Plea deal reached in six-year-old child molestation case
Published 8:01 pm Monday, July 8, 2013
A six-year-old child molestation case reached a resolution Monday with a plea deal.
Victor Sarvaunt, 50, entered an Alford plea to molesting a 6-year-old female family member between August 2006 and August 2007.
Under an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit to the crime, but agrees there is enough evidence for a conviction.
Sarvaunt pleaded to one count of indecent behavior, amended from two counts of aggravated incest and two counts of sexual battery. Sarvaunt was originally indicted, in 2008, on two counts of aggravated rape and two counts of sexual battery.
He is to be sentenced July 16. He faces zero to seven years jail time.
The victim and family members are expected to give statements at the sentencing.
In reading the facts of the case, prosecutor Shunette Thomas-Jordan said if the case had gone to trial, the state would have proved that Sarvaunt molested the girl with his mouth and with his genitals on more than one occasion.
Sarvaunt was arrested on the charge in December of 2007 and has been free on $150,000 bond since March 2009.
The case has been continued numerous times.
Eugene Bouquet, who began defending Sarvaunt in January, said Sarvaunt told him he is the seventh attorney to represent Sarvaunt.
Thomas-Jordan said the last time Sarvaunt was scheduled to go to trial, a conflict held the case up.
The Alford plea “was a compromise resolution,” Bouquet said. “It was something that was difficult for all parties.”
Thomas-Jordan said she had spoken with the girl’s family and “they want him to do significant jail time, but are happy with the plea.”
“My goal is to give the family closure,” she said.
Judge Ron Ware order around $130 that Sarvaunt had on him at the time of his arrest returned to him.
Sarvaunt also asked for some videos that were confiscated, but Ware declined the request.
After the plea, Ware called in one of the members of the jury pool and told her that she had never answered to a decade-old indictment.
Because charges against her co-defendants had been dropped, the district attorney also dropped all charges against her.
“Not avoiding jury duty paid off for you,” Ware said.
(American Press Archives)
(American Press Archives)
