Powell gets 10 years for child molestation

A Clinton, Ky., man who was living in Mt. Vernon was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to molesting the daughter of a friend he was entrusted to babysit. Donald Duane Powell, 64, pleaded guilty to the charge on Wed., Dec. 18.
According to court documents, the original charge, first degree sodomy, was downgraded to the second-degree child molestation. The penalty for second-degree child molestation is a sentence of five to 15 years imprisonment; the penalty for first-degree sodomy when the victim is under the age of 12 is imprisonment for the offender’s natural life.
According to the probable cause statement filed in the case, the investigator reported the victim, a girl under the age of 12, was given a forensic interview at the Monett Children’s Center in September 2018, where she talked about what happened to her. The girl was asked about why she was at the interview; she told the interviewer that “a bad guy,” touched her on her genital area; she used a codeword to describe the place where she was touched.
 During the interview, the girl was asked who touched her, and she said “Duane,” later determined to be Powell. The girl said Powell touched her at her house while he was babysitting her there. She said Powell touched her on her genital region under her clothes, and demonstrated how he did so, adding that she didn’t like it. The girl also said Powell touched her buttocks under her clothes.
The investigator interviewed the girl’s mother, who said Powell was her husband’s friend, and that she’d known him for years. She stated Powell watched the girl for three weeks between June and July of 2018.
As of press time, Powell remained in the Lawrence County jail, but the judge ordered he be held in the Cedar County Jail pending his transfer to the Missouri Department of Corrections.
Powell has been held in the Lawrence County Jail since Feb. 9, 2019; he receives credit towards his sentence for his time in custody.
 

Category:

Lawrence County Record

312 S. Hickory St.
Mt. Vernon, MO, 65712
www.lawrencecountyrecord.com

Facebook

Please Login for Premium Content