NORFOLK, Va. — A Norfolk man was sentenced to more than seven years in prison Friday for sexually abusing his former girlfriend's preteen daughter.
The sentencing comes after Jearl Ron Lewis Jr., 33, pleaded guilty on April 10 to two counts of aggravated sexual battery of a child under the age of 13 and to one count of taking indecent liberties with a child under the age of 15.
According to the Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney's Office, the girl reported the sexual assault to a school teacher in December 2021.
She had described several instances of abuse committed by Lewis and inappropriate text messages that he sent to her between September 2020 and December 2021.
The office said that Lewis admitted to Norfolk police officers that he performed sexual acts on her two different times.
Lewis will serve seven years and five months in prison, with another 42 years and seven months suspended if he meets certain conditions.
Those include no contact with the child, completing an indeterminate period of supervised probation, 50 years of uniform good behavior, sex offender registration and following the recommendations from his psycho-sexual evaluation.
“Mr. Lewis chose to abuse a child to gratify his own desires. For that, he must go to prison,” Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi wrote in a news release. “Mr. Lewis has earned his sentence, will be a registered sex offender, and will be under supervision to minimize his chances of reoffending.”
