Jefferson City man found guilty of multiple rape charges

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City man on Friday was found guilty by a jury on two counts of first-degree forcible rape, according to a press release from Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Locke Thompson.

Francis Henry Kempker, 53, will be sentenced in June, according to the release. He is currently being held in the Cole County Jail. The trial began on Monday, April 1. He was charged with three counts of first-degree forcible rape, but the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the final count, the release says.

According to the release, Kempker would “routinely bond women out of the Cole County Jail and then have them brought to his shop in Centertown, where the victims were physically abused and then raped in the spring and summer months of 2016.”

The release says three of his victims, as well as deputies and detectives from the Cole County Sheriff’s Office testified. Kempker denied the allegations when he took the stand, the release says.