PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — A Palatka man was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted on three counts of capital child sexual battery, among other charges.
John Hudson, now 51, was arrested in April 2023 after an investigation into a 2021 tip received by the Florida Abuse Hotline.
An email sent from a school account, according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, had been flagged due to profanity. Upon review, a school administrator reported that they believed the child who sent it had been sexually assaulted, triggering an investigation by the Department of Children and Families.
The victim reportedly told investigators that the abuse began in 2017 when she was less than 12 years old. It continued for years, leading to three additional convictions of sexual battery on a person between 12 and 18 years of age by a person with familial or custodial authority.
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“Another example of how your prosecutors make our community a better and safer place,” State Attorney R.J. Larizza said about the case. “And God bless our courageous victim for her heartbreaking testimony.”
As of 2023, Florida law allows the death penalty as an option for people convicted of sexual battery on children under 12 years old. At the time of the arrest, Sheriff H.D. ‘Gator’ Deloach said he wished it had been law sooner.
“While this case occurred before the proposed state death penalty option for child molesters, it definitely presents a case to support this type of punishment for these monsters,” DeLoach said. “This child was subjected to rape and sexual abuse almost daily during COVID. The victim was robbed of childhood innocence and terrorized. As a father, I have a special place in my heart for children and this tears at my heartstrings. Children should not be afraid of someone entrusted to care for them.”
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