A 59-year-old Ellsworth man was convicted of four child sex-crime related charges Feb. 20 in Ellsworth County District Court.

According to the Kansas Attorney General’s office, Karl Van Nice was found guilty by an Ellsworth County jury of two counts of rape, one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, and one count of aggravated sexual battery. The crimes were committed between September 2015 and January 2016. The charges stemmed from an investigation by the Ellsworth Police Department and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Information taken from the Oct. 4, 2019 amended complaint states Nice engaged in lewd fondling or touching of a child born in 1999, identified only by the initials C.D.W. The complaint also states Nice knowingly on two occasions, engaged in sexual intercourse with the victim, when she did not consent to sexual intercourse and her will was overcome by force or fear.

Judge Carey Hipp presided over the trial. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled. Assistant Attorney General Will Manly of Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office prosecuted the case.