Kenneth Hart/The Independent
Greenup — The last of three defendants in a Greenup County sex abuse case is scheduled to be sentenced today.
Buford Henderson, 41, of South Shore, will be sentenced at 1 p.m. by Greenup Circuit Judge Bob Conley.
Henderson pleaded guilty in January to two counts of first-degree criminal abuse. He had originally been charged with first-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse.
The charges stemmed from Henderson engaging in sexual acts with his former girlfriend’s children. The girlfriend, Christina Craft, also known as Christina St. Claire, was convicted in May of rape and sodomy for sexually abusing her daughters and for allowing Henderson and another former boyfriend, Dustin Wood, 23, to do so.
In pleading guilty to the reduced charges, Henderson agreed to accept a five-year prison sentence on each count, with the terms to run consecutively, Greenup Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Maridell Malone said.
Under state sentencing guidelines, Henderson will be eligible for parole after he has served 20 percent, or two years, of his sentence. Malone said Henderson has some credit for time already spent in custody, but she wasn’t sure how much.
Wood pleaded guilty in November to two counts of first-degree sexual abuse and was sentenced to five years on each count, with the terms to run consecutively.
However, under the terms of his plea agreement, Wood was released from custody and placed on probation after spending 15 months behind bars. He had credit for 399 days served at the time of his sentencing.
Craft, 31, of South Shore, was sentenced to 20 years. She is serving her sentence at the Otter Creek Correctional Center at Wheelwright, according to the Kentucky Online Offender Lookup System.
In convicting Craft, jurors found she made her daughters, who were 5 and 6 at the time of the abuse, perform sexual acts on her and threatened to punish them if they did not do likewise to Henderson and Wood.
Craft’s attorneys maintained the girls were coerced into making false allegations against their mother by their paternal grandparents, with whom they were placed after the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services removed them from Craft’s home because of her refusal to end her relationship with Henderson.
Craft and Wood dated during a period in which she and Henderson were not together, according to testimony.
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.
