Sikeston man sentenced to 40 years in prison for statutory sodomy

Ron Sherrod

BENTON, Mo. —  A Sikeston man was sentenced on Friday to 40 years in prison after a jury previously found him guilty of two counts of statutory sodomy.

Ron Sherrod, 66, of Sikeston was sentenced by Judge Ben Lewis following the June 16 jury trial in Cape Girardeau County where a jury convicted Sherrod of two counts of statutory sodomy in the first degree regarding one female victim. Sherrod committed the criminal acts between June 2010 and May 2011, according to a news release from Scott County Prosecutor Paul R. Boyd.

The State was represented at the sentencing hearing by Boyd and Assistant Attorney General Jen Szczucinski. A couple of the jurors from the June 16 trial were present to support the child victim.

The case began on May 18, 2011, when the mother of two of the child victims reported the abuse to the Sikeston Department of Public Safety. The disclosure of the sexual abuse followed one of the child victims attending the Green Bear program taught by the Network Against Sexual Violence (NASV). After attending the program, she told her mother about Sherrod touching her. A forensic interview of the two children was conducted at on May 20.

The child victim relayed to the forensic interviewer specific details only she would know about the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Sherrod. She referred to the acts as “gross.” She told the forensic interviewer that Sherrod told her “he would like to do more, but she was too little.”

After the investigation was initiated on May 18, 2011, additional victims of Sherrod came forward to tell what had happened to them in the past. One female victim came forward on May 20, 2011, to tell what happened to her between 2006 and 2009 in Sikeston. Two victims (one male and one female) came forward on May 28, 2011, to discuss what happened to them in the late 1990s to early 2000s. A sixth victim came forward in 2015 to relate what had happened to him in the late 1990s to early 2000s.

At the sentencing hearing, the court heard victim impact statements from the child victim, two other victims of Sherrod, mothers of two of the victims and the father of the child victim. The victims related how the sexual abuse negatively affected their lives. The victims said the abuse made them fearful, suffer nightmares, caused trust and relationship issues with others, especially men, and caused them to suffer loss of family because the relatives would not believe the children. The parents related how they suffered watching their children struggle as they navigated the criminal justice system suffering multiple interviews and depositions with strangers about sexual activity with an adult. The victims requested the maximum sentence for Sherrod’s commission of statutory sodomy.

The maximum sentence for statutory sodomy in the first degree is a life sentence that is calculated in Missouri as a 30-year sentence. A maximum on two counts of statutory sodomy would be sixty years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

The defendant did not testify at the hearing. However, he continued to deny he touched the victim or any of the other victims who testified at trial through an interview with a probation officer who presented a sentencing report to the court.

Sherrod’s brother, Richard Sherrod, spoke on his behalf. In short, he blamed the court system for the result, spoke about his brother’s innocence and insinuated that the witnesses were providing false statements. Richard Sherrod asked the court for probation and that the defendant be sentenced to home confinement to support his wife and get medical attention. Ronald Sherrod had no prior felony convictions prior to this case.

Boyd said he argued the defendant be sentenced to the maximum sentence for the two charges noting the defendant still fails to take responsibility for his actions and all his victims will be suffering a life sentence themselves having to suffer painful memories triggered by the simplest of events the rest of society likely takes for granted like the smell of smoke in a house, simplest touches of loved ones and raising their children.

Lewis commented during the sentencing that he disagreed with the prior jury in 2016 that he would have found him guilty if the decision had been left to him. The 2016 trial ended in a mistrial as the jury would not unanimously agree on a verdict being stuck at 9-3 vote for guilty.

Lewis said he agreed with the current jury’s verdict of guilt. Lewis noted Sherrod had lied to the victims and his own family and was guilty of the two acts of statutory sodomy. Lewis ordered that Sherrod be sentenced to 20 years on each count to run consecutive to each other for a total of 40 years.

“Now the child victim in this case and the rest of the victims can now put this case behind them and find peace,” Boyd said. “They are not victims anymore. They are survivors. They should consider Judge Lewis’ advice to seek laughter in their lives again and let that be their revenge for Mr. Sherrod’s criminal acts.”