A 40-year-old Jackson County man will spend the remainder of his life behind bars for the repeated sexual assault of two young girls, District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch said today. Following a jury verdict and prior to sentencing, Kenneth David Groat admitted to committing the crimes he had been charged with. They were: Three counts of statutory rape. Three counts of indecent liberties. One count statutory sexual offense. One count attempted first-degree kidnapping. In May 2020 while out on bond, Groat began texting one of the victims. When law enforcement officers arrested him, they found in his car items such as duct tape, pepper spray, a knife, a pistol and ammunition, two ponchos, and two containers filled with a total of 10 gallons of gasoline. Groat had threatened to kidnap the victim if she told authorities about the abuse. Many of the jurors remained in the courtroom after rendering their guilty verdicts. Several went to and embraced one of the victims following sentencing (the other victim wasn’t in the courtroom at the time).
