Dan Pruett will spend life in prison, with the possibility of parole, for his sexual and physical abuse of an infant in fall 2013, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Pruett entered an Alford Plea, admitting the evidence would prove him guilty but not admitting guilt, to felony charges of gross sexual imposition and aggravated assault from the November 2013 incident. Pruett is from Arizona but was living in Dickinson at the time of his arrest.
Pruett, 45, said at his sentencing at the Stark County Courthouse that because of drinking and huffing, he couldn’t recollect the night when he left a residence with a healthy infant who later was found nearly dead from physical trauma.
Southwest Judicial District Judge William Herauf said interviews with then-Dickinson police Det. Terry Oestreich contradict that. Oestreich, now the Stark County sheriff, testified that in the interviews, Pruett gave details of the assault.
Pruett will serve the life term for gross sexual imposition concurrently with a 10-year sentence on the aggravated assault charge.
ADVERTISEMENT
“It is lucky you’re not dealing with loss of life,” Herauf said.
