After nearly two years of court appearances, a Newton man, charged with sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl who became pregnant, pleaded guilty to sexual abuse in District Court on Monday.
Jacob R. White, 26, pleaded guilty to third-degree sexual abuse, with District Court Judge Terry Rickers then sentencing him to a maximum sentence of 10 years in state prison.
White was initially charged in July 2014 after Newton Police received a report about the abuse from the victim’s parents. The initial police report said the parents learned of the abuse after reading her Facebook conversations.
The initial police investigation began when, during a doctor’s visit, the 12-year-old victim was heard telling her mother “I tried to tell you several times,” according to a police report.
The victim’s mother was charged with child endangerment in August 2014 following an investigation in which police determined the victim was sleeping in the same bed as White. The mother was sentenced to 10 days in county jail in May 2015.
Multiple witnesses indicated they had addressed the matter with the mother, but she refused to take any action, according to the report.
White’s sentence also includes a $1,000 fine, restitution and registering as a sex offender once he is released from prison.
White was initially set to go to trial on sexual abuse charges in July 2015. He was granted a competency evaluation from the court over the objections of the state at that time, with Rickers saying the court runs the risk of subjecting the case to an appeal if it denied the motion only because the case has been pending for nearly a year.
Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com