Nikole Babb, nbabb@cherryroad.com

As the winter chill rolls on here in Butler County, so do Joel Womochil’s federal and state court cases.

After missing his last county appearance due to being in federal custody for similar charges, the case has been at a standstill. That’s because the State of Kansas ordered for Denise Renee Sandmann to be indicted to Kansas from the Northern District of Indiana in connection with the case.

Sandmann faces four federal charges: One count of conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of a child – production of child pornography, and three counts of sexual exploitation of a child –child pornography.

Although court documents show she has been ordered for indictment on Nov. 1, there has been no update on appearances for Sandmann yet.

On Nov. 20, Womochil attended a pretrial hearing where he was scheduled to attend a Status Conference 9am on Tuesday, Dec. 19 at the US District Court in Wichita before District Judge John W. Broomes. A jury trial was also set to begin at 9am on Monday, Jan. 8 at the US District Court in Wichita before District Judge Broomes. It was noted by the US District Court that these dates are often moved multiple times before they actually appear.

On Nov. 6, he entered a not guilty plea on all three federal charges. His charges are: Count one; one count of conspiracy to commit sexual exploit – production of child pornography, Count five; distribution of child pornography and count six; possession of child pornography.

At 2:30pm on Monday, Jan. 22, Womochil is scheduled for the Preliminary Control Docket via Zoom with the Butler County courts. He has 34 counts against him at the county level. Of those counts, 24 of them are for sexual exploitation of a child and 10 of them are for aggravated internet trading in child pornography.