South Hutchinson man gets life in prison for years of teen sexual assault

A South Hutchinson man convicted last month by a Reno County jury of repeatedly sexually molesting a teen girl over several years was sentenced Friday to life in prison.

He was the second Reno County man in less than three months to receive a life sentence for sex crimes, though the other case was on a third conviction in less than 10 years for possessing child porn.

The jury in April convicted Shawn Phillip Rosenberg, 47, of three felony counts, including aggravated indecent liberties with a child under age 14, which was a Jessica's Law violation, and carried a possible life sentence.

Prosecutors accused Rosenberg of molesting the girl multiple times, starting when she was 13. Two of the counts alleged sexual intercourse rather than touching but were lesser crimes due to the girl being older.

The crimes were reported in August 2018 after the teen, now an adult, voiced thoughts of suicide to her family. That prompted her older sister to question whether she was being assaulted and to reveal herself as having been a victim of abuse. 

Charges are pending in two other counties from those allegations.

Both the victim and her sister testified during the two-day trial.

At Friday's hearing before District Judge Joe McCarville, Rosenberg sought a departure from state sentencing guidelines.

His appointed attorney argued that crimes that pushed Rosenberg up the sentencing grid were 30-years-old and shouldn't be considered.

Those previous crimes included convictions out of Ellsworth County in 1992 for kidnapping, aggravated battery, and escape. He also had convictions out of Saline and Barton counties.

McCarville denied the motion, sentencing Rosenberg to life plus a concurrent 23 years, three months. Rosenberg is also required to register as a sexual offender for life.

In the other case, McCarville on Feb. 18 sentenced Samual Seck to life without the possibility of parole.

In January, a Reno County jury found Seck, 36, guilty on counts of sexual exploitation of a child for having child pornography on his phone and violating the offender registration act for not notifying the registry in the Reno County Sheriff’s Office of a new phone and a Facebook page.

Seck contended he was unaware of the photos and that they were put on the phone by his ex-girlfriend.

However, he made similar claims that others put photos on his phone the first two times he was convicted, McCarville, who also presided over that trial, previously said.

Hutchinson police Det. Scott Carlton arrested Seck in January 2020 after Seck’s parole office, Ed Mora, searched his phone and found a nude picture, according to an arrest affidavit in the case.

Mora turned the phone over to Carlton, who searched it more deeply using investigative technology and reported finding more than 9,000 images, including 216 photos of underage naked children, some in sexual positions.

Court records show prosecutors charged Seck with the sexual exploration of a child for possessing images of children engaged in sexual conduct in 2016. He pleaded out to the lesser attempted exploitation charge in September 2017 and got 26 months in prison.

He was also convicted of attempted sexual exploitation in September 2012 out of Geary County, Kansas Department of Corrections records show.