Gainesville senior living executive pleads to child abuse

Oct. 14—The former director of a Gainesville senior living facility has been convicted of child abuse and sentenced to time-served in jail and five years' probation.

Jeffery Cronkrite, 59, of Ocala, pleaded no contest to the charge in a plea agreement. He was initially charged with sexual battery of a child under 12.

Cronkrite was director of Windsor of Gainesville senior living facility at the time of his arrest in 2019.

Initially Cronkrite was charged with car burglary in September 2019 by the Alachua County Sheriff's Office. That charge was later dropped under a pre-trial intervention agreement.

In October 2019, Cronkrite was arrested on a Marion County charge of sexual battery on a child.

Cronkrite on Monday pleaded no contest to child abuse in an agreement with the Fifth Circuit State Attorney's Office.

In addition to the probation period, Cronkrite must complete a sex offender treatment program, complete a mental health evaluation and provide a sample of his DNA to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

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