LAKE ANDES — A Sioux Falls man arrested in August 2018 for alleged sexual contact with a 9-year-old in Wagner was sentenced Monday to spend about six months in prison for failing to appear in court.
The sexual contact charge against Darren Lehrkamp, 27, was dismissed on Oct. 28, when Lehrkamp pleaded guilty to failure to appear for a pretrial conference and admitted to being a habitual offender.
Arrest warrants for Lehrkamp and his brother, Bradford Lehrkamp, 37, were issued on Aug. 16, 2018, and the two were arrested four days later. Both were charged with having sexual contact with the 9-year-old girl in 2017, and Bradford Lehrkamp faced an additional charge of first-degree rape, a Class C felony punishable by up to life in prison, involving the same child. Both also faced habitual offender charges.
Bradford Lehrkamp pleaded guilty in January to one count of indecent exposure involving a child, a Class 6 felony. He was sentenced in March to two years in prison with credit for 195 days served and is currently being held in the Mike Durfee State Prison. Parole was denied in June, and he will be parole-eligible again on Jan. 1.
For his Class 6 felony conviction, Darren Lehrkamp was sentenced to two years in the state penitentiary with one year suspended and credit for 172 days served. He was ordered to repay court-appointed attorney's fees and $106.50 in court costs.
