Iolan Michael Tennyson, 24, hired in January as an Allen County sheriff’s deputy, was arrested Friday evening for suspicion of sex crimes following a missing persons case with the Hays Police Department.
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 a 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 in Iola and was taken into protective custody.
Tennyson was arrested later in the evening for suspicion of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. He 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 Office 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.
