Defendant draws 12-year prison term in Carthage child sexual abuse case
May 5—A 20-year-old man was sentenced to 12 years in prison Monday on a conviction for statutory sodomy with a child under 12 years old.
Timothy Woods, of Sarcoxie, pleaded guilty to the charge March 8 in a plea agreement dismissing two other counts of the same offense and capping the prison time he might be required to serve at 12 years.
Judge Gayle Crane accepted that plea bargain at his sentencing hearing Monday in Jasper County Circuit Court and assessed him the agreed-upon length of sentence.
Woods had been facing charges with respect to three victims under 12 years old. The mother of the children reported the matter to Carthage police on June 3, 2020, after two of them told her he had been touching them inappropriately.
All three victims and a fourth child were interviewed at the Children's Center in Joplin and made disclosures leading to the arrest of Woods and the filing of charges.
When confronted by an investigator about their disclosures, Woods did not deny the allegations but instead simply told the detective "that he didn't know what to say," according to the affidavit.
