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North Texas man took video of himself molesting a 9-year-old girl, authorities say

Fort Worth Star-Telegram - 2/14/2020

Feb. 14--FORT WORTH -- A Weatherford man who took a video of himself molesting a 9-year-old girl has been sentenced to 40 years in prison without parole, authorities said.

Aaron Clay Kelly, 33, pleaded guilty last week in the 43rd District Court in Weatherford to a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a young child.

In October 2018, Kelly had walked into the Parker County Sheriff's Office and surrendered to authorities. He admitted to pedophilia after his girlfriend had found the video on his cell phone and kicked him out of a home, authorities said.

Kelly told deputies he had thrown his phone into the Brazos River and contemplated suicide, but he decided to surrender to authorities.

"Since he destroyed his phone, investigators with the Parker County Sheriff's Office got a search warrant and got a copy of the video from a cloud backup service which was crucial to our case," said Parker County Assistant District Attorney Jeff Swain in a news release.

Kelly admitted to sexually abusing the girl in 2018.

"We were glad that we were able to obtain a very long prison sentence that the victim and her family were happy with," said Parker County Assistant District Attorney Susan Pruett in a news release. "To be able to accomplish that without the necessity of making a young girl relive some really awful abuse was about as good a result as we could hope for."

After Kelly was sentenced last week, the girl's mother gave a victim statement in which she told him that the victim was, "the strongest, smartest, and most loving little girl I know."

The girl had told her sister she had kept the abuse a secret out of fear.

"She feared being separated from her siblings," her mother said in the victim statement. "I hope this haunts you for the rest of your life."

According to Parker County jail records, Kelly has been arrested numerous times in the county since 2004, mainly on charges such as theft, not having car insurance, criminal trespass, fighting and driving without a license.

He was also jailed in Tarrant County for 60 days in 2009 on charges stemming from a 2005 theft, court records show.

This report contains information from Fort Worth Star-Telegram archives.

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