HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — A Boonsboro man faces up to 55 years in prison after a jury convicted him of sexually abusing a 5-year-old Tennessee girl whose mother he met online.
The Herald-Mail reports that Gerald Hubbard, 68, was convicted Thursday of sex abuse of a minor and second- and third-degree sex offense. No sentencing date was set.
Hubbard denied having molested the girl while she and her mother were living in a camper van on his property in 2007 and 2008. His lawyer says Hubbard was trying to help them escape an abusive family relationship.
He was charged in 2010 after the girl revealed the abuse to a therapist.
Her mother pleaded guilty last year to second-degree child abuse. She testified against Hubbard but said she never saw him
abuse her daughter.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
