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A 44-year-old Omaha man was arrested by Douglas County sheriff’s deputies last week on charges of sexually abusing a 5-year-old boy in Kansas.
Richard E. Widener, 3325 Larimore Ave., is charged in a Kansas warrant with aggravated indecent liberties on a child and aggravated criminal sodomy. Both felony counts are punishable by up to life in prison..
Widener agreed not to fight his return to Kansas at a court appearance Thursday. His bail amount after his return to Kansas will be $1 million.
Doug Matthews, chief prosecutor in Barton County, Kan., said Widener’s charges have to do with fondling and touching a child but would not go into details about the assault or the boy alleging it.
Friends of Widener’s who attended his court appearance said afterward that he is innocent.
Mike Franks said his friend is HIV positive and has adopted a boy suffering from the disease. Franks said Widener is innocent, and — as a father of four — would never harm a child.
Authorities said the incidents, which were investigated by the Great Bend (Kan.) Police Department, occurred in October 2008 and May 2009.
Contact the writer:
444-1279, jason.kuiper@owh.com
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