PANAMA CITY, Fla. — A Georgia man was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a young teen in Bay County, Fla., in 2004, according to officials.
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The Fourteenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida announced that Leslie Earl Cannon, 73, of Georgia, entered an open plea to charges of sexual battery upon a child older than 12 but younger than 18, and lewd or lascivious battery. An open plea means there is no agreement on the sentence, which was ultimately decided by the judge.
“Your honor, what the victim and what we really want here is that this man not be turned loose so that he can victimize another child,” Prosecutor Jeff Moore said during sentencing.
A judge considered several factors in determining the sentence, including Cannon’s previous 20-year imprisonment for a similar assault on the same victim in Georgia around the same time as the Florida offense.
Cannon was designated a sexual predator and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
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The victim, now in his 30s, provided a statement during the sentencing, expressing the profound impact the crime had on his life.
The victim wrote that his “childhood was ripped from me.”
“I spent the best years of my life hiding from people alone in the darkness, scared and afraid of society,” he said.
The victim also revealed that Cannon began grooming him when he was 10 years old, and stated, “This crime continues to affect me every day. I am working to heal, but the harm that was done will always be a part of my story.”
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