Former Officer Receives Life in Prison for Sexual Assault of Minor

Last week, a former school resource officer from Kansas City, Kan., was sentenced to life in prison for “child sex crimes and rape,” according to a news release by Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

Mark Scheetz, 32, was sentenced in the Norton County District Court on Tuesday, May 25, and he will not be eligible for parole for at least 50 years. He was convicted by a jury in April on two counts of aggravated criminal sodomy with a child younger than 14 years of age, two counts of rape, sexual exploitation of a child, and witness intimidation, according to the news release. Scheetz was sentenced under Jessica’s Law, which was designed to mete out harsher sentences for sex offenders whose victims were young children.

The crimes took place between 2012 and 2015 in Norton County, Kansas. Scheetz was working as a school resource officer in a Kansas City School District when he was charged in 2019, and before that, he worked at the Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office from 2016 to 2018.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning and Campus Security and Life Safety. He can be reached at [email protected]

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