LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man has been accused of allowing children in his care to be sexually assaulted by a former landlord in exchange for rent.
A Douglas County judge recently ruled that Cormick Ferrell, 42, of Lawrence should stand trial on two counts of aggravated human trafficking in connection with the alleged assaults that took place between April 2014 and August 2017. The children were 6- and 7-years-old at the time the alleged assaults began.
One of the children testified at the hearing that she told Ferrell about the assaults when she was 8, and he told her to “suck it up” because they needed a place to stay.
Ferrell’s attorney, Branden Smith, said during the hearing that there was no documentation showing that Ferrell received rent assistance in exchange for letting the landlord assault the children.
Ferrell remains in jail in lieu of $100,000 bond. He is also charged with aggravated child endangerment in connection with a third child.
The landlord accused in the assaults, Mark Strand, has also been charged in Douglas County, but he is currently in federal prison for a conviction in an unrelated case. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison last year for attempting to coerce and entice a minor to engage in sexual activity.