A 20-year-old local man arrested last year after he got a 14-year-old girl pregnant pleaded guilty to a reduced charge Tuesday in Garland County Circuit Court and was sentenced to one year of supervised probation.
Jarod Dryon Hunter, who was 19 at the time of his arrest, was set to stand trial Tuesday on a felony charge of sexual indecency with a child, punishable by up to six years in prison, but pleaded guilty after the charge was amended to a misdemeanor count of public sexual indecency.
In addition to probation, Hunter was fined $1,500, ordered to pay $420 in court costs and barred permanently from any future contact with the victim. Hunter had no prior criminal history and the girl's family were notified of the plea agreement in the case.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on April 25, 2016, Hot Springs police Detective Kenny May received a report from the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline regarding a 14-year-old girl who was pregnant by a 19-year-old man, identified as Hunter.
The girl was interviewed that same day by Arkansas State Police investigator Kathy Finnegan and stated she and Hunter began having a relationship about seven months earlier and had consensual sex "quite a few" times and later indicated it was at least 10 separate times.
Hunter was interviewed and stated he first had sex with the girl in November 2015 and they continued their relationship off and on through April 2016, when they would have sex on the weekends. Hunter said he knew he was possibly the father of the girl's unborn child.
As neither Hunter or the girl was able to provide specific dates of when the sex occurred, the date of the offense was listed as April 25, the date both disclosed the sexual relationship in their interviews.
Hunter was arrested on Aug. 23, 2016, and later released on $2,500 bond.
Local on 09/02/2017