FRANKLIN COUNTY, Mo. – The Missouri Attorney General’s Office secured a conviction against a Franklin County man for child sexual abuse and rape.
A Franklin County grand jury indicted Brett Pendleton in January 2018. According to the indictment, Pendleton took an 8-year-old child whom he knew to a motel room, forced her to smoke marijuana and ingest methamphetamine, and then sexually abused the child for several hours.
A family member later discovered the child, and they took her to a hospital to report the incident.
The Washington Police Department investigated the matter and found enough evidence corroborating the victim’s account to make an arrest.
County authorities requested that the attorney general’s office handle the prosecution.
Jurors deliberated for an hour before returning a guilty verdict.
Pendleton was convicted of first-degree statutory rape, five counts of first-degree statutory sodomy, first-degree attempted statutory sodomy, first-degree child molestation, abuse of a child, and two counts of delivering a controlled substance to a minor.
Pendleton will be sentenced on Dec. 1. He faces a minimum sentence of 98 years in state prison.
