A 21-year-old Jackson County man who recently pleaded guilty to a Level 3 felony count of child molesting received a six-year prison sentence Tuesday in Jackson Circuit Court in Brownstown.

Garrett M. Minton of Seymour received that term from Jackson Circuit Court Judge Richard W. Poynter. Minton, who also received five days of credit and one day of good time credit, was ordered to serve the entire 2,190-day sentence by the judge.

Poynter granted the state’s oral request to dismiss seven additional counts of child molesting and a Class A misdemeanor count of intimidation.

Minton’s arrest stems from an investigation that started Dec. 1, 2021, when the Seymour Police Department received a report from the Indiana Department of Child Services, according to a news release from Lt. C.J. Foster at that time.

The sexual assaults, which occurred over a period of six to seven years, began when the two were juveniles and continued until Minton was 19, Foster said. The victim was still a juvenile when the sexual assaults stopped.

During the investigation, officers conducted a forensic interview with the female at Susie’s Place Child Advocacy Center in Bloomington and later interviewed Minton, who admitted to sexually assaulting the victim over the time period mentioned, Foster said.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Mark Hollingsworth said with the complexity of the case regarding age jurisdiction among the courts, he was able to get a conviction on an incident of child molesting that Minton committed when he was 18.

Because Minton took the plea agreement, filed Jan. 4, for the one count of child molesting that occurred when he was 18, the other seven counts of child molesting were dismissed.

This allowed for the one count of child molesting to be the “lead” charge for the sentence, Hollingsworth said.

Hollingsworth said in this case, the adult courts did not have jurisdiction over the conduct that occurred while the two were juveniles, and the state was only able to convict Minton on what he committed while he was 18.

In this case, the charges occurred during many time frames, and the plea to one count eliminates the overlapping of time frames and legal complications among the courts, Hollingsworth said.

Hollingsworth said Minton, however, was given the maximum sentence for the Level 3 felony charge.

The victim and defendant’s families were in attendance as the victim gave their impact statement during the hearing before Minton was sentenced, Hollingsworth said.

Minton will now be sent to the Indiana Department of Correction, where the Reception Diagnostic Center will determine the right facility for the defendant to serve his time.