ALABAMA
Times Daily
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
By Tom Smith Senior Staff Writer
RUSSELLVILLE — A Spruce Pine woman looked at Freddy Hovater on Monday morning and told him she never thought he could hurt her child.
“God will take care of this,” the woman told Hovater. “What gets me through this is knowing that you will have to answer to God one day.”
Hovater, 74, a former Franklin County pastor, pleaded guilty to charges he sexually abused the woman’s 8-year-old daughter in 2011. He pleaded guilty in March to child abuse and third-degree assault with sexual motivation.
On Monday morning, Franklin County Circuit Judge Terry Dempsey sentenced Hovater to 10 years, which was split with 18 months to serve on the child abuse charge and one year on the third-degree assault charge.
The two sentences are to be served concurrently.
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