OWENSVILLE — A Gasconade County jury on Nov. 19 found a former Owensville resident guilty of sex crimes against a minor child stemming from a 2017 investigation.

Jurors this past week in the two-day trial found Justin Ryan Kahle guilty of first-degree statutory rape and first-degree statutory sodomy of a child under the age of 14. Kahle remains in custody at the Franklin County Adult Detention Center in Union where he was been held since Oct. 4, 2024, according the Gasconade County Sheriff’s Office. He is scheduled to be sentenced by Presiding Circuit Judge Craig E. Hellmann at 10 a.m. Feb. 27, 2026.

Kahle was 36 at the time of his arrest in May 2017 on charges stemming from an investigation into crimes dating back to the period of 2006 to 2009 against a female who was 3-years-old at the time. The crimes reportedly occurred in a mobile home on Meyer Road west of the city limits, according to the probable cause statement filed then by Sgt. Roger Armstrong of the Gasconade County Sheriff’s staff.

According to Armstrong’s report seeking criminal charges in 2017, Kahle admitted to having sexual intercourse with the girl at least once in April 2006. He also admitted to having her perform oral sex on him.

In one incident, the girl said Kahle took her from the breakfast table into her bedroom and forced himself on her. When they returned to eat breakfast, the girl told investigators Kahle yelled at her to stop crying.