Lacombe man convicted of 5-year-old girl'€™s rape

By Matthew Penix
St. Tammany News
Published on Monday, September 15, 2008 10:17 AM CDT



A 58-year-old Lacombe man was convicted Wednesday night of raping a 5-year-old girl.

John R. Crumholt, whose served 18 months in jail awaiting trial, will be sentenced to life in prison with hard labor, a mandatory punishment under Louisiana law, on Nov. 5.

The defendant, dressed in green khakis, white Velcro tennis shoes and a red long sleeve T-shirt, showed no emotion during closing arguments Wednesday as prosecutors argued he repeatedly attacked the girl between 2003 and 2007.

Prosecutor Ken Dohre argued Crumholt started showing the child videos of people “doing nasty stuff, bad videos, not OK videos,” until he fell to his desire to attack the girl, now 10.

“He picked her up, ordered her to take off her clothes. She’s 5 years old. She does what (he) says,” Dohre said. “(He) takes off his clothes. He picks her up and puts her on top of him.”

The incident came to light when a family member found the victim in the bathtub crying in early 2007.

The victim was rushed to a hospital, but doctors found no signs of penetration.

Prosecutors argued the time frame allowed any potential wounds to heal. Defense Attorney Buddy Spell countered, arguing there were no wounds because the story was fabricated.

Spell attacked the victim’s timeline of events, saying she changed her story more than a dozen times during recounts of the rape.

At first she claimed the attack occurred a week after her hospital visit. Another time she said it was a month later, he said.

“The state (prosecutors) says to ignore this. The fact we cannot nail down the time for you, who cares. Convict him anyways,” Spell told jurors, lambasting the prosecution’s case.


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