Photo by: Douglas County Sheriff’s Office
Possibility Andrew Kenney
A Topeka man was sentenced Monday in the Douglas County District Court to nearly 4 years in prison after accepting a plea deal that settled four cases in which he was accused of twice kidnapping a woman, choking her and threatening her with a knife kitchen.
Chance Andrew Kenney, 26, pleaded no-charge felony aggravated domestic battery, felony aggravated witness intimidation, and felony threat in connection with an incident on May 30, 2021, according to arraignment documents. The Journal-World in early December requested arrest affidavits in Kenney’s various cases, but the court did not respond to those requests.
Kenney’s 2021 arrests began on March 15, when he was charged with a misdemeanor of aggravated domestic battery by choking a woman with whom he was having an affair and a misdemeanor felony restraint. He was released on a $7,000 bail, meaning he didn’t have to pay any money to be released following his arrest. He was given a GPS tracking device that would alert the court if he returned to the scene of the accident.
On May 30, Kenney was charged with one felony aggravated kidnapping, one felony aggravated domestic battery by choking the same woman, one felony making a felony threat, and one felony witness intimidation.
The prison reservation book lists Kenney’s arrest in that incident as occurring at mileage marker 204 on Interstate-70, by the Lawrence Police. The aggravated kidnapping charge is a first-level felony, the highest-level felony listed in Kansas sentencing guidelines.
Kenney was released on $40,000 bond a few days later, and by June 11 Kenney was reportedly again violating a protective order against the woman and was charged with a misdemeanor violation of a protective order . He was issued a subpoena on August 7, 2021. He appeared and was given a $1,000 recognition bond on that misdemeanor charge.
Kenney was last charged on October 16, 2021, when he faced a misdemeanor for kidnapping the woman again, a misdemeanor count of aggravated witness intimidation, a misdemeanor count of aggravated assault by threatening the woman with a kitchen knife, one misdemeanor count of aggravated domestic battery for choking the woman, and one misdemeanor count for violating a protective order.
Kenney was extradited from Nodaway County in Missouri after being arrested on warrant for the October incident. He was then held on $350,000 bond and has been in custody at the Douglas County Jail ever since.
At Kenney’s sentencing Monday, Judge Merlin Wheeler asked Kenney’s defense attorney Dakota Loomis if Kenney had any special training or skills, to which Loomis said no but that he has some college experience; she said Kenney hopes to take advantage of the prison’s job training courses.
Kenney told the hearing that he hopes perhaps to learn a trade like welding that he can use after his release.
Assistant District Attorney Christen Secrest read a letter from the victim at the hearing that said, “When I first met Chance I thought he was all I wanted … I finally realized he was a lot darker than than I thought”.
The letter went on to say that within six months of the relationship Kenney had become dominant and would say and do things to damage the woman’s self-esteem. She wrote that since the relationship ended she had struggled to open up to new people but that now, a year without Kenney in her life, she felt she could finally move on.
“Without him, I feel like I can finally live my best life,” she wrote.
Wheeler sentenced Kenney to 34 months on the aggravated intimidation charge of a witness charge, 12 months on the aggravated domestic battery charge, and six months on the felony threat charge with the intimidation and battery charges to be executed consecutively for a total of 46 months. Wheeler then gave Kenney 435 days of service, or just over 14 months.
