An Olathe man has been given an over 23-year prison sentence after a jury found him guilty of more than a dozen charges, including rape and indecent liberties with a child.

On Oct. 16 in Johnson County District Court, Judge Michael P. Joyce handed down the sentence against Jacob Artist Fontes, 44.

The punishment includes 283 months, or roughly 23-and-a-half years, for the following charges, which will run consecutively:

• 165 months, or nearly 14 years, for rape
• 59 months, or nearly 5 years, for aggravated indecent liberties with a child
• and another 59 months for aggravated criminal sodomy.

He was also sentenced on other charges, which will run concurrently with the previously-mentioned charges, including for aggravated criminal sodomy, three counts of criminal sodomy with a child, three counts of indecent liberties with a child involving lewd fondling and two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child.

In January 2025, Fontes was arrested by the Olathe Police Department and charged after the 15-year-old victim, Fontes’s stepdaughter, sent a friend text messages about him inappropriately touching her.

The friend sent the text messages to a counselor, who relayed them to the Olathe Police Department. The victim was then taken to Children’s Mercy Hospital for a sexual assault examination and interviewed by Sunflower House.

The crimes happened over an unspecified period of time

In 2024, the victim said Fontes’s crimes started when she was in the seventh grade.

She said he would rub her feet against his while they were watching movies. Fontes’s behavior would escalate from there, where he would inappropriately touch her, to the point where she would have to hit him to make him stop, Johnson County Court records stated.

During that time, Fontes created a pattern of abuse where he would only watch movies with the victim when her mother was asleep or away from the house, court records stated.

After that, the victim tried to avoid Fontes, but he did things to earn her trust back, like taking her on shopping trips.

While he did that, the abuse resumed. Court records say Fontes once climbed into the victim’s bed with her, inappropriately touched her and told her inappropriate things.

Sometime after that incident, Fontes began giving her alcohol while sexually abusing her and telling her not to mention it to anyone.

That behavior escalated. One time in December 2024, court records state, he gave her one-and-a-half marijuana gummies and sexually assaulted her. He stopped when her mother came home but resumed assaulting her the next day.

After he assaulted the victim, Fontes told her not to tell anyone because he would “go to jail or be killed for things like this.”

After the crimes were reported to police, Olathe Police discovered he had purchased a Plan B pill for her from CVS after assaulting her in January 2025.

They also found the victim’s clothing with Fontes’s DNA on it.

Court records show that after Fontes’s was charged, the victim’s mother filed for divorce with Fontes.

What’s next

After being found guilty by a jury of his peers in June, his attorneys filed a motion for a new trial, which was denied.

After his sentencing last week, Fontes’s attorneys filed an appeal, according to court records. The law firm listed as Fontes’s representation did not return the Post’s request for commment.

When released, Fontes will be on lifetime post-release supervision and will register with the state as a sex offender.