Slaton Man Sentenced to 6 Years for Sexual Assault of a Child
On Thursday, January 28th, 23-year-old Derrick Hargrave of Slaton, also known as Derrick Westbrook, was sentenced to 6 years in state prison for sexual assault of a child.
KAMC News reports that Hargrave was originally accused back in 2018 of having a sexual relationship with a girl that was 14-years-old. He was 21 at the time.
The girl first told her mother that she only "kissed and cuddled" with Hargrave, but after looking at messages on the girl's phone, the mother questioned her again.
The girl's mother called police, and the girl told police that she had sex with Hargrave on 2 separate occasions. She told officials that she left 2 rings and some of her notebooks in a shed where she was with Hargrave. police searched the shed and found the aforementioned items.
Officials conducted a sexual assault exam, but those results were never reported on.
Hargrave was arrested on July 27th, 2018. He pleaded guilty to the sexual assault of a child charge on February 5th, 2019, and was sentenced to deferred adjudication, which meant that he would be allowed to stay out of jail as long as he didn't get into trouble. However, he was arrested 23 days later for failing to register as a sex offender.