Isidro Madrid, sentenced to 16 life terms in prison for raping multiple children in Welda, Ks.
A Welda, Ks., man will die in prison after his sentencing last week to 16 separate life terms in connection with the rape and molestation of a number of his family members and other young girls at his home between 2009 and 2022.
The sentencing in Anderson County stands in contradiction to criticism of other jurisdictions in recent years that those convicted of sex crimes against children have received lighter sentences. That notion was brought into the forefront during the March 2022 U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who critics said as a federal judge had soft-balled sentences for child pornography.
During Jackson’s hearings, The Washington Times reported that while serving on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, Judge Jackson asked if there could be “a less-serious child pornography offender who is engaging in the type of conduct in the group experience level because their motivation is the challenge, or to use the technology.” She also wondered if “the people who are in this … find status in their participation in the community, but would be categorized as nonsexually motivated.” Jackson was later confirmed to the USSC by a vote of the Senate.
Isidro Madrid was arrested in August 2022 and found guilty by 12 jurors in January of this year after a four-day trial. The 80 year-old was convicted on all 16 felony offenses charged, including multiple counts of rape, aggravated indecent liberties with a child and aggravated criminal sodomy. All the victims, most all grand daughters and great-grand daughters, were under 14 years of age at the time they were assaulted. Three victims, two 12 year-olds and a 27 year-old testified to multiple assaults at the proceedings.
Madrid’s arrest came in August 2022 after a 12 year-old girl reported to a Children’s Mercy Hospital social worker on July 12 regarding an incident that occurred during a family get together at Madrid’s property in Welda two days prior. During subsequent interviews, the girl alleged Madrid had abused her sexually on multiple occasions for the past five years.
A resulting investigation of other family members frequently at Madrid’s property brought forth numerous other allegations of abuse, rape and indecent liberties with the girls as young as five years of age dating back to 2009. Dates of birth of the girls involved in concurrent alleged incidents ranged from 1995 to 2011.
Anderson County attorney Elizabeth Oliver asked the court for life sentences on each of the 16 counts requested those sentences run consecutively, arguing that the vulnerability of the young victims and the defendant’s conduct was excessively brutal as it related to one particular victim, and that the defendant as the grandfather and great-grandfather of the victims had a fiduciary relationship with them. Fourth District Judge Eric Godderz imposed the life sentences in a 40-page journal entry of judgment, some consecutive and some concurrent. Madrid will not be eligible for parole for 75 years.
One of the victims, age 13, addressed the court and the defendant at sentencing on the impact the crimes had on her life. A Hispanic who spoke little English and required an interpreter throughout the proceedings, Madrid’s only comment to the court prior to sentencing was that no one would listen to him.
Oliver commended the work of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department for the investigation as well as the victims for their courage in testifying in the case.
Dane Hicks is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate School at Quantico, VA. He is the author of novels "The Skinning Tree" and "A Whisper For Help." As publisher of the Anderson County Review in Garnett, KS., he is a recipient of the Kansas Press Association's Boyd Community Service Award as well as more than 60 awards for excellence in news, editorial and photography.
