Sex charges dropped against Suffolk man

Published 12:00 am Friday, June 10, 2005

A Suffolk man will not serve additional jail time on sex-related offenses against two juvenile family members.

On Thursday, Leon Norman Riddick of Suffolk entered an Alford plea to two misdemeanor charges of sexual battery in Suffolk Circuit Court.

Riddick was not admitting guilt by taking the Alford plea. Rather, he was acknowledging that sufficient evidence exists with which the prosecution could have convinced a judge or jury to find him guilty.

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Riddick could have received a maximum sentence of 12 months on each charge. However, in accepting the plea, Judge Carl E. Eason suspended the sentences to time served.

Riddick is also on probation for five years and ordered to attend a sex offender treatment program.

As part of the deal, prosecutors dropped six charges against Riddick, including one count of attempted sodomy, two counts of sodomy, one count of aggravated sexual battery, one count of forcible sodomy and one count of attempted forcible sodomy.

The incidents allegedly happened from June 1999 and May 2001, when Riddick-then a juvenile-and the other children were living with a family member in Suffolk.

The proposal was met with support of the victims’ mother, said Georgina Phillips, special prosecutor from Isle of Wight County. She was called in due to a conflict of interest with the Suffolk Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.

allison.williams@suffolknewsherald.com