Panama City man gets 9 life sentences for sexually assaulting a child, videotaping attacks
PANAMA CITY — A local man will spend the rest of his life in prison for sexually assaulting a child.
According to a press release from the State Attorney's Office of the 14th Judicial Circuit, 38-year-old Phillip Lyvonne Stephens of Panama City will serve nine consecutive life sentences for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl multiple times and videotaping the attacks.
He was convicted Tuesday of seven counts of sexual battery on a child younger than 12, two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation and one count of lewd and lascivious exhibition.
"He has refused to accept responsibility and has adamantly blamed everyone else, including the victim," prosecutor Jennifer Lieb said in the release. "He very carefully groomed this child to behave the way he wanted her to."
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In addition to his sentence, Stephens also was designated a sexual predator.
"This child is incredibly brave to face the person that abused her multiple times," Lieb said in the release. "She wanted to testify against him to make sure he couldn't do this to any other children. (Stephens) videotaped his abuse, creating a record of the abuse that would revictimize this child every time it was played.
"He will never harm another child in our area or anywhere else."
The State Attorney's Office noted "the abuse came to light in June, 2020" after Stephens was arrested for domestic violence. He called the child's mother from jail and asked her to destroy evidence. She then told a co-worker she found videotapes of the sexual abuse.
The co-worker is who notified the Bay County Sheriff's Office.
"Detectives obtained a search warrant for the home where the crimes occurred and found both a camera mounted to the wall behind the bed and an electronic tablet," the release reads. "The memory card on the camera and tablet both contained videos of the crimes with which (Stephens) was convicted."
The child's mother also was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison on charges of neglect of a child causing great bodily harm, failure to report child abuse, felon in possession of a firearm, possession of methamphetamine and possession of cocaine.
"She was charged with neglect and failure to report because evidence showed she was aware of the abuse and did nothing to protect her child," the release reads.
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City man gets life in prison for sexually assaulting girl
