Wichita man pleads guilty to child abuse

A Wichita man accused of beating a boy with a broom stick pleaded guilty to child abuse this week.

Wichita police officers found the 10-year-old outside in the area of Ninth and Grove around 8 p.m. Jan. 13, wearing no coat in sub-freezing weather, according to a police affidavit filed earlier this year in Sedgwick County District Court. The boy told authorities Gayle E. Kent Jr. struck his back and legs with a broom, a police detective wrote in the affidavit.

Medical staff who examined the child documented 53 individual injuries, most consistent with a long, narrow object like a broom handle, the affidavit said.

Kent, 40, pleaded guilty as charged Monday morning, the day set aside for his jury trial, court records show. He could be ordered to serve 31 to 136 months in prison when he is sentenced before District Judge David Kaufman on Aug. 13.

He could also be put on probation, according to his plea agreement.

This story was originally published July 10, 2015 at 7:41 PM with the headline "Wichita man pleads guilty to child abuse."