Man accused of molesting girl sentenced after guilty plea

LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. — A 63-year-old Lancaster man will be 88 years old when he gets out of prison. Dennis Rutledge plead guilty Tuesday to molesting a 10-year-old girl at his home. Prosecutors said it happened at least half a dozen times in 2013, but Rutledge pled guilty to one count and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Rutledge was music director for 42 years at Camp Creek Baptist Church outside Lancaster. That's where he met the young girls, whose grandmother took them to church.

Prosecutors said he began spending time with them, and taking them everywhere, alone.  He even had a key to the family's home.

"He would pick them up, take them to his house, and take them to the store, and he would be unsupervised with them for hours every day," said assistant solicitor Andy Cook.

Rutledge had a TV repair shop in a building behind his home on John Everall Road. That's where the incidents occurred, sheriff's investigators said. On Tuesday prosecutors said Rutledge played a game he called "the wife game" with the 10-year-old victim, where they would lay on a blanket together in his shop. He touched her inappropriately, and also exposed himself to her. She was too afraid to tell anyone for nearly a year.

Cook said Rutledge had that kind of access to children because he relied on his good reputation in the community.

"There were no red flags about him being with these kids. He used that persona, to trick
everyone," Cook said.

Rutledge's lawyer Mark Grier told the court that he had no prior record, and quickly confessed to his crimes.

"He's a good man, who did a bad thing," Grier said.

However, Cook said it was more calculated than that, because it happened to two children, and it happened more than once.

"It was clear from day one that these girls were vulnerable, and he had free rein to do whatever he wanted with them," he said.

The young victims told solicitor Randy Newman that they would testify in a trial, but he wanted to do everything possible to spare them and their families that hardship.

Just hours before his trial was going to begin, Rutledge decided to plead guilty. He faced a possible life sentence if a jury had found him guilty. Due to his age, the 25 years he received is essentially a life sentence.

On Monday, Rutledge plead to another sex charge, criminal sexual conduct with a minor third-degree, involving the 8-year-old child.  He was sentenced to 13 years in prison. That was raised to 25 years during Tuesday's plea.  

Rutledge did not apologize or make any comment in court.

Read our past coverage of this story:

• Deputies: 62-year-old man arrested, accused of molesting children
• Arrest warrants detail alleged sex abuse by former church leader

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