A Tennessee man has been sentenced to life in prison for selling his three young daughters to a child pornographer and for years of sexual abuse in what the judge in the case said was one of the most horrific crimes he had ever seen.
Ronnie Lee McCall, a resident of Johnson City, Tennessee, was indicted in 2013 after authorities were alerted that his three girls were not going to school and seemed to have medical issues that were not being taken care of.
Court records show both parents were arrested and charged with the abuse of the girls, aged 12, 14, and 16 at the time of their parents’ arrest.
Police charged that the children had been raped repeatedly by the 63-year-old father and were sexually exploited for at least two years.
According to the Times News of Kingsport, McCall “was found guilty by a jury of selling a child for illegal sexual activity, producing child pornography, producing child pornography by a parent and using a means of interstate commerce to entice, persuade or coerce a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.”
Federal prosecutors asked the court to sentence the man to life because of his “complete unwillingness to accept responsibility for his conduct and decisions.” Furthermore, “his history of neglect and abuse of his children demonstrate a great need.”
“This offense is the most serious … that undersigned counsel has prosecuted during her thirty years of federal service,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Smith said in the statement. “Words cannot adequately describe the seriousness of the offense.”
Wholly shocked by the case, U.S. District Judge J. Ronnie Greer agreed to the sentencing suggestion offered by prosecutors and ruled that the father be sent to jail for life.
McCall’s wife, Connie Sue Gentry McCall, 41, was also sentenced in the case. She was given a 216-month sentence, after which she will be faced with a lifetime of supervision by the courts.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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