Kevin Lee Hanten

Kevin Lee Hanten, 41, of Joplin, was sentenced to over 4 years imprisonment in Cherokee County District Court on Friday.

In January, Hanten pled guilty to Attempted Aggravated Burglary, Theft and Interference with Law Enforcement.

The charges stem from a December 2020 residential burglary in Lowell, where Cherokee County Sheriff's Deputies pursued Hanten on foot as he fled the crime scene.

Following a roughly four-and-a-half-hour manhunt, which included assistance from the Baxter Springs Police Department and Kansas Highway Patrol Air Unit, law enforcement located Hanten hiding in a briar patch, and he was taken into custody.

Hanten remains in the Cherokee County Jail pending transfer to the Kansas Department of Corrections. Hanten was prosecuted by the Office of Cherokee County Attorney Kurt Benecke.