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Guilty to assault instead of rape

Aug 11, 2017 at 01:56 pm by Bryan Barrett


A case that was investigated by the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office was in court on Friday (August 11, 2017).

Benjamin Reed Thatcher plead down to two charges of Aggravated Assault. He will have to serve a 30 percent sentence of 8 years in prison before being released or 2.4 years behind bars.

Originally, Thatcher was charged with three counts of rape and four counts of sexual battery. With the charges he actually plead to, he will have to be on probation when he is released from prison for 8 years. He will also have to undergo a psycho sexual evaluation.

A psychosexual evaluation focuses on an individual's sexual development, sexual history, paraphilic interests, sexual adjustment and recidivism risk level.

Thatcher was originally arrested in 2016 when the investigation by Sheriff's Office Ty Downing handed the case to a Grand Jury to decide on the extent of charges to be filed.

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