Friday, April 26, 2024
A 59-year-old Hood County man will spend the rest of his life in prison for sexually abusing his stepgranddaughter.
Port Ridglea resident James Lee Erickson was found guilty and sentenced for continuous sexual abuse of his 6-year-old stepgranddaughter.
District Attorney Ryan Sinclair gave the following account:
Erickson lived with his stepdaughter, along with her 6-year-old daughter. Erickson’s stepdaughter worked nights, so Erickson would watch his stepgranddaughter during the day while his stepdaughter slept.
On Jan. 3, 2018, his stepdaughter was at home trying to sleep. But she could not fall asleep, so she stepped outside to clear her head.
When she came back inside, she could not find Erickson or her daughter. But she noticed that the door to Erickson’s room was closed. So she opened the door. She then observed Erickson sexually abusing her daughter.
Erickson’s stepdaughter then began screaming and called 911. The Hood County Sheriff’s Office responded to the residence, along with investigators from the Hood County District Attorney’s Child Exploitation Unit. Erickson was immediately taken into custody.
District attorney’s office investigator Katie Barton interrogated Erickson, and he confessed to sexually abusing his stepgranddaughter numerous times since October 2017.
Erickson was set for a jury trial on Monday, July 15. However, at docket call that morning Erickson decided to waive his right to a jury and instead chose to have his case decided by District Judge Ralph Walton.
Assistant District Attorney Tiffany Van Slyke and Sinclair presented the case to Walton. After hearing the evidence and closing arguments of the attorneys, Walton found Erickson guilty and sentenced him to life in prison. Erickson will not be eligible for parole.
“I am really glad that this wonderful little girl and her mom were able to get justice after suffering this horrible nightmare,” Sinclair said. “The kids in our community deserve to grow up happy, carefree and innocent. When someone does something like this to any child here in Hood County, they will be put in prison. Period.”
