Correction: This story has been updated to show Hugo received two consecutive “hard 25” sentences. The original version of this story erroneously said he received one.Â
An Olathe man was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility for parole for 50 years for five felony charges, including rape of a child.
On Tuesday in Johnson County District Court, Timothy Hugo, 35, was sentenced to Life without the possibility of parole for 25 years on five felony charges, including two counts of rape of a child under 14 and aggressive indecent liberties and one count of aggressive criminal sodomy.
Of those charges, one count of rape of a child under 14 and aggressive indecent liberties will run consecutively, totaling at least 50 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
A “Hard 25” sentence is a life sentence with a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 25 years.
The punishment comes after a four-day jury trial in July, which returned guilty verdicts for all five charges. The sentence was handed down by Judge Thomas Kelly Ryan.
The crimes happened over several months
The crimes for which he was charged and convicted occurred between June 1, 2019, through Aug. 4, 2019, in Johnson County, according to court documents. The victim was 13 years old at the time.
The incidents included lewd fondling and touching, sexual intercourse and fondling of a child under the age of 14.
But the abuse went back further than that, starting when the victim was 9 and occurring over eight incidents that the victim could remember, according to court documents. It stopped when the victim was 13.
Law enforcement was notified in 2020
On May 14, 2020, Olathe police responded to a call from the victim’s mother that her child admitted to being molested by Hugo since they were 9, according to court documents.
During one incident in August 2019 that the victim alleged, Hugo was recorded on a spy camera entering and exiting the victim’s room.
After reviewing the evidence, then-Assistant District Attorney Jason Covington declined on Sept. 29, 2020, to charge Hugo.
After Covington left the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office, Assistant District Attorney Ryan Walkiewicz, the head of the district attorney’s special victims unit, reviewed the evidence. On Sept. 24, 2021, he filed four felony charges against Hugo. A fifth count of felony rape of a child under 14 was added in 2022.
Hugo was placed into custody on Oct. 18, 2021, according to court documents.
The victim hopes more people speak out
The sentencing was a long-time coming, but the process to get there was drawn out, the victim told the Johnson County Post.
“His lawyers did their best to drag it out, I assume, in the hopes that I would decide that I didn’t want to keep going with it,” the person said.
Victims of crimes deserve to get justice, the victim said.
“People that have experienced this should come out about it and get justice for it, if they have the strength to,” they said.
Hugo’s attorney did not return a request for comment from the Johnson County Post.
Other Johnson County Court news: Shawnee pastor charged with rape and kidnapping in Utah
