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Man Pleads No Contest In Underage Abuse Case
April 12, 2012
A 48-year old Cantonment man that was accused of molesting a high school student in an off-campus incident has been sentenced to probation on a child abuse charge.
Marcus Eugene Stone was originally charged in December 2011 with lewd or lascivious behavior with a victim age 12-16 and a sex offense against a child over 12. In court this week, those charges were dropped as Stone pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of child abuse.
Judge Terry Terrell withheld adjudication and placed Stone on probation for three years. Stone will be required to successfully complete a sex offender course, and he was ordered to have no contact with the female victim.
Stone was arrested after a juvenile female told investigators that Stone would routinely enter her room and give her back massages in order to wake her up each morning for school. On the morning of her report, said told investigators that back massage progressed with Stone inappropriately touching her.
Comments
15 Responses to “Man Pleads No Contest In Underage Abuse Case”
canman-I AGREE OUR JUDICIAL SYSTEM IS BROKEN AND IF YOUVE EVER BEEN CHARGED WITH A CRIME EVEN WHEN YOU DIDNT DO IT YOU CANT TRUST A JURY OF YOUR PEERS BECAUSE MOST OF THEM ARE IGNORANT AND THINK YOU ARE GUILTY JUST BECAUSE YOUVE BEEN CHARGED THE SYSTEM RAILROADS PEOPLE EVERYDAY SO WHY TAKE A CHANCE WITH IGNORANT PEOPLE ON A JURY YALL ARE RIGHT THE SYSTEM IS A JOKE. KEEP YOUR HEAD HIGH MARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Re: David
Mark Stone has been arrested for several things including domestic violence and yes he did escape conviction by taking pre-trial diversion.
Re: To all Naysayers
One can go to church 7 days a week, work with youth, coach Little League and numerous other things but that does not make them a good person. I am aware that we are not his Judge but you are not the child’s Judge either. To say we should not judge Mark would be to say that we should judge the child. I have known several people that went to prison for things that I still can not comprehend them doing. Ones good works will not get you into Heaven just as going to church will not get you into Heaven. I have known Mark for years also and have seen a side to him that I am sure he has not let many people see. I also know the victim personally and she is a good girl with a very bright future. I think that everyone should stop judging this situation and pray for everyone involved.
Why in the world would an innocent man plead no contest to false accusations, especially being the God-fearing man his friends claim that he is? Surely such a one would know that God would vindicate him and in the end the truth would prevail. I have a feeling that he very well knows ,if not all is true, something inappropiate took place and taking it to trial would uncover some skeletons he’d rather keep in the closet! I’d hardly think his friends would look at it through rose colored glasses if it involved their child, a relative or a friend.
REGARDING:
“First of all, “No contest” is not an admission of guilt. Secondly, if you know Mark Stone, you KNOW he did not do this. And finally, we are not Mark’s judge. Even if you believe for some reason that he is guilty….or have doubts or questions one way or the other….this is between Mark and God.”
That’s not how the court looks at it:
” CRUELTY TOWARD CHILD ABUSE WITHOUT GREAT HARM PLED NOLO OR GUILTY 04/11/2012″
You can say it isn’t an admission of guilt, but legally it is.
“Before accepting the guilty or no contest plea, the judge will question the client to make sure that he understands his rights; there was no improper pressure to accept the plea; the client knows what he is doing; he voluntarily agrees to the plea, and evidence in the case supports a finding of guilt.”
I’m sure he’s a wonderful person, but somebody with the same name and age has had a number of run-ins with the law over domestic violence and minor crimes, only avoiding possibility of conviction by taking pre-trial diversion back in 2004. This at least implies a contempt for law and its protection of others, not unlike yours,
Still, if you really believe such actions are only between him and God, then you must believe nobody else was involved, that the child doesn‘t exist. Further, you would have to believe we should have no laws, no law enforcement officers, no judges, just the Lord.
As an alternative, perhaps: I regret what he did and hope he repents before the Final Judgment.
David for not hurting others
if possible
Our Justice System is Ridiculous!!! I agree with JT, What’s wrong with this World today? Start stoning these people like back in the old days, WE NEED harsher punishment, that’s why these SICKO’s get away with it!!!!!!!!!!!
