Man gets 12-year prison sentence for molesting girl

A man arrested in 2021 for molesting a child he knew in Cherokee County was sentenced to 12 years in prison, officials said.

Lomack Deamonte Pridgen, 23, entered a guilty plea in June for the charges of aggravated child molestation, aggravated sexual battery and child molestation. The District Attorney’s Office announced Friday that he was sentenced to life on probation, with the first 12 years to be served in prison without the possibility of parole. He will then have to register as a sex offender.

The Cherokee sheriff’s office arrested Pridgen in September 2021 and charged him with sexual abuse of a child under the age of 16. The child told her parents about the abuse and they reported the incident to law enforcement. Authorities did not say when the abuse took place.

“This sexual predator took advantage of an innocent little girl, subjecting her to his sick perversions when no one was around to stop him,” District Attorney Shannon Wallace said. “It took real courage for her to tell her mother what happened and to stay strong throughout this process.”

After Pridgen is released from prison, he is prohibited from contacting the victim or her family, and must adhere to sex offender special conditions while serving life on probation.

“The defendant is someone known to the child, which made the prosecution of this case more difficult for everyone involved,” said Assistant District Attorney Leyna Pope, who prosecuted the case on behalf of the state. “This negotiated plea enables the family to have closure, without the victim having to undergo the trauma of a trial.”