[Scan-DC] 'Scanner' founder arrested

[Alan Henney]

Beloit Daily News (Wisconsin)

April 11, 2015 Saturday

'Scanner' founder arrested

BYLINE: Hillary Gavan hgavan at beloitdailynews.com

SECTION: NEWS

LENGTH: 518 words

DATELINE: Beloit, WI 

The man who runs the Rock County Scanner Facebook page was arrested Wednesday on charges of third degree sexual assault, impersonating a police officer and misdemeanor bail jumping.

Kelsey Lloyd Kenney, 29, of the 1000 block of Pleasant Street in Beloit, had a court appearance on Friday afternoon where his bond was set at $10,500. Conditions of his release include the following: not having a weapon, no contact with the victim and no possession of police badges, attire or other police items. 

His next court appearance is scheduled for 3 p.m. on April 20 in Courtroom L.

Beloit police officers began an investigation regarding a sexual assault on March 31 at Kenney's apartment in the 1000 block of Pleasant Street. The investigation determined Kenney allegedly made arrangements through social media to meet the victim at an apartment complex and during the meeting he allegedly presented himself as a police officer and sexually assaulted the victim.

A search warrant was executed on Wednesday at Kenney's residence where evidence was collected and Kenney was taken to the Rock County Jail, according to a news release from the Beloit Police Department.

In a police interview on April 1, the victim told police she put an ad on the website "Back Page" to make some money after losing her job. She offered to perform a lap dance or show with sex toys, although she said she had no intentions of having sex with Kenney.

When the woman arrived at the Kenney's apartment, Kenney was wearing what looked like a police radio. He then pulled out a badge and said "come with me," according to the criminal complaint.

Kenny took the woman downstairs into a utility room. When she asked why she was being arrested, Kenney reportedly told her, "You are guilty by association and you just showing up here shows intent."

Kenney tilted his head toward the microphone of the radio, pressed a button and stated, "I made contact with a white female."

Kenney then said they were going to the victim's truck to talk it out. The woman started begging him not to arrest her and said she was willing to do anything not to go to jail. Kenney searched her pockets and asked for identification, noting he hadn't put handcuffs on her yet.

Kenney told the woman they were going out to her truck. After he took her keys the woman started begging not be arrested. Kenney then asked her, "Are you talking to me as a man or as a cop?"

Kenney told the woman her options were jail or performing sex acts with him. He reportedly told her to get undressed before having sex with her.

On Friday afternoon, a post on Rock County Scanner said the page will be down as arrangements are made for new page ownership. The page gives updates on what is heard over the police scanner. Many people have posted that the site is a good service to the community. It has more than 46,000 "likes."

Kenney faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for the sexual assault charge and six years in prison for impersonating an officer.

Kenney previously was convicted of a sex crime. He pleaded no contest to having sex with a child age 16 or older in 2008.