A former Cherokee County Sheriff's Deputy is sentenced to 18 years in prison in a child sex abuse case.

 

25-year-old Garrett Gayoso of Baxter Springs was sentenced on Monday to 222 months in prison for enticing a minor to create and send him child sexual abuse materials. Court documents indicate that Gayoso entered a guilty plea to one count of producing child pornogrpahy.

 

Between August 2024 and April 2025, the Kansas bureau of Investigation says Gayoso exchanged text messages with a 16-year-old minor that he met online. Evidence in the case showed the victim was quickly forthcoming with Gayoso about her age and that Gayoso groomed and convinced the victim to engage in explicit activity, produce visual depictions of the conduct, and then send him the images via text messages. At the time, Gayoso was serving as a detective in the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office and was assigned to investigate online crimes against children.

 

Gayoso resigned as a deputy in May 2025 and was indicted by a grand jury the following December with one count of producing child pornography. He entered a guilty plea in the case in federal court in April.