Columbus, Kansas, man draws 26-year term in child rape case

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.

Mar. 12—COLUMBUS, Kan. — A Cherokee County judge has sentenced a 38-year-old man from Columbus to 313 months in prison for sexual abuse of a child.

Brian C. Stewart was sentenced to the term Friday in Cherokee County District Court.

A jury had convicted Stewart at a trial in January of one count of rape and five counts of indecent liberties with a child, offenses committed between March and late August 2016.

Stewart remains in custody at the Cherokee County Jail pending his transfer to the Kansas Department of Corrections.