Man admits to sex with minor

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A 28-year-old man admitted to engaging in unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and gross sexual imposition Monday and was sentenced to three years in prison by Fayette County Court of Common Pleas Judge Steven Beathard.

David E. Payton, of Peabody Avenue, Washington C.H., appeared in court last week to plea on those charges. During the hearing, Payton told Beathard that it wasn’t him who committed the offenses—it was a friend, and one who was threatening his “whole family.”

Beathard set the case for trial next week but Payton appeared Monday in shackles, saying he had had a change of heart over the weekend and asked the judge to accept his guilty plea.

“What you basically told me last week was that you lied to me on the record,” said Beathard.

Payton said that he lied because he was scared.

Beathard imposed the three-year prison sentence, which had been negotiated and jointly-recommended from Payton and his attorney Kathryn Hapner with the state of Ohio and the Fayette County Prosecutor’s Office.

According to the Fayette County Prosecutor’s Office, a 15-year-old minor was watching the demolition derby at the Fayette County Fair in 2015 when Payton sat down beside her and put his hands down the front of her pants. 

Payton will be required to register as a Tier II sex offender.

By Ashley Bunton

[email protected]

Reach Ashley at the Record-Herald (740) 313-0355 or on Twitter @ashbunton

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