A Southeast Missouri man will spend the next 15 years in prison after he was convicted of molesting a young girl in Butler and Ripley counties.
Larry D. Hawkins, 51, no address given, pleaded guilty to the unclassified felony of first-degree statutory sodomy Tuesday, Sept. 27, at the Butler County Courthouse before Judge Michael Pritchett as part of a plea bargain. Under the conditions of the bargain, Hawkins was sentenced to 15 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.
According to the probable cause statement by Butler County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Kellis Thompson, he was contacted by Detective Chad Keathley from the Ripley County Sheriff’s Department in July 2020.
Keathley reportedly told Thompson that a female alleged Hawkins had molested her from the time she was 12 years old until she was 16.
Keathley went on to say Hawkins had allegedly molested the female while she lived in Doniphan and before that when she lived in rural Butler County.
Keathley set up a forensic interview for the female on June 29, 2020, at Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence in Cape Girardeau. During that interview, the female said Hawkins began touching her inappropriately when she was seven or eight years old and this continued for several years. When the female was between 12 and 13 years old, Hawkins also had her perform a sex act on him.
Hawkins originally pleaded not guilty in February 2021 before changing his plea last week.