Luke Sanchez of Pleasantville was sentenced to prison in a crowded Marion County Courtroom Thursday afternoon for sexual abuse of a child.

On September 19th, the 29-year-old pled guilty to two counts of lascivious acts with a child, which is a Class C Felony. On January 11th, a Pleasantville police officer was contacted by the Department of Human Services regarding an alleged case of sexual abuse that occurred on January 9th. It was alleged that a male, identified as Sanchez, had committed multiple sexual acts with a juvenile under the age of 14 at his residence in Pleasantville. 

At Thursday’s sentencing, Judge Murphy sentenced Sanchez to ten years in prison on each count, with the two sentences to run concurrently. Sanchez and his attorney asked for a deferred judgment or a suspended sentence and probation while the state asked for 20 years in prison. Judge Murphy stated he took into account the seriousness of the offense and Sanchez not taking full responsibility of his actions when determining the sentence. He also said he considered Sanchez’s lack of criminal history. Sanchez will have a lifetime special sentence, be required to register as a sex offender upon release, must complete the sex offender treatment program, and abide by a five year no contact order that was issued. Marion County Assistant Attorney Ross Gibson, who represented the state in this case, said sending offenders like Sanchez to prison holds him accountable and protects people in Marion County.

“It’s two fold. It’s protecting citizens going forward because you never want someone to reoffend or have additional victims, but it’s also holding them accountable for what they did in just this case as well. I would say it’s two part, holding them accountable for what they did, and then also concerns about protecting all citizens but young people who could be vulnerable or can’t self-protect themselves as well as others. We take crimes against kids seriously and hopefully a prison sentence will show how seriously we take that.”

There were victim impact statements read at the sentencing from the victim’s mother and a statement read on behalf of the victim.