Man gets 20 years in child sex abuse case
Published 3:54 pm Tuesday, November 14, 2023
By JUSTIN STORY, Bowling Green Daily News
BOWLING GREEN — A 20-year prison sentence was imposed Monday afternoon on a man who admitted to multiple sexual offenses in Warren County involving two juveniles.
Robert Blake McClure, 38, was sentenced in Warren Circuit Court to the 20-year term based on a prior guilty plea to 31 counts of promoting a sexual performance by a minor and one count each of first-degree sexual abuse, first-degree unlawful transaction with a minor and promoting/procuring the use of a minor by electronic means for sexual activity.
McClure pleaded guilty in September to the charges against him, acknowledging sexual misconduct with an 8-year-old girl at some point between Dec. 26, 2021, and Jan. 1, 2022, when McClure was living with the girl’s parents on Mount Olivet Road.
The girl later disclosed to her mother what happened, which led the mother to contact the Warren County Sheriff’s Office.
The sexual abuse count to which McClure pleaded guilty stemmed from an allegation of illegal sexual contact perpetrated against a 13-year-old girl who was the daughter of McClure’s then-girlfriend.
According to court records, the 13-year-old was subjected to sexual contact by McClure some time between Jan. 1, 2022, and Feb. 4, 2022, when he was arrested on a warrant from Alabama.
The Bowling Green Police Department investigated the allegations involving the 13-year-old.
Those allegations included touching the girl’s buttocks and attempting to film her in the bathroom, and an affidavit for a search warrant also detailed playing with both girls and giving them what McClure described as “horse bites.”
Further investigation revealed multiple images on McClure’s phone depicting one of the juveniles in sexually suggestive poses that the victim told police she sent to McClure at his request, according to court records.
McClure will be a lifetime registrant on the Kentucky Sex Offender Registry.
Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Kori Beck Bumgarner said in court Monday that an out-of-state hold has been placed on McClure from Alabama for him to face criminal charges there.
A man who said he was the father of one of the victims addressed the court during McClure’s sentencing hearing.
The man said his daughter has struggled to sleep ever since being victimized by McClure, who he had previously considered a friend.
“If this man doesn’t get life in prison, he’s going to hurt another child,” the victim’s father said in court.