Courts & Crime
Man, mother sentenced to life for prostituting girl, 5
A Wichita woman convicted of prostituting her small daughter to a neighbor received a life prison sentence Thursday.
So did the man charged with paying for sex with the child.
The only difference from Sedgwick County Judge Greg Waller, who handed out the sentences, is that Reggie Stafford received three consecutive life sentences for repeatedly raping the girl, who was between 5 and 6 years old at the time.
That means Stafford, 52, will die in prison. He won't be eligible for parole for 75 years.
Prosecutor Marc Bennett acknowledged that may seem excessive. But he implored Waller to consider what the girl endured.
"And what is an adequate sentence for what he put this child through?" Bennett asked the judge.
The mother and Stafford were each convicted of two counts of rape and one of aggravated criminal sodomy. The mother was convicted of aiding and abetting the sex crimes.
During a trial in August, the girl testified that her mother would take her to Stafford's house, near where they lived in the Planeview neighborhood, and he would have sex with the young girl.
The mother, who is not being named to protect the identity of the girl, was also convicted of aggravated endangerment of a child.
Both Stafford and the mother had asked for lesser sentences.
The mother, through her lawyer, said she had acted as a result of lifelong abuse herself and acute alcoholism.
Read the complete story at kansas.com
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