Wichita man picked up teen, promising a ride & food. Sex crimes happened instead

A 69-year-old man has been sentenced to probation for soliciting a 15-year-old boy for sex in south Wichita in 2022.

Court records say Jose Treto, of Wichita, approached the boy after seeing him walking alone around lunchtime, promised to give him a ride to McDonald’s and buy his food.

But he took the teen behind the old Kmart building at 47th Street South and Broadway instead.

There, Treto sexually assaulted the scared teen before dropping him off at the restaurant, an arrest affidavit says.

The teen’s own resourcefulness helped catch his abuser: He took a secret audio recording of Treto talking and a photo of his license plate and truck, which he turned over to police, the affidavit says.

Treto pleaded guilty in June to three counts of indecent solicitation of a child in connection the Sept. 22, 2022, incident. Prosecutors also charged Treto originally with one count each of aggravated criminal sodomy and aggravated indecent liberties with a child but agreed to dismiss those counts in exchange for the guilty plea, court records show.

Treto was sentenced Aug. 9 by Sedgwick County District Judge Kevin Mark Smith. The judge followed the plea agreement negotiated in the case, Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Dan Dillon said by email.

Treto’s lawyer didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The probation sentence carries an underlying prison term of 38 months, which Treto could be ordered to serve if he fails to follow the conditions of his probation. The conditions include completing 100 hours of community service work, continuing psychotherapy treatment and registering as a sex offender, Dillon said. He’s also barred from having unsupervised contact with children younger than 16.

In Kansas, it’s against the law for adults to have sexual contact with anyone younger than 16 or solicit them for sex. Part of the reason Treto was eligible for probation is because he had no prior convictions.

According to the affidavit, the boy told Wichita police that he had just left home to walk to the McDonald’s restaurant when Treto — a stranger — pulled up beside him in a truck and offered him a ride. Initially, the boy said no but Treto insisted. After the teen was in the truck, Treto said “he like to be touched” and “likes boys” then offered money to the teen in exchange for sex, the boy told police.

The boy told police he was afraid and didn’t think he could get out of Treto’s truck because “he did not know if Treto had a gun or knife,” the affidavit says.

The boy told police Treto ended the abuse because he got tired, according to the affidavit. He then drove to McDonald’s and left the teen there.

After the teen got out of the truck, he tried to call his mom.

When police showed up later in response to their 911 call, he gave them the audio recording of Treto’s voice and the photo of Treto’s truck and license plate. Police used them to help track Treto down.

In his police interview after his arrest, Treto admitted to picking up a male after he stopped at an adult video store in the area, but he said the person was 20 to 25 years old, the affidavit says. He told police he agreed to give the male a ride to McDonald’s but denied forcing anyone into his truck or engaging in sexual contact, the affidavit says.

Treto also told police he “might have stopped” the truck somewhere between picking up the male and going to the restaurant “but only to turn around.”

Wichita man forced vodka, ‘white weed’ on runaways before sexually assaulting them

Wichita man tried for raping, abusing young girls. Jury says he’s guilty of 25 crimes

Abuse charges and a fatal shooting: Stepfather-now-husband accused in Wichita woman’s death

Man who preyed on teen girls while working at Wichita school gets prison sentence