedy said. "This person was really flattering me in exponential terms. You know, everything, from my teeth to my hair to the way I was built and here I was 45 years old and here was this very young, attractive, good-looking guy paying me all sorts of compliments. I can only equate it as a type of gay, mid-life crisis, Achilles' heel that I succumbed to."

The board conducted the parole review using a video conferencing system. Kennedy was in a small room in Cheshire Correctional Institution looking up at a camera, while the board watched him on an old Sony television in a conference room on the fifth floor of a state building on West Main Street in Waterbury.

Kennedy, who seemed calm through the review, could see and hear the board. Kennedy's family members, including his mother, two sisters and brother, filled a room in New Haven where they also watched the hearing via a video feed.

Kennedy is openly gay, and said he had long-term relationships with men, but the oral sex he had with the teen was the result of "unflattering urges."

He told the board his routine was to "tour the city" in his police SUV, then head to Hamilton Park to prepare himself for the day with a cup of coffee. He told the board he saw the boy on a grassy knoll in the park. Although it was a sunny day in March, the boy, who was 15 at the time, caught his attention because he was wearing a T-shirt and "inappropriate" clothing.

Kennedy said he struck up a conversation with the boy, finding he was a student in a city school.

The boy said Kennedy gave him a ride home in his police SUV and the two exchanged cell phone numbers. After his shift ended, Kennedy picked the boy up at his house and the two returned to Kennedy's home, where they had sex.

Accused Pedophile was Janitor at High School

A Concord man accused of soliciting sex from a 14-year-old girl and later an undercover police officer once worked for a Concord high school, school officials said Thursday.

Danny Wrenn Cochran worked as a custodian at Jay M. Robinson High School from May 2001 to January 2006, Cabarrus County Schools spokeswoman Jeanette Trexler said.

School officials could not release why he left or under what circumstances.

Police officials said earlier this week they do not believe he was involved in any other alleged incidents. At the time of his arrest, Cochran was unemployed and receiving disability payments, police officials said.

According to a search warrant affidavit, Cochran told the 14-year-old girl, who had misdialed his phone, that he had previously worked as a custodian at the school. Police worked with the 14-year-girl, whose name is not being released, to set up a sting operation by using an undercover police officer to act as the teen’s cousin, the report stated.

Police arrested Cochran at the Terrymore Apartments in Concord, which was a predetermined meeting place between the undercover officer and Cochran, documents stated.

Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Sgt. D.J. DeGrace said the management of Terrymore Apartments worked with police and allowed them to use the facility for the sting but stressed the complex and its tenants had no involvement with the case.

The location was a neutral meeting place where police could control the situation and not give up the actual address of anyone involved, DeGrace said.

Cochran, 51, of 4800 Roberta Church Road, appeared in court Thursday morning.

Cabarrus County District Attorney Roxanne Vaneekhoven now has to decide when to place Cochran’s case before a grand jury.

Cochran’s next scheduled court hearing is Sept. 4 but he could be called before the grand jury as early as Monday, Cabarrus County Clerk of Courts officials said.