Man from Kentucky sentenced to 10 years for molesting family member

NEOSHO, Mo. – A Kentucky man entered a plea of guilty in Newton County Circuit Court to a count of child molestation and was sentenced to 10 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

John E. Hartle, 71, of Williamstown, Kentucky, was sentenced by Judge Kevin Selby of the 40th Judicial Circuit on Tuesday, May 25, on one count of Child Molestation in the 1st Degree.

In the summer of 2020, the juvenile victim gave a disclosure to a forensic interviewer at the Children’s Center in Joplin, Missouri that the defendant touched the victim inappropriately through her clothes.

Family members confronted the defendant about the disclosure, at which time he fled the state to attend a sexual addiction treatment center in Kentucky.

“Finding justice for juvenile sexual assault survivors in a way that doesn’t further their trauma is difficult to balance,” said Newton County Prosecuting Attorney William Lynch.

“This plea allows justice to be served without requiring this child to testify repeatedly throughout the process. Given the age of the defendant, he may very well spend the rest of his life in prison.”

The case was investigated by Detective Brad Black of the Newton County Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by William Lynch and Mitchell Cross of the Newton County Prosecutor’s Office.