KINGMAN – A local judge imposed the maximum punishment possible during a Thursday sentencing hearing for a man convicted of fondling a young girl in a Bullhead City motel room 13 years ago. Judge Billy Sipe ordered a 28-year prison term for Jay Beatte, 44.
A trial jury last month found Beatte guilty of one count of child molestation for groping his girlfriend’s daughter who was 10 or 11 years old when they lived together at the motel in 2006. Judge Sipe told Beatte that he rejected his claim of innocence and found credible the victim’s testimony that the sexual abuse began when she was nine years old and occurred in Arizona, California, Utah and Texas.
“Mr. Beatte, you’re a monster. You really are,” Judge Sipe said. “Your case is disturbing. It’s clear to me from all the testimony, including your statements to law enforcement, that you were sexually abusing the victim for a number of years.”
Judge Sipe said Beatte traumatized the victim who has been in counseling for nine years and is unable to have normal relationships with men.
It was revealed during the sentencing hearing at the Mohave County Courthouse in Kingman that Beatte previously served a five-year prison sentence in Texas. He was convicted there of an aggravated sexual assault of his biological daughter when she was 11 years old.
