PRATT, Kan. – A Pratt man who is well known to law enforcement in Reno County, was sentenced today to 8 ½ years in prison for the attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said.

Forty-six-year-old Bradley Verstraete was sentenced to the Kansas Department of Corrections by District Judge Francis E. Meisenheimer in Pratt County District Court.

Verstraete was convicted by a Pratt County jury in September 2016 of attempted second-degree murder of Pratt Police Officer Kenneth Wright. Verstraete was also convicted of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer concerning Pratt Police Sergeant James Ferbert stemming from an altercation with law enforcement in January of 2015.

Verstraete has been in and out of trouble and had a case in Reno County where he also got into an altercation with law enforcement. He was sentenced in the case to 21 months and was released on time served after the case meandered through the state’s court system while on appeal.