An Allen County sheriff’s deputy was arrested Friday on suspicion of sex crimes related to a missing persons case in Hays.
It’s the second time in two years an Allen County deputy has been arrested or charged with sex crimes against a child.
Iola Michael Tennyson, 24, was arrested at 7:15 p.m. Friday at the Allen County Sheriff’s Office on suspicion of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. He had been hired in January as a deputy.
The arrest stemmed from a call from the Hays Police Department to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at around 3:30 p.m. Friday to help locate a 15-year-old runaway. The juvenile had been missing since March 22, according to the KBI release.
Hays officers believed the teen was with Tennyson in Iola. The KBI notified the Allen County Sheriff’s Office at about 4 p.m. The teen was located at Tennyson’s residence and taken into protective custody.
Tennyson was arrested after he returned to Iola from Hutchinson, where he had completed his first week of training at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training center, Allen County Sheriff Bryan Murphy said. Deputies took his firearm and badge and held him in custody until KBI agents arrived.
His employment was formally terminated when the allegations became known, Murphy said.
After his booking, Tennyson was taken to Fort Scott, where he remains in the Bourbon County Jail.
KBI agents gathered additional information in the case, and interviewed the parties involved. The Iola Police Department, Bourbon County Sheriff’s Department and the Ray County, Missouri’s, Sheriff’s Office also assisted in the investigation.
Investigators also executed a search warrant of Tennyson’s residence to gather additional information and obtain other county property, Murphy said.
THE INCIDENT is unrelated but similar to another criminal case where a former Allen County sheriff’s deputy is facing criminal charges for aggravated indecent liberties with a minor.
A trial in the case against Tanner Porter of Moran is scheduled for Aug. 12. Porter is accused of engaging in sexual relations with a child between the ages of 14 and 16 on July 15, 2021. Porter was a deputy with the Allen County Sheriff’s Department at the time.
Porter, who joined the Allen County force in 2017, resigned in January 2022 from the department in order to take a job with the Kansas Highway Patrol, but that job offer was rescinded.
Murphy said he asked the KBI to investigate after complaints from the victim’s parents and after the KHP job offer was rescinded. Several months later, in October 2022, criminal charges were filed against Porter. Porter waived his right to a preliminary hearing in July 2023 and was arraigned the following October.
MURPHY said his department conducted thorough background checks on both Porter and Tennyson, as it does with all prospective employees. Once the potential criminal charges were known, the deputies were treated the same as any other suspect, he said.
