Trigger Warning: Child Sexual Abuse
Man Convicted of Taking Indecent Liberties with Young Norfolk Child
NORFOLK, Va. – On Monday, 60-year-old Keith Marquette Todd was convicted in Norfolk Circuit Court of taking indecent liberties with a 5-year-old child this summer.
On Aug. 11, Norfolk Police Special Crimes detectives responded to a sexual assault report at an apartment in the Lamberts Point area. The mother of the young victim told investigators that, while she stepped outside momentarily for a phone call, Mr. Todd had led the child to a hallway bathroom, undressed, told the child to touch him, and tried to sit the victim on his lap. The child later told the mother that they tried to scream, but no one was within earshot. When Mr. Todd and the child returned to the apartment, the mother had already returned from outside and asked where Mr. Todd took the child. Mr. Todd then told the mother that he and the child had been inside the bathroom and told the child in front of the mother, “This is why you don’t go to the bathroom with strangers.”
On Nov. 27, Mr. Todd pleaded no contest, pursuant to the rule in North Carolina v. Alford, to taking indecent liberties with a child under age 15, and Judge Everett A. Martin Jr. found him guilty. In an Alford plea, a defendant maintains his innocence but admits that the evidence would be sufficient to convict if the case had gone to trial. Mr. Todd is docketed for sentencing on Jan. 26.
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Keith M. Proctor is prosecuting Mr. Todd’s case on behalf of the Commonwealth, and Norfolk Police Detective LaRue D. Wilkins led the investigation.
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