BENTONVILLE — Tim Ivan Sawyers II said only a few words Wednesday morning as he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 6-year-old boy.
Sawyers, 37, of Parkville, Mo., pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault in the first degree, a Class A felony punishable with a prison sentence ranging from six to 30 years on each count.
AT A GLANCE
The Sentence
Tim Ivan Sawyers II, 37, was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading to two counts of sexual assault involving a 6-year-old boy. Sawyers must serve one-fourth of his sentence before he will be eligible for parole.
Source: Staff Report
Sawyers, under a plea deal, was sentenced to 30 years in prison on one count of sexual assault and 20 years on the second count. The sentences will be served consecutively, meaning a 50-year sentence.
Sawyers was arrested July 23.
The investigation began with the Platte County Sheriff's Office in Missouri when a social worker reported sexual abuse to a deputy, according to court documents. The case later was given to Bentonville police because Sawyers lived in Bentonville at the time referenced in the report, according to court documents.
Marshall told the judge Sawyers, who was in a position of authority over the child, engaged in sex acts with him.
Sawyers said "yes," when Circuit Judge Robin Green asked him if Marshall's statements are the facts of the case.
The balding Sawyers, dressed in black and white jail attire, earlier told the judge he (Sawyers) hadn't been forced or coerced into pleading guilty.
The child wasn't in court.
Green read a victim impact statement from the boy's mother. Green read the statement to herself and not aloud in court.
Green accepted the plea agreement and Sawyers' guilty pleas.
Green asked Sawyers if he had anything to say.
"No ma'am," Sawyers responded.
Green ordered Sawyers not to have any contact with the boy except for one exception.
Green gave Sawyers 10 days to write a letter of apology to the boy. Green told Sawyers she wanted it to be a letter of apology stating his actions toward the child were wrong.
"It's your only opportunity to say you love him and what you did was wrong," Green said.
The letter, if Sawyers writes it, ultimately would be given to the child's mother. She then would decide if and when to show the letter to her son, Green said.
Sawyers didn't say in court whether he would write a letter.
He must abide by a suspended sentence for 10 years after his release from prison. He received 232 days of credit for the time he spent in the Benton County Jail awaiting trial.
Sawyers must pay $2,120 in court costs and enroll and complete the prison's sex offender treatment program. He will be required to register as a sex offender.
Sawyers was ordered not to have any unsupervised contact with any minor.
"If you find yourself in a room with anyone under 18 then it is your duty to turn around and leave," Green told Sawyers.
NW News on 03/13/2014