Johns pleaded guilty to child endangerment in September

IOWA CITY - A majority of the charges filed against Kenneth Johns in the March 7 abduction of his stepdaughter were dropped in a plea arrangement filed in September.

However, Johns, 48, remains in prison on a 71-year sentence on a variety of charges from previous cases.

Originally facing charges of second-degree kidnapping, possession of a firearm, carrying weapons and child endangerment, Johns entered a plea arrangement that saw all but two counts of child endangerment dismissed. He was sentenced to 179 days in jail, the equivalent of the time served between his arrest and sentencing on Sept. 4.

Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness said the plea arrangement was based on 'what we could prove.”

'Because he was married to the mother and took care of the daughter, it would be difficult to prove kidnapping when he was active in a father position to the victim and still married to the mother of the victim,” Lyness said Friday. 'The charges that he pleaded to fit what had occurred.”

Lyness said the endangerment charged related to smoking meth in front of the girl and leaving with people she didn't know in Muscatine.

The incident began before 5 a.m. March 7 when Johnson County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to the Casey's General Store in Solon after John's wife called to report a domestic dispute with him. Johns fled Solon in a vehicle with his stepdaughter. Later that day, upon hearing that Johnson might be in possession of a weapon, authorities triggered an Amber Alert.

Johns evaded arrest throughout March 7 and eventually left the stepdaughter at a residence in Muscatine. She was turned over to authorities by a third party in West Branch early on Sept. 8. Johns was arrested on March 8 at a residence in Davenport after a two and a half-hour standoff.

Johns later got into a fight with an inmate at the Johnson County Jail after he was booked. He was charged with assault causing bodily injury and pleaded guilty to assault at the same time of his sentencing in the Amber Alert case. He was sentenced to 30 days for that offense.

A February domestic abuse and harassment case against Johns has also been dismissed.

While Johns will not serve any more time on the Amber Alert case, he is still in prison on unrelated cases. Iowa Department of Corrections spokesman Fred Scaletta said Johns is serving 71 years on 'multiple offenses” out of several counties, including second-degree burglary, possession and manufacturing a controlled substance, voluntary escape from work release and interference with a correctional officer.

Johns' attorney, John Bruzek, said he was in trial on Friday and wasn't immediately able to comment.