A local man was sentenced to 40 years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty in Garland County Circuit Court to sexually assaulting and grooming a 9-year-old girl in 2015.
Richard James Laquerre, 30, who has remained in custody in lieu of $1 million bond since his arrest Oct. 23, 2015, was set to stand trial Wednesday but agreed that morning to plead guilty to two counts of sexual assault and one count of sexually grooming a child while three counts of rape were withdrawn.
He was sentenced to 20 years on each of the assault counts, to run consecutively, and to six years on the grooming charge, to be served concurrently, for a total of 40 years. Court costs were expunged for time served.
"We talked with the victim and her mother and we decided it was a good plea factoring in the chance he might be found not guilty," Chief Deputy Prosecutor Joe Graham said Thursday.
"The victim still wanted to testify so after he plead she bravely got on the stand and testified about what the defendant did to her even though she didn't have to," he said.
According to the probable cause affidavit submitted by Garland County sheriff's Investigator Russell Severns, the victim was interviewed at the Cooper Anthony Mercy Child Advocacy Center by forensic interviewer Tracey Childress, with the interview audio and video recorded, on Oct. 1, 2015.
The victim, who lives with her mother, stepfather and younger brother, stated a known suspect, identified as Laquerre, used to baby-sit her and her brother, and over the course of about a year he would show her pornography on a computer tablet.
Laquerre also made her watch him masturbate and forced her to perform oral sex on him, fondled her sexually and raped her. The victim described the incidents in detail and the feelings she had during them.
On Oct. 22, 2015, Severns interviewed Laquerre along with Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children investigator Taylor Griffie, and he admitted to showing the victim pornography on a computer tablet about five times, that she watched him masturbate and that he fondled her sexually, performed oral sex on her and digitally penetrated her.
Graham noted Laquerre denied raping the victim and claimed he only digitally penetrated her "by accident."
According to Arkansas law, a person commits the act of sexually grooming a child if they knowingly disseminate to a child 13 years of age or younger, with or without consideration, a visual or print medium depicting sexually explicit conduct with the purpose to entice, induce, or groom the child, to engage in sexual intercourse, sexually explicit conduct or deviate sexual activity.
Local on 11/03/2017