Guilty! Todd J. Puetz, Garden Plain, Kansas (arrested Oct 2011) [human trafficking]

Recent Wichita-area teacher sex cases:

• Cathleen M. Balman, Clearwater, Kansas (arrested Oct 2011)
• Amber D. Dull, Clearwater, Kansas (arrested Oct 2011)
• Greg P. Nicks, Wichita, Kansas (arrested Nov 2011)
• Todd J. Puetz, Garden Plain, Kansas (arrested Oct 2011) [human trafficking]

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Name: Todd J. Puetz

Age: 39

School: Garden Plain High School, Renwick School District, Garden Plains, Kansas

Position: Physical education teacher, coach

Email: todd.puetz@usd267.com

Phone: 316-531-2272 (office), 316-531-2402 (home)

KSN (23 Oct 2011): Garden Plain Teacher/Coach arrested

KWCH (23 Oct 2011): Garden Plain teacher/coach arrested for human trafficking

Wichita Eagle booking database for Sedgwick County jail:

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Female?????​

Todd Puetz' pages on Garden Plains High School web site:

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Switchboard.com:

Todd J Puetz​

27317 W 13th St N​

Garden Plain, KS 67050​

(316) 531-2402​

Tags:

 

Updates ...

Wichita Eagle (24 Oct 2011): Seven — including Garden Plain High coach/teacher — arrested on suspicion of human trafficking

KSN (24 Oct 2011): Seven men including a teacher are caught in sex sting

KWCH (24 Oct 2011): Garden Plain teacher/coach arrested for human trafficking

 

Why is his email account on here. What is this page.
Weird.

 

Latest update ....

Wichita Eagle (24 Oct 2011): Seven — including Garden Plain High coach/teacher — arrested in underage sex sting

 

KAKE (24 Oct 2011): Garden Plain Teacher & Coach Among Arrests In Computer Sex Sting

 

Local news updates ...

Wichita Eagle (25 Oct 2011): Arrest of Garden Plain coach in sex case stuns town

KWCH (27 Oct 2011): Attorney: Coach accused of human trafficking "entitled to the presumption of innocence"

Wichita Eagle (28 Oct 2011): Attorney defends Garden Plain coach arrested in sting

According to the Wichita Eagle, charges are being pursued in state courts, not federal.

 

Wichita Eagle (3 Nov 2011): Messamore, Puetz have long history

Personal background stuff, not related to allegations ...

 

Wichita Eagle (7 Nov 2011): Garden Plain coach charged today in sex case

Statement of Todd Puetz' attorney, Dan Monnat (courtesy Wichita Eagle):

KAKE (7 Nov 2011): Garden Plain Football Coach Charged In Computer Sex Case

KSN (7 Nov 2011): Garden Plain coach charged in sex sting

 

Why would you post the guys email address and home phone number etc. I mean being arrested for something and being found guilty for something are 2 very different things.

People can be very fickle and I wouldnt be surprised if he starts getting abusive phone calls, hate mail etc. Not very fair to the family members (not their doing).

Please remove the details as a sign of respect to the guys wife and kids.

If he's guilty he can burn, but the gfamily dont deserve the abuse.

 

I post all public info that I have the time to find & post. If you don't like it, tuff noogies.

 

hahaha... 'tough noogies' ?!

It's better to keep your mouth shut and give the impression that you're stupid than to open it and remove all doubt

 

Wichita Eagle (4 Jan 2012): Garden Plain coach faces Feb. court hearing

AP-wire stories based on Wichita Eagle article

• KSN (4 Jan 2012): Preliminary hearing for Garden Plain coach delayed
• The Republic (4 Jan 2012): Preliminary hearing for Garden Plain coach charged in sex-related case delayed until Feb. 9

 

The first two articles have many more details than what I've copied here. You'll have to read them on the Wichita Eagle and KAKE web sites if you're interested.

Wichita Eagle (17 May 2012): Ex-Garden Plain coach will be tried on child sex charges

KAKEland (17 May 2012): Online Sex Case Against Former Coach Headed For Trial

And if you believe that ...

3 KSN (17 May 2012): Garden Plain coach in court for preliminary hearing

3 KSN (17 May 2012): Garden Plain coach bound over for trial

 

Wichita Eagle: Ex-Garden Plain coach seeks to dismiss child-sex charges (June 8 2012)

The defense attorney for a former Garden Plain football coach charged with child sex crimes is arguing that an undercover detective entrapped the coach and that he didn’t solicit anyone ... In Thursday’s filing, [Defense attorney Dan] Monnat seized on these words from [Todd] Puetz: “I knew you weren’t 15.” Monnat said that according to testimony, Puetz said those words with a smile when he stepped into a house that was part of an undercover sting operation and saw a 40-some-year-old undercover detective, Jennifer Wright. The sting involved an adult escort ad and the undercover detective saying by phone that she was a 15-year-old selling all kinds of sex.​

