A 28-year-old Centralia man has been sentenced to a total of 50 years in prison after earlier being found guilty by a Marion County Jury for two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and a single count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
Judge Mark Stedelin sentenced Thomas Smith of East Broadway to 25 years apiece on each of the Class X predatory criminal sexual assault cases with the time to be served consecutively. Smith received another seven-year sentence on the sexual abuse conviction which will be served concurrently with the two 25 year prison terms.
Testimony indicated Smith and the girl’s father had grown up together and became friends again when they began working with each other. That resulted in Smith being a frequent guest in the victim’s home in the second half of 2020 when the sexual assault and abuse occurred. Each of the charges claims Smith committed a different sexual act with the then six-year-old girl.
The prosecution asked for the maximum sentence on the two Class X charges of 120 years, while Public Defender Craig Griffin sought the minimum 12-year sentence.
Smith took the stand in allocution where he maintained his innocence and said he looked forward to the case going to the Appellate Court for review.
Smith had already been to prison twice on child sex-related charges and had two convictions for violation of the sex offender registration list. One of those convictions in Clinton County occurred last November when he was placed on 30 months probation.
