SUPERIOR COURT
A Haddock man will be spending the better part of the next two decades in prison after entering guilty pleas to charges of child molestation.
Timothy Allen Roupe, 24, was in Jones County Superior Court June 15 to enter guilty pleas to two counts of the lesser-included offense of child molestation. The counts are to run consecutively for a total of 40 years with the first 20 years served in confinement. He will receive credit for time served since his Feb. 17 arrest. The remainder of his sentence is to be served on probation.
Roupe was charged with aggravated child molestation when he was arrested in February and was indicted by a Jones County Grand Jury April 11 for two charges of aggravated child molestation.
His June 15 plea to the lesser charges was a negotiated plea. A person convicted of aggravated child molestation faces life in prison or at least 25 years in prison followed by probation for life.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Cara Fiore, and Roupe was represented by public defender Tom O’Donnell. Superior Court Judge Terry Massey accepted the pleas.
Fiore provided the facts of the case to the court. She said the victim was six years old at the time she told her mother that Roupe had touched her inappropriately.
The complaint was first received Feb. 12 by Jones County Sheriff Office Sgt. Travis Walker from the victim’s mother, and the case was investigated by Lt. Kenny Gleaton. The investigator’s report states he spoke to the mother Feb. 13, and he set up an interview of the victim at the Crescent House Feb. 15.
Following that interview, Gleaton applied for an arrest warrant, charging Roupe with one count of aggravated child molestation. He said the suspect was taken into custody the same afternoon.
The investigator said he made contact with Roupe, and in a subsequent interview, the suspect admitted to molesting the victim on two separate occasions.
