COVINGTON, Ky. — A Kenton County jury convicted a man Thursday who sexually abused a child last year and recommended the maximum possible sentence of life plus 20 years in prison.
The child victim testified about how Jeremy C. Breeden, 41, entered the room where the child was sleeping for the night at Breeden's Bromley home and abused the child, according to a news release from the Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.
After a few weeks of not being able to get what happened out of the child's head, the child told the mother, who confronted Breeden via text message, according to their testimony.
Those texts became key evidence in the case, which Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders presenting them to the jury during the trial. Breeden made incriminating references about apologizing to the child, healing the child and rebuilding the child's trust, authorities said. Breeden claimed that his words were taken out of context.
Jurors deliberated for slightly more than an hour before finding Breeden guilty of sodomy and two counts of sexual abuse against a child under age 12.
"Jeremy Breeden's own attempts to talk the child's mother out of calling the police ultimately secured his conviction," Sanders said. "The defendant smugly thought his words would convince this mother not to turn him in, but he thought very wrong because she was a ferocious advocate for her baby as every good mother should be."
Formal sentencing is scheduled for next month. If Breeden is every released from prison, he will have to register as a sex offender and remain on parole for life.
