State returns sexual predator to state hospital
By Lisa Scheller, News Editor
The notorious sexual predator Leroy Hendricks has been forced out of Leavenworth
County.
Early last week, Leavenworth County counselor David Van Parys said he had been
told Hendricks had been returned to Osawatomie State Hospital.
And Leavenworth County commissioners want to make sure Hendricks stays out of
the county.
A hearing has been set in for 10 a.m. July 12 in Leavenworth County District
Court to determine whether county officials can prevent a house on Golden Road
from being used as a nursing home or a detention center without a special-use
permit.
On June 1, the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services moved
Hendricks, a wheelchair-bound 70-year-old sexual predator, into a home at 24130
Golden Road. The house is about five miles west of Linwood, just south of Kansas
Highway 32.
Lawrence residents Rick and Linda Whitson had purchased the property on May 27,
planning to keep Hendricks, and possibly in the future, several other men like
him, under 24-hour surveillance. The state was going to pay $278,000 to house
and guard Hendricks for a 15-month period.
Last Monday, Leavenworth County Commissioner Dean Oroke expressed anger about
how Hendricks was moved into the county without the county's prior knowledge.
"I don't feel that Leavenworth County should become the dumping ground of SRS,
and I'm not happy that we, the county, were not informed of it," Oroke said.
Hendricks, who is working his way through the state's sexual predator program,
completed the first five stages of treatment at Larned State Hospital, where he
lived from 1994 until this spring, when he was moved to Osawatomie State
Hospital in preparation for a transfer to a private detention center, such as
what the Whitsons attempted to establish at the Golden Road house. This would
have been the sixth stage of Hendricks' treatment in the sexual predator
treatment program. This is a transition release phase where he would have
started to have contact with the community.
Hendricks has been widely quoted as saying the only way he would stop molesting
children would be if he died.
In April, SRS had announced plans to move Hendricks into a home in Lawrence
where he would be under constant surveillance, but citizens protested, garnering
about 4,500 signatures on a petition.
On June 1, SRS officials informed Leavenworth County Sheriff Dave Zoellner that
Hendricks would be moved into southern Leavenworth County that day.
County commissioners were outraged SRS had moved the state's most notorious
sexual predator into the county. They directed Van Parys to seek a temporary
injunction to prevent the house on Golden Road from being used as a nursing home
or a detention facility. He was successful.
The July court hearing is to determine whether the injunction should become
permanent. If the judge issues a permanent injunction, a special-use permit
would be required to house Hendricks on Golden Road.
And the three-member Leavenworth County Commission decides whether to issue such
permits.
Does a Sexual Predator live in your neighborhood?
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