VAN BUREN -- A Crawford County man was sentenced Monday to 36 years in prison after pleading guilty in Crawford County Circuit Court to 10 counts of having sexual contact with a minor for five years.
Gerald Graham, 45, was sentenced in a plea agreement to 20 years on the first second-degree sexual assault count and to 16 years on the second count, with the sentences to run consecutively. Imposition of sentence was suspended for 20 years on the remaining eight second-degree sexual assault counts.
Prosecuting Attorney Marc McCune told Circuit Judge Gary Cottrell that the female victim and her guardian approved of the sentence.
Graham also was charged with 10 counts of rape, according to court records, but the rape charges were dismissed, McCune announced in court Monday.
Graham had been free since Sept. 14 on a $100,000 bond pending his trial, which was scheduled for this month. Immediately after his plea and sentencing, he stepped away from the front of the judge's bench and a bailiff placed him in handcuffs and took him into custody.
Graham was arrested Aug. 12, 2015, after Crawford County deputies received a report that someone called the Child Abuse Hotline about the possible rape of a youth by Graham.
Initially, deputies were unable to find Graham and the victim. On Aug. 11, Sheriff Ron Brown received information that the victim had contacted a friend and told her that she and Graham were hiding from the police in Atkins and that she was afraid, a sheriff's report said.
State Desk on 08/10/2016