Barbourville man indicted in child abuse case

Janie Slaven, The Times-Tribune, Corbin, Ky.
·1 min read

Nov. 4—BARBOURVILLE — In their return last Friday, the Knox County Grand Jury indicted a man accused of abusing a child dating back five years.

Dennis Ray Wagers Jr., 50, of Barbourville, is facing two separate indictments.

The first charges Wagers with first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy, first-degree sexual abuse and first-degree persistent felony offender in connection to the abuse of a juvenile who was under 12 during incidents reported to have occurred between June 22, 2017, and June 22, 2018.

The second indictment charges Wagers with failure to comply with sex offender registration — having reportedly failed to report a change of address to the Kentucky State Police Sex Offender Registry as required by law.

Wagers has been lodged in the Knox County Detention Center since August 11 in lieu of a $100,000 bond. He was arraigned on Friday and scheduled to appear in Knox Circuit Court on December 14 for his first pretrial conference.

Readers are reminded that an indictment is a formal charge by a grand jury and is not a conviction or admission of guilt.