Lawrence man pleads guilty to two rape counts, faces 38 years
Kenneth Wayne Soap admitted two rape counts in Douglas County District Court and now faces nearly 38 years in prison. Sentencing is set for this summer.
Kenneth Wayne Soap pleaded guilty in Douglas County District Court to two counts of rape, moving a long-running Lawrence case to sentencing and putting him in line for nearly 38 years in prison.
The crimes date to 2009, and the plea closes off the possibility of a jury trial on those counts. Soap is scheduled to be sentenced this summer, when a Douglas County judge will decide the punishment under Kansas’ revised sentencing guidelines.
The case that led to the plea began in Lawrence after a teacher at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School overheard students discussing Snapchat messages from a man later identified as Soap. That report triggered a Lawrence Police Department investigation that expanded as officers followed digital evidence and additional allegations.
Soap later faced a wider set of accusations in Douglas County, including charges that reached back to 2008 and, in one 2024 filing, five counts of rape and one count of aggravated sexual battery. By August 2025, he was facing multiple counts including rape, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated criminal sodomy, criminal sodomy with an animal, DUI and battery on a law enforcement officer.
Court records and later reporting also said Soap had been jailed since his initial arrest two years earlier on a $250,000 bond. Prosecutors and defense counsel were also said to be working toward a possible “global resolution” across five separate cases, with possible federal charges tied to the middle-school sex-crimes investigation.
The guilty plea brings one of the most serious parts of the case to a formal turning point, but not to an end. Under Kansas law, rape under several subsections is classified as a severity level 1 person felony, a designation that can carry a lengthy prison term even when resolved by plea rather than trial. The sentence this summer will determine how much of that nearly 38-year exposure Soap actually serves.
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