Father of missing infant to serve nearly 3 years for removing GPS device

The father of missing Wichita infant Vincent Moore was ordered Friday to serve nearly three years in prison for cutting off a GPS monitoring device he was ordered to wear while on probation for a 2013 battery against the baby’s mother.

The case is unrelated to the child’s disappearance, but Gary M. Moore Jr. has been in the public eye since last July when Wichita police announced that Vincent, then 4 months old, had disappeared after being in his father’s care.

Vincent remains missing, Wichita police said Friday. He would be 16 months old now.

Sedgwick County District Court Judge David Dahl imposed a 34-month sentence on Moore in response to his May 23 guilty plea to one count of unlawfully tampering with electronic monitoring equipment.

Letter: Authorities think missing Wichita infant is dead | Search for missing baby Vincent Moore has yielded no evidence, police say

Prosecutors say Moore sliced through the GPS device at approximately 4:45 a.m. on June 9, 2015, before traveling to Texas with Vincent and his 2-year-old son, in violation of the terms of his probation.

Vincent was last seen being taken by his father from a house near Hydraulic and 31st Street South early on July 11 after returning to Wichita. Moore was arrested July 29 after the baby’s mother contacted authorities, saying she couldn’t reach Moore or find the children.

Defense attorney David Leon in court argued that Moore should be granted probation for cutting off the GPS device because the offense was nonviolent, and he has only misdemeanor convictions in his past.

“I’m not a threat to society,” Moore told the judge.

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said by phone after Friday’s hearing that no one has been arrested or charged in connection with the baby’s disappearance.

“We’re continuing to have conversations with law enforcement,” he said. “And his (Moore’s) sentence today will not effect that.”

Asked for an update on the investigation, Wichita police Sgt. Nikki Woodrow said simply: “No leads. No leads.”

“Case (is) still active, and we would welcome any new or additional information on it.”

Authorities are asking anyone with information to call the Wichita Police Department’s homicide section, which handles missing persons cases, at 316-268-4181. Anonymous tips can be submitted 24 hours a day to Wichita-Sedgwick County Crime Stoppers by calling 316-267-2111; by texting TIP217 and information to 274637 (CRIMES); or at www.wichitasedgwickcountycrimestoppers.com.

Although police have said publicly that the search for Vincent is ongoing, local social-justice advocate Mary Dean has said the boy’s family was informed last fall through a petition filed in a child-in-need-of-care case that authorities think he is dead.

Vincent’s great-grandmother, Linda Hodges, said Friday that Vincent’s brother, who is named in the CINC case with him, is living with a foster family despite pleas to the court to place him with relatives.

This story was originally published July 8, 2016 at 6:45 PM with the headline "Father of missing infant to serve nearly 3 years for removing GPS device."