No arrests after teens claim Emporia sex offender asked for favor

EMPORIA, Kan. (KSNT) – A child hit a registered sex offender in Emporia following reports he asked three teens to help him move furniture in his backyard, according to police.

Police said Friday that related reports on social media that “a registered sex offender had tried to rape a young girl by dragging her into his home” are not accurate.

A man asked three teens, ages 13, 14 and 19, to help move furniture Wednesday night in his back yard, according to the Emporia Police Department. The teens refused and continued walking to a second residence where they told a group of male teenagers and adults what had happened. The group decided the man had been trying to lure the teens into his home and confronted the man at his home. The man and group started to argue and a child in the group struck the man in the face, according to the police investigation.

The Kansas Public Offender Registry added the man to its sex offender records in 2002 after three misdemeanor counts of sexual battery, two against a 21-year-old woman. Emporia police said no charges or arrests have been made following the group confrontation at the man’s home.