Colorado Sex Offender to Be Released in 5197 after 3,180-year Sentence

Garland Root. (Colorado Bureau of Investigation)

A registered sex offender from Florence, Colorado, will spend the rest of his life in prison after a Fremont County judge sentenced him to 3,180 years in prison for multiple counts of sexual assault on a child.

Garland Root Sr., 65, pleaded guilty in July to 53 counts, including for sexual assault on a child by a person of trust, sexual assault on a child to form a pattern of abuse, sexual exploitation of a child, invasion of privacy for sexual gratification, and promotion of obscenity to a minor, according to The Canon City Daily Record.

He was arrested in March after one of his victims, a 13-year-old girl, came forward. She said the abuse had been going on for about a year, and that it started when she was as young as 11 or 12, the Daily Record reported.

Fremont County Court. (Screenshot via Google Maps)

Evidence was recovered in February that Root had recorded his sexual encounters with the girl, and police uncovered other images and videos on a hard drive and flash drive of his of child pornography. Some appeared to be taken by Root and others appeared to be produced commercially.

Root had been convicted three times, including once in 1984 for “lewd and lascivious acts,” and admitted he had been to prison twice for a total of seven years for touching children younger than 14 years old.

It also came out in court in July, the Daily Record reports, that there was more than one victim.

On Monday, Dec.4, he also was sentenced to two years in jail for one of the counts, with 277 days credit for time he already served.

Several of the counts include 20 years of mandatory parole.

The long sentence means Root would be eligible for release starting in 5197.

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From NTD.tv