LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors are researching an appeal after a Kansas judge called two teenage girls the “aggressor” in a sexual encounter with a 67-year-old man and eased his prison sentence.

Leavenworth County District Judge Michael Gibbens sentenced Raymond Soden in December to five years, 10 months in prison. Prosecutors sought more than 13 years behind bars because Soden had prior convictions.

Gibbens said at the sentencing that the girls were “more an aggressor than a participant,” citing as a reason that the girls had voluntarily gone to Soden’s house and taken money for sexual favors.

Harleigh Harrold with the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault tells the newspaper children don’t have the ability to understand the consequences of such an act.

Michelle Herman, president and CEO of the child advocacy center Sunflower House, says “sexual assault is never the victim’s fault.”

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LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — Prosecutors are researching an appeal after a Kansas judge found that a 13- and 14-year-old girl were partly to blame for a sexual encounter with a 67-year-old man and reduced his prison sentence.

Leavenworth County District Judge Michael Gibbens said that “the victims in this case, in particular, were more an aggressor than a participant in the criminal conduct” before sentencing Raymond Soden to five years and 10 months in prison. Prosecutors sought 13-plus years because Soden had prior convictions for battery and for sexual battery

In ordering a lighter prison term than what sentencing guidelines called for, the judge noted at the Dec. 4 hearing that the two girls had voluntarily gone to Soden’s house and had taken money for sexual favors.