A Georgia man who sexually assaulted a young teen here in 2004 was sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday after pleading guilty rather than going to trial, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.
Leslie Earl Cannon, 73, entered an open plea to Sexual Battery Upon a Child older than 12 but younger than 18, and Lewd or Lascivious Battery. An open plea means there is no agreement on the sentence, it is decided by the judge. Cannon was designated a Sexual Predator and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Circuit Court Judge Timothy Register said he considered that the defendant has been in prison for the last 20 years for a similar assault on the victim that took place in Georgia around the same time as the offense in Florida, testimony from the victim who is now in his 30s, as well as the sentencing guidelines.
“Your honor, what the victim and what we really want here is that this man not be turned loose so that he can victimize another child,” Prosecutor Jeff Moore said during sentencing.
The defendant was in a position of trust with the victim, who was 13 years old when the Bay County assault occurred.
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With the victim, now in his 30s, standing by his side in court, Moore read the victim’s statement to the judge.
The victim wrote that his “childhood was ripped from me.”
“I spent the best years of my life hiding from people alone in the darkness, scared and afraid of society,” he said in his statement. “Scared that the next person around me will betray me. So emotionally ruined that a 13-year-old would shut himself out from the world.”
The victim wrote that the defendant began grooming him when he was 10 years old.
“This crime continues to affect me every day,” he wrote. “I am working to heal, but the harm that was done will always be a part of my story. This man hasn’t changed; this man deserves to die in prison.”
Basford thanked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for its work on the case over the years and for its collaboration with Georgia authorities.
For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.