CLEARFIELD, Pa. (GANT) – A former Ferguson Township man and a “self-proclaimed pervert” pleaded guilty to assaulting a three-year-old girl Tuesday during sentencing court.
(This article was provided by our News Partner GantDaily.com.)
State police say William W. O’Dell, 55, assaulted the girl more than once at a home on Tyrone Pike in Ferguson Township.
O’Dell pleaded guilty to all of his charges: felony counts of endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors as well as the three misdemeanor counts of indecent assault and one count of indecent exposure in connection with his actions on April 14, 2023.
His attorney, Ryan Dobo, asked Judge Paul E. Cherry to give O’Dell a term of incarceration lower than the recommended five-year minimum. He noted that O’Dell avoided a trial by signing an open plea agreement and is not a sexually-violent predator, according to an evaluation by an expert.
Cherry sentenced him to a total of 9 ½ to 21 years in state prison. He must complete sex offender counseling and is to have no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18.
Although he was not classified as a sexually-violent predator, he will still have to register his address with authorities under Megan’s Law.
Cherry noted that he imposed this sentence because of the age of the victim and O’Dell has previous indecent assault cases involving children.
Another sentence would lessen these serious offenses, he said.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, a woman was babysitting the girl when she found her in a shed with O’Dell, who had covered the girl’s face with a leather jacket.
After he saw the witness, he quickly stood up, faced away from her and zipped up his pants, she told police.
As she removed the coat from the victim’s face, she could see the girl’s face was beet red due to the heaviness of the coat and the unseasonably high temperatures that day.
Later when O’Dell was asked if he had any intentions of doing anything else to the girl, he reportedly responded, “I don’t know.”
He was ordered to leave the residence.
An interview with the girl at the Clearfield County Child Advocacy Center the next day, confirmed what the witness had seen.
The victim described the incident and said “I didn’t want that to happen” and “I said no!” according to the criminal complaint.
She stated that he had indecent contact with her. “He did it on purpose,” she reportedly said.
The victim also reported that he had done this to her in the shed “more than one time.”
O’Dell has been in trouble for “being sexually-inappropriate with juvenile females before,” watches a lot of pornography and described himself as a “self-proclaimed pervert,” according to the witness.
Copyright © 2024 EYT Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Any copying, redistribution or retransmission of the contents of this service without the express written consent of EYT Media Group, Inc. is expressly prohibited.
