Parolee sexually assaulted girl at Franklin County motel and forced her to eat meth, police say

Jan. 03--WASHINGTON, Mo. -- A man sexually assaulted an 8-year-old girl in a motel room here and forced her to eat methamphetamine and smoke pot, authorities said Wednesday.

Franklin County prosecutors on Tuesday charged Brett Pendleton, 48, of Union, with sodomy and endangering the welfare of a child. He is being held in the Franklin County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

The abuse was discovered after the girl told her mother what had happened and was taken to a hospital, police said. Workers there called police. Washington Police Det. Sgt. Steve Sitzes said the girl was treated and released.

Sitzes said the girl was a relative of Pendleton who had permission from her mother to visit with him. He took the girl at first to his girlfriend's home in Union, then left for the motel. Sitzes said the girl had been in contact with her mom through text messages, but when the communication stopped the mother grew worried and went to find the girl. She found Pendleton's vehicle outside the motel and went to the door.

The girl motioned to her mother to go into the bathroom to talk privately, police say. The girl then showed her body to her mother and said she was afraid Pendleton had hurt her, police say. She told her mom that Pendleton made her engage in sexual acts and made her eat methamphetamine, smoke marijuana and smoke cigarettes. Police say Pendleton rolled the methamphetamine in toilet paper and fed it to the girl.

"As you can imagine an 8-year-old on meth, not a sight you see every day," Sitzes said. "She was very fidgety, very amped up."

Pendleton had been alone with the girl about six or eight hours, police say.

Police went to the motel after speaking to the mother and encountered Pendleton as he drove away. They stopped his vehicle and arrested him for driving with a suspended license, police say. Police got a search warrant for his car and the motel room. They say they found evidence that corroborates the girl's account. During an interrogation, police say, Pendleton confessed to sexual acts with the child.

Pendleton was on parole for manufacturing meth.

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