Serial groper headed to prison for sexually assaulting women at east Wichita mall, home
A Wichita man convicted of sexually assaulting two women at Towne East Square and a third unloading groceries from her car in a nearby neighborhood has been ordered to serve 7 years, 11 months in prison.
The assaults all took place within a few hours on July 1, 2021, near Kellogg and Rock, Wichita police have said.
Andrew E. Jones, 28, pleaded no contest on March 9 to attempted rape, two counts of aggravated sexual battery and criminal threat, the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. He was sentenced Wednesday.
His court-appointed lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday morning.
According to the release and court records, Jones approached and grabbed each of the women in a sexual manner.
In one of the cases reported at the mall, Jones reached up a woman’s skirt as she walked inside the second-floor common area from the parking lot, according to an affidavit released in the case. In the other mall assault, Jones grabbed a woman from behind and put a hand into her shorts while she leaving, the affidavit says.
Both of those assaults happened shortly before noon.
Within a few hours, he attacked the woman while she was outside of her home on East Morris, the affidavit says. She was also grabbed from behind.
“The woman yelled for her husband who chased the man before he stopped and pointed a knife at the husband,” the DA’s Office said in the news release.
Police caught up with Jones later that same day after an officer saw a man whose clothing matched that of the groper, the release says.
The officer chased Jones for “over a mile before he entered a house in the 8000 block of E. Gilbert,” according to the release.
“When the suspect threatened to shoot the officer, he (the officer) backed off. Other officers later entered the home and arrested Jones,” the news release says.
Wichita police have said previously that Jones suffered from mental health issues and had been the subject of mental health calls before the sexual assaults and standoff.
In addition to ordering the prison sentence, Sedgwick County District Judge Faith Maughan told Jones on Wednesday that he would be subject to lifetime post-release supervision and offender registration, the DA’s Office said.
“Lifetime post release requires the Department of Corrections to watch him the rest of his life,” according to the release. “Jones is subject to conditions on the release. If he violates those conditions, he could be sent back to prison.”
This story was originally published May 11, 2023 at 11:31 AM.
