Georgia man who escaped from jail pleads guilty to molesting 8-year-old

February 29, 2020
1 min read
Georgia man who escaped from jail pleads guilty to molesting 8-year-old

HAZLEHURST — A man who was arrested for molesting an 8-year-old and escaped from jail last year plead guilty to both sets of charges and was sentenced to 25 years in prison last week.

Jeff Davis County District Attorney Jackie Johnson announced the conviction and sentence of 39-year-old Joshua Eason in the Jeff Davis County Superior Court Feb. 24.

Eason plead guilty to Aggravated Child Molestation and was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Roger B. Lane to serve 25 years in prison with the remainder of his life on probation. As a condition of his sentence the defendant can have no contact with the victim or victim’s family and is banished from Jeff Davis County.

Eason also plead guilty in a second case to two counts of Aggravated Assault on a Public Safety Officer, one count of False Imprisonment and one count of Escape. He was sentenced by Judge Lane to 25 years in prison to be served concurrent to the Aggravated Child Molestation.

In May, Eason made sexual contact with an 8-year-old child which resulted in injury to the child. While being detained in the Jeff Davis County Detention Center for that offense, he attempted to escape on June 13. He assaulted two detention officers, resulting in serious injury to one of the officers eyes. He, along with a second inmate who escaped, Christopher Hatton, were subsequently captured and returned to the jail. Hatton pled guilty on Nov. 18 and was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison.

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