Aformer babysitter was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for committing sex crimes against two children he babysat when he lived in Palm Coast, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
When Donald Andrew Sharp, 24, was convicted in February, State Attorney R.J. Larizza stated in a release that he would have sought the death penalty against Sharp had a new state law applied at the time.
State legislators last year approved a law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis allowing the death penalty for someone convicted of sexual battery of children under 12.
A Flagler County jury in February found Sharp, 24, guilty of four counts of sexual battery on a person less than 12 years of age; one count of principal to sexual battery on a person less than 12 years of age; one count of lewd/lascivious battery molestation by a person 18 years or older on a victim under 12; and principal to lewd/lascivious molestation by a person 18 years or older and victim under 12.
“This defendant used the love between a brother and sister and their family to engage in the most horrific crimes against children,” Larizza stated in a previous release.
Circuit Judge Terence Perkins sentenced Sharp to life in prison and designated him a sexual predator.
The crimes occurred between May 1, 2021, and June 4, 2022, according to documents.
Sharp was babysitting the children when he performed sex acts on the younger child multiple times over a year between May 2021 and May 2022 at the children’s home in Palm Coast, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
Sharp also had one child touch the other in a lewd or lascivious manner, according to a charging document.
Sharp was arrested on Aug. 13, 2022, in Huntington, West Virginia, on a felony warrant obtained by Flagler County Sheriff’s Office detectives.
Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark prosecuted the case.
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Source: msn