First of all, “No contest” is not an admission of guilt. Secondly, if you know Mark Stone, you KNOW he did not do this. And finally, we are not Mark’s judge. Even if you believe for some reason that he is guilty….or have doubts or questions one way or the other….this is between Mark and God. God is more than capable of not only KNOWING the facts, but also handling this man’s punishment if necessary. Mark, keep doing what you’re doing, my brother….giving it to God and letting Him fight for you. Although all of this will never just disappear, it does seem like the nightmare is almost over this way….your friends support your decision.
i have known mr. stone for 23 years , not once has it ever struck me he would be accused of such a charge. he is a great man!!!! still to me . he loves the lord and the lord loves him . no man is great or perfect but one, jesus christ !!!!!!! stone the lord know’s the truth my friend and he shall set you free and damn the sinners for eternity!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
p.s your still my friend and i no your a good man !!!
REGARDING:
“we all know crimes are not down”
What we all know is not always what is correct.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics
http://www.bjs.gov/ucrdata/Search/Crime/State/RunCrimeStatebyState.cfm
total violent crime hit a high in Florida in 1993 and has dropped ever since except for 2000 and 2001. It is now less than 62% of that high despite an increase in population of more than 37%.
No matter how it looks and no matte how bad individual crimes are, things in general are getting better.
David considering false certainties
JT;
Now that is the truth in black & white! How sad it is!
Yeah, something seriously wrong here when you go to jail longer, for not paying taxes than killing someone. This is the SICK truth.
Welcome to the United States of America, land of the freedom-for criminals.
All the criminals from all over the world come to the US because we have no justice system here. We may as well say – Do what you want, kill someone, rob, sell your drugs, whatever you want. If we catch you we’ll set you up in a nice room, with color tv, feed you 3 times a day, give you a gym membership for free and all the free education you want too.
Then we’ll let you go back out and see what kind of mayhem you can cause next to come back to our accommodating hotel. WHAT A JOKE WE ARE!!!!
A rundown of the sentencing from recent Escambia cases:
Cop shoving a resisting prisoner down at the jail…..10 days in Jail
Kill someone in Escambia…..10-15 years
Shoot someone in Escambia……5-10 years
Aggravated assault in Escambia…..probation-5 years
Rob someone in Escambia……1-5 years
Fail to pay your taxes in Escambia 20-40 years
Fraud in Escambia 20-40 years
Burglary of an unoccupied dwelling 20-30 years
Manufacturing meth in your north end trailer…….probation
Molest a kid in Escambia……0-probation
Whats wrong with this picture.
Escambia County Justice System FAIL.
Surprise, surprise! Another sex offender gets off with probation. The same EXACT thing happened in our case. He plead guilty to felony child abuse had to attend ONE sex offender class and got 1 year of probation. BUT if he’s good for the first 6 months, his probation is dropped altogether. He does not have o register either. We had no choice in the matter. We weren’t asked if we agreed to this..it was all done behind our backs by the prosecutor. In our case-there were 3 known victims and we all testified…for what??? There is something wrong with our so called judicial system. The only ones that get what they want is the sex offender. Our system is a joke! I will NEVER trust it again. From now on, I’ll take care of my family myself, instead of depending on our justice system to do it.
#Molino Resident, I agree it is not right that they get off with a slap on the wrist and since he was convicted of a lesser crime (not a sex crime) he will not have to register as a sex offender. BUT a lot of times this type of plea deal is with the consent of the victims parents so that the children do not have to go through the process of a trial and being cross examined on the stand. The trial process is extremely difficult on victim children (I worked with these children for the better part of a decade) and as a parent (thankfully never put in this position) I don’t know if it would be worth further hurting my child to get the perp convicted. I personally think people who abuse children (especially sexually) should get life in prison, but I also understand that parents and advocates want to protect victims from the stress, and publicity of a trial.
Kevin, I totally agree w/what you’re saying. They say that they’re combining prision & shutting down some facilities b/c prisoner intake is down. I think that’s crap b/c we all know crimes are not down. I’m wondering what judges are now getting under the table forall these less sentences. It’s like a slap in the face to the victim tellingthem what he did wasn’t that bad, and giving him the opportunity to do it againto someone else.
but i went to prison for 3 years for a criminal mischief over 1000$ damage.