A former chief deputy for the Pike County Sheriff’s Office pleaded no contest Monday to a single count of gross sexual imposition.
The entire week had been set aside for Clyde Franklin Sanders Jr.’s trial on child sex abuse charges. Sanders, who worked under former Sheriff Larry Travis, faced two counts of kidnapping, one count of rape and one count of gross sexual imposition, all first-degree felonies.
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The charge Sanders pleaded to Monday is a third-degree felony and he faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
Because of Sanders’ former position in Pike County, the case had special prosecutors assigned from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. Retired Ross County Judge Jhan Corzine also had been appointed to preside over the case.
Because Sanders entered the plea, a presentence investigation was ordered. However, prosecutors declined to comment on the case. A date has yet to be set for sentencing.
According to the indictment, the gross sexual imposition charge stems from an alleged October 2008 encounter with a 3-year-old girl Sanders knew. The rape charge, which is dropped as a condition of the plea agreement, had alleged another encounter with the same child in January 2009.
In December 2011, Corzine had ruled that the victim — who was 6 at the time of the hearing — was competent to testify and left Sanders under house arrest.
