Jimmy Selsey (provided)BEAUFORT, S.C. (WCIV) -- A 40-year-old Beaufort man has pleaded guilty to molesting a young girl, according to a release from the 14th Judicial Circuit Solicitor's Office.
Jimmy Selsey pleaded guilty
to three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
According to the release, Selsey was charged after a
string of incidents that occurred in October 2011. Selsey is accused of fondling and having
intercourse with a 10-year-old girl he was caring for at a home on Lafayette Street in
Beaufort.
The victim told a family
member that she had been abused by Selsey on several occasions. The family
called the police and took the girl to the hospital.
"The community is a safer
place now that Jimmy Selsey can't do this to another child," said assistant
solicitor Mary Jordan Lempesis, who prosecuted the case. "He looked for someone
he had easy access to and molested a child he was supposed to be caring for
while her mother was at work. I am proud of this little girl for having the
strength to report the abuse to her family and for being willing to testify in
the trial if it had moved forward."
Family members report the
girl has been doing better in school than while the abuse was occurring and is
once again a happy child.
Judge Carmen Mullen handed
down the sentence, which by law, requires Selsey to serve at least 85 percent
of his sentence before being eligible for parole.
