<img src=" http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/courts.gif " border=0> Man sentenced to prison time for abusing girl

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February 19, 2010

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Fri Feb 19, 2010, 12:01 AM CST

MOUNT VERNON, Mo. — An Aurora man was sentenced this week to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing a girl under the age of 12.

Kevin D. Padgett, 46, was assessed 33 concurrent prison terms of that length by Circuit Judge Alan Blankenship after pleading guilty in Stone County Circuit Court to eight counts of first-degree statutory rape and 25 counts of first-degree statutory sodomy.

The case had been moved to Stone County from Lawrence County on a change of venue requested by the defendant. The convictions pertain to crimes committed in Lawrence County.

Robert George, Lawrence County prosecutor, said the judge ordered that the sentences run concurrently in accordance with a plea agreement. The prosecutor said the plea bargain was offered to spare the victim any requirement to testify at a trial.

“Our victim did not want to have to testify against this man, did not want to see him in court,” George said.

He said the girl told investigators with the Aurora police and the Children’s Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services that the sexual abuse by Padgett began when she was 6 or 7 years old and continued until she was 11. The convictions cover a period from September 2007 through August 2008 when she was 11 and not the alleged previous abuse, George said.

“With this victim, it was happening so often, we were limiting our charges at 33,” George said.

He said the investigation turned up previous allegations of child sexual abuse against Padgett involving two other children in Arkansas and California. But the defendant was never charged in those cases, he said.

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<img src=" http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/courts.gif " border=0> Man sentenced to prison time for abusing girl

Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr wants the city to distribute weather radios to all Joplin homes that don’t have one. That’s 11,000 radios. Do you think that’s a good use of $300,440?

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