A 45-year-old man will spend years behind bars after he was convicted of child molestation.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Last week, a judge sentenced Dustin Luther Wilkes, 45, of the Acworth area of Cherokee County, to prison for two counts of child molestation.
Wilkes was sentenced to 40 years, with the first 20 years in prison and the remainder on probation, subject to sex offender special conditions.
The sentencing comes after the 45-year-old was found guilty of the charges in February. In 2023, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation into Wilkes after an eight-year-old girl reported that he had been sexually assaulting her for several months.
According to the Cherokee County District Attorney’s Office, Wilkes knew the child and committed the acts when the victim was in the third grade.
“This predator manipulated his way into this family, to the point that he was often alone with an 8-year-old child and able to commit these criminal acts of molestation upon her. In the span of five months, a happy little girl became quiet and withdrawn,” said Assistant District Attorney Meaghan Frankish. “Everything changed the day the child attended a Shop with a Cop Christmas event. That night, she found the courage to tell her mother what this man had been doing. In that moment, this little girl took the first steps to toward justice and healing.”
TRENDING STORIES:
The child was interviewed and described how Wilkes “climb on top of her and rub his body on her body and tell her he loved her.”
Wilkes also told the child “not to tell anyone what he was doing.”
After the jury deliberated for under 30 minutes, Wilkes was found guilty on all charges.
“It was law enforcement that made her safe. It was that involvement in her life that made her realize that there are adults out there to protect you, to care for you, to support you, and she acted immediately upon that,” Superior Court Judge Jennifer L. Davis said during the sentencing hearing.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]