SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas felon who left his 11-month-old daughter in the canal in Wichita is scheduled to learn his fate Thursday afternoon.
Judge Tyler Roush will sentence 34-year-old Vincent Perez who was found guilty in December of aggravated endangering a child and aggravated battery, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.
In July, police were dispatched to conduct a welfare check in the vicinity of Interstate 135 and Pawnee in Wichita after receiving a report of a child in the canal, according to Officer Kristopher Gupilan.
Officers, with the assistance of the Wichita Fire Department, located the child within the canal. She was safely extracted from the canal and transported to a local hospital for precautionary medical evaluation and later placed into police protective custody, according to Gupilan.
Police believed Perez had information pertinent to the investigation and asked the public for assistance in locating him for questioning. The following day police booked Perez into the Sedgwick County jail.
Perez has previous convictions for theft, aggravated assault, aggravated burglary, criminal possession of a weapon and for drugs, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.