By Roger McKinney

rmckinney@joplinglobe.com

COLUMBUS, Kan. — A former children’s gymnastics instructor will be sentenced Sept. 16 after pleading no contest on Monday to a felony child-sex charge and guilty to a felony charge of failure to register as a sex offender.

Glenn Keeton, 43, of rural Riverton, was found guilty on the charges by Judge David Rogers, from Wilson County. The pleas were part of a plea agreement between Keeton’s attorney, Gene Barrett, and Nola Wright, an assistant Kansas attorney general. The deal came about as a jury was about to be selected for Keeton’s trial.

Keeton pleaded no contest to a charge of lewd and lascivious behavior in the presence of a child. He was found guilty of intentionally exposing himself to a 12-year-old girl on May 27, 2007, at his house. A charge of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, alleging that Keeton engaged in lewd fondling or touching of the girl, was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Three of four felony charges of failing to register as a sex offender were dismissed after Keeton pleaded guilty to one of the counts. He has a 1993 conviction in California for committing a lewd action with a 10-year-old child by force.

According to Crawford County Sheriff Sandy Horton, Keeton was not on a public registry because his California conviction happened before Kansas adopted its registry, but Keeton still was required to register in the county where he lives or works.

The victim testified at Keeton’s preliminary hearing in March that as she approached Keeton’s house to retrieve keys on May 27, 2007, she saw a naked Keeton from behind through a window of the house. After he had dressed, she went inside, where they watched a digital video disc. She said Keeton was wearing shorts without underwear and was exposing himself to some degree.

Later, she said, she unknowingly chose a DVD showing a man and woman engaged in sex acts. She said that as she prepared to leave, she felt Keeton’s penis through his shorts touching her knee. She said Keeton told her not to tell anyone about what had happened.

Under questioning by Barrett, she said different people could interpret Keeton’s actions as either improper or innocent, and that she was unsure of his intentions. She said they had no conversations of a sexual nature.

Background

Glenn Keeton was arrested June 19, 2007, at Glenn’s Ready Set Go Gym in Pittsburg, which he owned and where he taught gymnastics to children. Crawford County Sheriff Sandy Horton at the time said parents of children at the gym disregarded his warnings about Keeton.