Thanks to a quick-thinking clerk in Independence a child predator is brought to justice. The Montgomery Co Chronicle reported that Kaiffe Gary Aponte, age 53, of Topeka agreed to a plea bargain as jurors were being seated in the Montgomery Co. courtroom for the trial.

 

Aponte pleaded no contest to two counts of attempted aggravated sexual battery on an 18-year-old from Arizona in an Independence motel on May 15, 2019.

 

The girl is from a Navajo Reservation in Arizona and has developmental needs. This was a big factor in the Montgomery County prosecuting attorney’s plea deal. Not wanting to subject the now 21-year-old to reliving the trauma inflicted by Aponte.

 

Thankfully a clerk in the motel in which the two stayed noticed some unusual behavior on the part of Aponte. When they looked up Aponte on Google and found him to be a registered sex offender, the clerk called the Independence police department and when they arrived IPD discovered the victim had been declared missing from Arizona.