Lubbock Man Sentenced to 40 Years in Federal Prison Without Parole for Kidnapping Three Children

LUBBOCK, TX—U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings sentenced Lubbock, Texas, resident, Kenneth Michael Wilcox, to 480 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release, following his conviction on three counts of kidnapping, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Wilcox was arrested in Oklahoma on October 28, 2008, on state kidnapping charges filed by the Lubbock County District Attorney’s Office. He was indicted the following month on federal charges and convicted at trial in May 2009.

The government presented evidence at trial that Wilcox took two girls (ages 14 and 11), and a boy (age 9) from Lubbock, telling their parents that he was taking them to Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, Texas, and that they would stay in a hotel, order room service, and ride in a limousine. Wilcox’s son was supposed to accompany them on the trip, however, the son testified at trial that his father dropped him off with his mother in Amarillo, Texas, before Wilcox left the state with the children.

Evidence showed that Wilcox took the children to southeast Oklahoma, near Idabel, and camped out in the woods in a tent with the children. Each of the three children testified that Wilcox scared them by telling them disturbing things about the people who lived in the area, including accounts of Wilcox’s friends, who he described as violent people who roamed the woods and liked to kidnap little girls, torture them, and eat them. Wilcox asked the girls if they would rather die or be a sex slave.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Lubbock Police Department, and the McCurtain County, Oklahoma, Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven M. Sucsy and Amy Burch of the Lubbock, Texas, U.S. Attorney’s Office, prosecuted the case.