Man sentenced to life for Hall County child molestation

A man was convicted Thursday on a 10-count indictment for sexual crimes committed against a child in Gainesville. 

 

Raymond Daniel Morales, 42, was charged with two counts of aggravated child molestation, two counts of aggravated sodomy, one count of rape, one count of aggravated sexual battery and four counts of child molestation 

 

District Attorney Lee Darragh said in a press release that Hall County Sheriff’s Office Investigators Richard Sinyard and Jerry Phillips investigated the case and determined that while Morales was living in Gainesville, he began to sexually abuse an eight-year-old girl, which continued until she was 10.

 

Previously, Morales had been charged in Michigan for similar crimes.

 

A woman, who was 15 in 2002, was the victim of attempted rape, and a man, who was 7 in 2007, was sodomized by the defendant. 

 

At the time, Morales entered guilty pleas to lesser charges in Michigan and received sentences of 2 years and 5 years respectively.

 

A four-day trial was presided over by Superior Court Chief Judge Kathlene Gosselin. Assistant District Attorneys Harold Buckler and Rachel Bennet tried the case for the State. The jury deliberated for approximately 2 hours.

 

Morales was sentenced by Judge Gosselin to life without the possibility of parole on the rape count, life to serve 25 on the aggravated child molestation and aggravated sodomy counts and 20 years to serve 19 on the child molestation counts. 

 

“The verdict of the jury and the sentence imposed by Judge Gosselin will ensure that this defendant will no longer be in any situation where he can torment child victims with sexual assault,”  Darragh said.