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Judge sends message sentencing man who raped 5-year-old child to life in prison

Canton Repository - 6/21/2021

CANTON – A Stark County man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for sexually abusing a 5-year-old.

A Stark County Common Pleas Court jury last week convicted of Michael Allen Williams, 29, of Canton, of one count of rape.

The abuse took place May 2018 through January 2019, according to court records filed in the case.

Judge Frank Forchione handed down a maximum sentence for Williams' "cruel and gruesome crimes," Forchione said.

The victim and her family attended Monday's sentencing hearing.

Forchione stepped down from the bench to speak directly with the child, making sure she understood that Williams had been found guilty and that he was going to sentence him, adding if she wanted to talk to Williams she could.

After conferring with her family, the child declined to speak.

The defendant’s mother, Lisa Williams, asked the judge to have mercy on her son, with whom she and her husband brought into their home at age 12.

Williams said she was "proud of the man he had become and was a hard worker with a strong work ethic, working many hours and long days to provide for his family," she said.

She went on to say her son did not plead guilty because he is adamant that he did commit the acts.

"The only way I can protect this young lady for the rest of her life and rest of society is to make sure every year you hear nothing but the clanging of jail cells," Forchione said.

"There's too much of this child abuse, rape, gross sexual imposition going on in this community and I hope people have learned that I am a judge that doesn't want to put up with this and will put a stop to it."

Reach Cassandra Nist at cnist@gannett.com; 330.418.5297; Twitter @Cassienist

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Judge sends message sentencing man who raped 5-year-old child to life in prison

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