CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — The Cherokee County District Attorney’s Office announced a Canton man would serve three life sentences plus 25 years after a conviction for multiple counts of sexual abuse.
According to the District Attorney’s Office, Monquezias Deshad Watts was placed under investigation starting in April 2021 after a 14-year-old girl told police Watts had sexually assaulted her.
As the DA’s Office prepared for trial, officials said more victims were identified.
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“The abuse spanned over the course of several years,” the DA’s Office said. “Watts was known to the victims.”
Nearly 30 witnesses, including five victims, testified in court during Watts’ trial.
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The DA’s office said three of the young women, each of whom were under 16 at the time of the offenses, testified that Watts had assaulted them as they slept, or while they were impaired by drugs or alcohol.
More women testified as witnesses to the assaults, describing what the DA’s Office called a consistent pattern of behavior by Watts.
“Evidence presented at trial showed that this man has been acting with impunity for years. Victim after victim took the stand and told the same story of being victimized while they were high, drunk, or asleep. This defendant preyed upon vulnerable girls he thought would never tell, or never be believed,” Assistant District Attorney Leyna Pope, who prosecuted the case, said in a statement. “What is done in darkness always comes to light.”
District Attorney Susan K. Treadaway said Watts, 33, was convicted on 10 counts of sexual abuse of girls under the age of 16, four counts of rape, five counts of child molestation and one count of aggravated assault.
A Cherokee County jury acquitted him on three other counts.
“This sentence delivers long-awaited justice for these young women,” Treadaway said. “The defendant counted on these girls remaining silent or on others failing to believe them. He underestimated them, and he underestimated this community. With this verdict and sentence, he has been fully and appropriately held accountable.”
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