A Kansas City-area man was sentenced Wednesday to 110 years in prison after a jury convicted him of sex crimes against multiple children.
Billy Gene Burney III sexually assaulted three sisters between 2010 and 2017. The girls’ mother met Burney when he started dating someone in the family, according to court documents. He often offered to watch the girls but would abuse them while they were in his care.
Photo of Burney by Jackson County Detention Center
He threatened to kill one of the sisters – who was under 12 years old when he repeatedly raped her – if she told anyone about what he did, the documents state.
The Missouri Department of Social Services Children’s Division notified the Kansas City Police Department in June 2024 of a 2022 investigation into Burney’s crimes. Two of the victims were interviewed while the third provided a written statement. Burney was arrested in August 2025.
A jury found Burney guilty of first-degree statutory rape of a victim under 12, two counts of first-degree statutory sodomy of a victim under 12, enticement of a child and child molestation.
Burney was sentenced to 130 years in prison, but the judges ordered the sentences for enticement of a child and child molestation to be served concurrently rather than consecutively, bringing his total sentence to 110 years.
The individual sentences are:
- First-degree statutory rape: 60 years
- First-degree statutory sodomy: 25 years
- First-degree statutory sodomy: 25 years
- Enticement of a child: 15 years
- First-degree child molestation: 5 years