“Mr. Puetz allegedly called the phone number in the ad, and laughed in surprise and disbelief when the woman who answered in her normal adult voice told him that she was only 15,” Monnat said in the motion to dismiss. “Once she made this claim, it took eight telephone calls (some of which were initiated by Detective Wright when it appeared that Mr. Puetz was ‘not interested in pursuing something’.” And he said, “I will pass.” It was two hours before Puetz arrived at the sting house on West Kellogg, and he never voiced a desire for underage sex, Monnat argued in the motion. The motion also said that when Puetz arrived at the house, “he appeared wholly unprepared to have sex of any kind that Detective Wright suggested” — he had only $45 on him and no condom, the motion said. He had other money in his car.​

KWCH: Former Garden Plain coach asks for child-sex charges to be dropped (June 8 2012)

His defense attorney, Dan Monnat, filed a motion in court Thursday, arguing why those charges should be dropped. The motion "respectfully moves this Court to reconsider and dismiss all charges against him, either because the State failed at the preliminary hearing to sustain its probable-cause burden as to the elements of the charges, or because law enforcement entrapped Mr. Puetz." The paperwork describes the sequence of events, saying that the police detective pretending to be a teenage prostitute initiated some of the phone calls "when it appeared that Mr. Puetz was 'not interested in pursuing something,' i.e., after he said 'I will pass.'" In his filing, Monnat also says that "when Mr. Puetz walked through the door of the undercover house and saw the 40-some-year-old plain-clothed Detective Wright, he expressed no disappointment whatsoever. Instead, he smiled broadly and said 'I knew you weren't 15,' to which the detective agreed, 'Yeah, you knew it.'" Monnat and Puetz have requested a hearing on the motion.​

 

Hutchinson News: Defense wants charges dropped against coach (June 10 2012)

The defense attorney for a former south-central Kansas high school football coach charged with child sex crimes is seeking to have the charges against his client dismissed. The Wichita Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/LaIQJE) that defense attorney Dan Monnat filed a motion to dismiss the charges against Todd Puetz, who was charged last November with electronic solicitation, attempted aggravated indecent liberties with a child and attempted criminal sodomy ... The defense motion Thursday says an undercover detective entrapped Puetz and that he didn't solicit anyone.​

 

Google News (June 10 2012):

Defense Wants Charges Dropped Against Kansas Coach
KSAL
The defense attorney for a former south-central Kansas high school football ... Monnat has entered a not guilty plea for Puetz, who coached at Garden Plain.

 

The trial is now scheduled for Sept. 10, 2012.

Wichita Eagle: Judge won’t dismiss child sex charges against former Garden Plain coach (Aug 17 2012)

A Sedgwick County District Court judge today denied a request to dismiss the charges against a former Garden Plain football coach [Todd Puetz] accused of child sex crimes ... Judge Ben Burgess turned down the motion, saying “Mr. Puetz, under his own volition ... and free voice answered that ad,” and that Puetz believed he was meeting a minor.​

KWCH: Judge won't drop charges against former Garden Plain coach (Aug 17 2012)

In court Friday, the attorney for Todd Puetz asked that the charges against the former coach and athletic director be dismissed, claiming entrapment. Defense attorney Dan Monnat argued Friday that a detective posing as an underage girl entrapped Todd Puetz during an undercover sex sting operation when he answered an adult escort advertisement. State attorney Shannon Wilson argued Friday that Puetz’s phone call and request for information after the detective told him she was 15 and selling sex constitutes solicitation under Kansas’ legal definition of the term. Judge Ben Burgess turned down the motion, saying “Mr. Puetz, under his own volition ... and free voice answered that ad,” and that Puetz believed he was meeting a minor.​

 

His trial is finally getting underway this week ...

Wichita Eagle: Jury selection begins for former Garden Plain coach charged with child sex crimes (Apr 1 2013)

Jury selection got under way Monday in the trial of a former Garden Plain football coach accused of child-sex crimes. Todd Puetz, 40, is facing felony charges of electronic solicitation, attempted aggravated indecent liberties with a child and attempted criminal sodomy.​

 

Wichita Eagle: Trial under way for former Garden Plain coach (Apr 2 2013)

Former Garden Plain football coach Todd Puetz was not trying to solicit sex from a 15-year-old girl when he was arrested in 2011 but was instead trying to help two young runaways who said they needed money, a defense lawyer told a jury Tuesday. “Todd only intended to help them by giving them what money he had,” Dan Monnat told the jury. “The evidence will show that Todd is a flawed human being, but he is not a flawed human being who is guilty of the child sex crimes he’s accused of here today. Todd Puetz never had any interest in underage girls.” Monnat’s comments came during the opening statement at Puetz’s trial ...​

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Assistant District Attorney Shannon Wilson ... offered a synopsis of the first conversation between Puetz and undercover Wichita police Detective Jennifer Wright, who was posing as a 15-year-old girl:​

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Puetz: “How much for an hour?”​

Wright: “$120.”​

Puetz: “Are you 18?”​

Wright: “I’m 15.”​

Puetz: “That’s pretty young.”​

Wright: “Well, it’s not like I’m 5.”​

Puetz: “You’re not a cop are you?”​

Wright: “No I am not a cop.”​

 

Wichita Eagle: Juror in trial of former Garden Plain coach allowed to stay on jury panel (Apr 3 2013)

A juror in the child sex crime trial of former Garden Plain football coach Todd Puetz will be allowed to remain on the jury despite the fact that a nephew of his was arrested this week in Indiana under circumstances similar to those faced by Puetz, a judge ruled Wednesday.​