Teen Burglar Must Apologize and Pay Back Kansas Churches

A 16-year-old serial burglar who targeted Hutchinson, Kan., churches has been ordered to apologize in person to the six congregations he victimized.

The apologies were part of the sentence Reno County District Judge Tim Chambers imposed Friday against Joshua Hickey, of Hutchinson, The Hutchinson News reported.

Hickey, one of four people arrested in a spate of burglaries and thefts around the city from early April to late July, was charged as an adult in the case after investigators said he was the common element in all of the crimes.

He avoided trial by pleading guilty in early October to 38 counts, including 19 felonies, in connection with 14 separate break-ins.

Chambers sentenced the teen to 16 months on each burglary count and ordered them to run consecutively. The judge then granted him two years’ probation under Community Corrections supervision, as called for in Kansas sentencing guidelines.

No timeframe was set for the apologies, which the judge said would benefit both the church congregations and Hickey himself.

The burglarized churches included Trinity United Methodist Church and Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, which was hit twice.

Reno County District Attorney Keith Schroeder said after the August arrests that the burglaries “really bothered the community and the police department.”

Schroeder said officers even spent the night inside churches hoping to catch the burglars.

Hickey’s other targets included a supermarket, Hutchinson High School and a store that was burglarized three times.

The judge also found Hickey liable, both on his own and jointly with other defendants, for $38,000 in restitution. Most of cost was from damage to the churches, many of which Hickey vandalized.