A 15-year-old boy who pleaded guilty to the rape of a 91-year-old woman was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison for burglary and sexual battery.
Jesse Stone will also receive 30 years of sex offender probation and must register as a sex offender and enroll in anger management classes.
He was 14 at the time of the crime.
The incident occurred in the small town of Reddick in Marion County. Deputies said Stone knew his victim as he mowed the lawn for her.
On the night of the attack, he entered her house through an unlocked door, went to her bedroom, put a pillow over her face, and beat her head with his fist as she fought back.
Stone's grandmother told the judge that his mother left him when he was only five years old.
She said that during most of the years she took care of him, Jesse was good, but she saw anger starting to bubble up inside him.
"His actions are egregious," said Stone's attorney, who asked the judge to show mercy, citing Jesse's troubled life and young age.
Stone's grandmother also revealed that he had been watching pornography, including content involving elderly adults, just before the attack. State prosecutors confirmed this information.
Video obtained by WESH 2 News shows what deputies said: Stone running away just minutes after the 91-year-old woman was raped.
His grandmother ultimately urged him to fess up to the crime.
“Something spooked him. He ran out. She locked the door, and then she called us,” said one deputy while on the scene in June.
Deputies arrested Stone a week later after processing evidence from a lab in-house at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. It expedited the process, quickly leading them to the arrest.
“It's a very meticulous, tedious process, but a lot of agencies don't have that resource. A lot of their DNA is sent off, and the results take a long time. We don't want that. We don't want time with this person out there to potentially attack another victim,” said Marion County Lt. Paul Bloom on June 18, 2024.
WESH 2 New obtained audio of Jesse Stone’s grandmother speaking with him, urging him to confess.
“I can’t imagine why you would do that. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around it for the last hour,” she said.
WESH 2 isn’t identifying her because she wasn’t charged with any crime.
“She [the victim] didn’t deserve that,” she said. “I think you understand that. Right?” Stone replied, “Yep.”
In November, Stone ultimately pleaded guilty in this case, admitting to the crime that made national headlines in Reddick, a town of about 500 people.
The next step in Jesse's fate is the decision on whether to place him in a facility with people his own age or in prison with convicted adult felons.
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