Jerry Len Brown, 40, of 791 Early James Road in Lexington, and Moses Lee Leonard Jr., 30, of the same address, are charged with one count of first degree sex offense with a child for an incident that allegedly happened between Sept. 1 and Sept. 21 at the girl’s home.
“They were acquaintances of the mom,” Sheriff David Grice said of the suspects. “It wasn’t just a random act. I don’t know, it seems like there’s more of this stuff than there used to be when I first started. I think they think these kids won’t tell or they’re just easy victims. It’s not murder, but first degree sex offense is way on up there.”
The mother called DCSO on Sept. 24 regarding the assault and started receiving threats four days later from a friend of the suspects. Derrick Cause Owens, 27, of 165 End of Road Drive, was arrested on Tuesday as well and charged with one count of intimidating a witness. Grice said that Owens threatened the girl’s mother that if she testified in court against the two suspects he would inflict harm against her. Owens was issued a $5,000 secured bond following his arrest and is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 9.
Capt. Tony Roberson said the two initial suspects did not have a history of committing sexual assault and they were not registered sex offenders. Out of protection for the victim, DCSO is not releasing the girl’s address.
“The more we get the more tired we are of seeing this kind of thing,” Roberson said. “How anyone could do any crime of any kind of nature like this is unspeakable. When we do these cases, our intentions are to take them to court and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. When you have a child that age it hits close to home.”
Brown and Leonard are being held in Davidson County Jail and have been issued $100,000 secured bonds. Both are scheduled to appear in Lexington District Court on Nov. 9.
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 888-3578, or at duke@tvilletimes.com.
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