A man once accused of raping a five-year-old girl in South Dakota is now walking free in Kansas — and the public has no way of knowing.
Gary L. Thares, 69, was booked into the Shawnee County Jail on August 19, 2025 for driving on a suspended license, no insurance, and other minor violations. He was released the same night on his own recognizance.
For most people, that might be a footnote in the daily booking log. But Thares’s past tells a much darker story.
From Rape Charges to a Plea Deal
Back in 2017, prosecutors in Day County, South Dakota, accused Thares of repeatedly raping and sexually exploiting a five-year-old girl. The case wound through years of delays until 2020, when Thares struck a plea bargain that would alter everything.
- He pleaded no contest to “abuse or cruelty to a minor under 7” and to keeping a place for the sale or use of drugs.
- The original charges of rape, sexual contact with a child, and sexual exploitation of a minor were dropped.
- A judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison with 15 suspended on the child abuse charge, and five years with two suspended on the drug charge. The sentences ran concurrently, meaning he faced only about five years behind bars.
Thares entered custody in June 2020. By March 2023, he was released on parole and sent to a halfway house in Sioux Falls.
The Loophole That Erased Him From the Registry
Here’s the catch: South Dakota law requires sex offender registration for convictions like rape and sexual exploitation of a minor. But the child abuse statute he pleaded to is not on that list.
That technicality means Thares is not listed as a sex offender in South Dakota, Kansas, or anywhere else — despite the fact that the charges all stemmed from the alleged rape of a five-year-old girl.
With the stroke of a plea deal, the public record changed from “accused child rapist” to “child abuser” — and the registry never applied.
From South Dakota to Kansas
Now, two years after his release on parole, Thares has resurfaced in Topeka, caught only because of a traffic stop.
The Shawnee County booking report shows he was arrested late on August 19 and released within an hour. His next court date is September 16.
A Predator in Plain Sight
The case raises disturbing questions:
- Why did South Dakota prosecutors agree to a plea deal that removed sex crimes from the record?
- Why does state law allow someone accused of raping a child to avoid registration entirely?
- And now that Thares is free in Kansas, who is watching him?
For families in Topeka, the answer is chilling: no one.
The law says Gary L. Thares is not a sex offender. But to the five-year-old girl he was accused of raping — and to every parent who believes the registry keeps their children safe — the law is dead wrong.
