RUSTBURG — A Lynchburg man is facing two dozen charges he molested a child after a grand jury meeting in Campbell County on Monday.
Joseph Charles Russell, 26, of Nelson Street was arrested on June 2 and initially charged with two counts of forcible sodomy of a child under the age of 13.
According to Campbell County Circuit Court records, Russell is now set for trial in January on a total of 24 counts, one for each month between January 2007 and December 2008.
Capt. L.T. Guthrie of the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office said in June that the child reported the abuse to an adult, which sparked the investigation. Russell has been jailed without bond since then, he said
“The additional charges are part and parcel of that investigation,” Guthrie said. “They are representative of the time span. It had been an ongoing situation.”
Russell is scheduled for trial on Jan. 21. If convicted, forcible sodomy carries a penalty of five years to life in prison.
In cases like this one, where the defendant is more than three years older than the victim, the law also requires the judge to impose a 40-year suspended sentence subject to revocation for the life of the defendant if he is found guilty.
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