Springfield man gets six months for sexually assaulting 3-year-old

A man convicted of sexually assaulting a 3-year-old in Clark County will serve six months in jail, five years of probation and complete a sex offender treatment program.

Kenneth Sammons, 25, pleaded guilty to gross sexual imposition in Clark County Common Pleas Court and was sentenced by Clark County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard O’Neill earlier this month. The maximum sentence he faced was five years in prison, according to Assistant Prosecutor Andrew Picek, and prosecutors asked for prison time during sentencing.

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“While we respect the judge’s decision to sentence Sammons to community control, jail and an inpatient secured facility sex offender treatment program, obviously we felt a prison sentence was the more appropriate disposition, and that is why we argued for one at sentencing,” Picek said.

Sammons will have to register as a tier two sex offender for the next 25 years.

Sammons’ attorney, Anthony Vannoy, didn’t return a phone call seeking comment this week.

The mother of the victim reported Sammons to the sheriff’s office, according to court records.

Clark County Deputy Debra Strileckyj wrote in an affidavit that the mother said that she, Sammons and the 3-year-old were sleeping in the same bed at the Drake Motel when she felt the bed shake.

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“She pulled back the blankets and saw Sammons completely naked,” the court records say.

The affidavit says the child was sleeping and Sammons allegedly was knowingly assaulting the child.

“She pushed him away from the child and confronted his actions,” the report says.

Sammons later said he didn’t know what he was doing that night, Picek said.

“Sammons later told the girlfriend during a recorded phone call that he thought it was her and not the child,” Picek said.

“The facts of this case were unique, and as I described them at the sentencing hearing, inexplicable,” Picek said.

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The child’s diaper was on during the assault, Picek said, and Sammons pleaded to the most serious offense he could have been charged with based on the facts.

Sammons’ treatment will take six months to complete, Picek said, and with the jail sentence, he will be incarcerated for a year.

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