An Arkansas man who pleaded guilty Monday to the 2015 sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl was sentenced to four months in jail and fined $2,500, the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record reported.
Scott Dewayne Brookshire, 50, of Mountain Pine pleaded guilty to a felony count of second-degree sexual assault in Garland County Circuit Court.
He was sentenced to 120 days in jail and six years of probation and ordered to pay $2,500 as well as $670 in court costs, the paper reported. An order of protection was also issued preventing Brookshire from having any additional contact with the victim.
The victim's family reached the plea deal so the girl would not have to testify, according to the Sentinel-Record.
"There is always a concern putting a child that young on the witness stand and her having to talk about something she has probably tried to forget about since then. Bringing all that back up again," Chief Deputy Prosecutor Joe Graham told the paper.
According to an arrest affidavit, a report was filed with the Child Abuse Hotline on July 13, 2015, that stated the girl told her mother that Brookshire had made sexual contact with her.
The girl's parents reportedly confronted Brookshire who sent text messages to the father asking "for forgiveness and clarity."
Brookshire was arrested Aug. 19, 2015, and bonded out the same day, the paper reported.
Once he is released from jail, he is required to register as a sex offender.
