PAWNEE COUNTY – A Kansas woman was sentenced Thursday for her role in the escape of sexual offender John Freeman Colt from the Sexual Predator Treatment Program at Larned State Hospital, according to Pawnee County Attorney Doug McNett.
On January 6, Liliana Guadalupe Houser, 45 of Garden City plead No Contest pursuant to a plea agreement to three felonies including Unlawful Sexual Relations with a patient while employed by Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services (KDADS), Traffic in Contraband in a Care and Treatment Facility while employed by KDADS, and Obstructing in the Apprehension or Prosecution of a Registered Sex Offender.
District Judge Bruce Gatterman sentenced Houser to a reduced sentence of 16 months in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections on each count with the counts to run concurrently.
The charges stem from an ongoing investigation by the Pawnee County Sheriff’s Department following the June 30, 2021, escape of John Freeman Colt from the Treatment Program. Colt was captured in Wayne Country Utah on September 27, 2021.
Under the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines, each count carried a presumptive prison term of 32 months with the department of corrections base on the severity level of the charges and Houser’s lack of criminal history. At the sentencing hearing, the defendant requested the Court place her on probation arguing she did not pose a danger to the public. She expressed she had been manipulated by the Colt during a time she was particularly vulnerable due to stress at work, a deteriorating marriage and the loss of her adult son in the Spring of 2021.
The State argued the Court deny the request for leniency on the grounds that despite having prior knowledge of Colt’s escape plans, Houser took no actions to warn the hospital or law enforcement. Her breach of her fiduciary duty as a hospital employee placed both her co-workers and the public in danger.
The defendant will receive jail credit towards her prison sentence. The Court also ordered Houser to register as a Sex Offender for a period of 25 years upon her release from prison. This downward durational departure sentence is consistent with the sentence of Colean McKoy in 2008 who assisted Perry Isley escape from the Sexual Predator Treatment Program.
Houser has been in the custody of the Pawnee County Sheriff since her arrest on October 8, 2021.