Man sentenced to life in prison for child molestation

COVINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) –A Kenton County judge has sentenced a man to life in prison, after he was convicted in a jury trial for sodomy and sexual abuse to a child under the age of 12.

Court officials say it took the jury ten minutes to return the sentence for 41-year-old Jeremy Breeden.

During a two-day trial which began April 24, 2019, Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders called only two witnesses for the prosecution: the child victim and the child’s mother.

Officials say that the child testified that almost one year ago, while spending the night at Breeden’s home in Bromley, Breeden entered a room where the child was laying in bed and began performing oral sex on the child. The child also testified that Breeden placed the child’s hand on his penis before climbing in the child’s bed and “tongue kissing” the child. The child testified the abuse was not initially disclosed to anyone. After a few weeks of not being able to get the thought of what happened out of the child’s mind, the child told the mother. The child also described to the mother a previous occasion when Breeden touched the child’s genitals with his fingers while claiming he was performing a “test” on the child.

Court officials say the child’s mother testified she confronted Breeden via text message immediately after learning of the abuse. The mother said Breeden denied the allegations repeatedly the first day, but the following day his words began to change. The mother saved her text messages and called the Park Hills Police Department. The investigation included photographing the text message conversation between Breeden and the child’s mother, which spanned from May 30, 2018 to June 4, 2018. S

In court, Breeden called no witnesses but took the stand in his own defense. Breeden said the prosecutor was taking his words out of context in some instances, and in others he was just saying whatever it took to appease the child’s mother, but was adamant the abuse never occurred. On cross examination, Sanders questioned Breeden about whether it was plausible to believe any man would apologize for molesting a child if no abuse ever took place and whether that tactic would realistically appease a child’s mother. The jury obviously did not believe Breeden’s explanation of his own words either.

Under Kentucky law, even life sentences are eligible for parole after twenty years. If Breeden is ever released, he must register as a sex offender and remain on parole for life.