A 76-year-old Mountain Home man pled guilty to charges of sexual assault, sexual indecency with a child, sexual contacts with minors, violating a no contact order and sexual grooming of a child in Baxter and Marion County cases during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
David E. White Sr. was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender.
White’s bond was recently revoked after he was alleged to have attempted to contact one of the victims by way of a Facebook Friend’s request on April 15. The conditions of his bond prohibit contact with the victim or with any individual under 18-years-of-age.
Following an investigation into the contact, White was arrested and his $150,000 bond revoked. He was an inmate in the Baxter County Detention Center at the time of his plea.
At one point, White’s 42-year-old son was also facing similar charges, but his cases were dismissed and closed after the 14th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney’s office received confirmation that the younger White died April 22.
Earlier, the court ordered a psychological evaluation for David White Sr. to determine his fitness to proceed in the case against him and to determine if he can be held criminally responsible for his acts.
After psychological evaluations were ordered, all activity in the elder White’s initial case stopped until reports on the evaluations could be received.
Those reports were returned April 4, but results of the evaluation have been sealed by the court.
If a case continues beyond receipt of the reports, it can be assumed the person was found fit and could be held responsible for his acts.
White’s cases are difficult to follow since much of the information, such as that contained in the probable cause affidavits, has also been sealed by the courts.
In one set of charges filed against the elder White, the violation date was listed as June 4, 2007.
When the charges were being filed, a spokesman for the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office indicated the offenses in the elder White’s case had allegedly occurred over a multiple year period.
In addition to the criminal charges, several domestic relations cases have also been opened on the elder White dealing with divorce and petitions for orders of protection.
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