Oct. 11—A 48-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday to a maximum of 45 years in prison for the sexual abuse of a minor over four years.
Joshua Don Kincaid, of Beckley, pleaded guilty in Raleigh County Circuit Court to one count of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of sexual abuse by parent, guardian or person in a position of trust.
Kincaid entered a Kennedy plea to the charges. A Kennedy plea allows a defendant to concede to a charge without admitting guilt.
He was sentenced to five to 25 years for the first-degree sexual abuse charge and 10-20 years for the sexual abuse by parent charge.
As part of the plea, those sentences will run consecutively, which means Kincaid will serve a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 45 years.
He will also be required to register as a sex offender for life and undergo 50 years of court supervision when released.
According to information presented by Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney Ben Hatfield during the plea hearing, the West Virginia State Police received a child sexual assault complaint on Kincaid in September 2022.
In investigating that complaint, Hatfield said a state trooper interviewed the victim’s biological mother, who had recorded Kincaid admitting to the sexual abuse.
In this recording, Hatfield said Kincaid blamed the victim, who was 10 years old at the time, and stated that the victim had requested the contact from Kincaid that was sexual in nature.
Hatfield said the victim was sexually assaulted or abused approximately 150 times between September 2018 and August 2022.
When the abuse started, Hatfield said the victim was 6.
Hatfield said he considered the victim’s age when offering a plea deal to Kincaid.
“When she started being abused, she was 6. When it stopped, she was 10. She’s 10 now, so to put a 10-year-old on the stand, to have to not only testify as to that stuff, and tell that story again, but have to be subjected to cross-examination by defense counsel … that’s tough on adults. It’s traumatizing for a 10-year-old, but it’s what’s required,” Hatfield said. “So if I can keep kids off the stand, all the while getting justice for them, that’s the optimum result, and I think we were able to achieve it in this case.”
Kincaid was initially indicated in May 2023 on 125 counts of first-degree sexual assault, 25 counts of first-degree sexual abuse and 149 counts of sexual abuse by parent, guardian or person in a position of trust.
Email: jmoore@register-herald.com