Jury sentences child molester to 100 years in prison

Aug. 26—A Cleveland County man will spend the rest of his life in prison after a jury found him guilty of molesting an 8-year-old child.

Patrick Ryan Humphries, 33, was sentenced last week to 100 to 140 years in prison.

Investigators were first alerted to the situation in May 2019 when Cleveland County Sheriff's deputies responded to a noise complaint at Humphries' Lee Drive home in Shelby.

Investigators arrived to find the then 30-year-old man in a car with a naked child in the backseat. Humphries told deputies that he was passed out drunk and then said they were just looking at stars, investigators said. The girl's mother was passed out inside the house at the time.

Once removed from the situation, the child told investigators that this wasn't the first time Humphries molested her.

Initially jailed on a $350,000 bond, Humphries later had it reduced to $150,000 but was still unable to make bail and would spend two years and four months in jail awaiting trial.

In February 2020, the state extended a plea offer to Humphries. He could plead guilty and spend 25 years in prison.

In North Carolina, statutory rape of a child by an adult and statutory sexual offense with a child by an adult is punishable by a minimum of 25 years in prison for each charge.

Facing charges of first-degree kidnapping, two counts indecent liberties with a child, two counts of statutory rape of a child by an adult and two counts of statutory sexual offense with a child by an adult, Humphries rejected the plea arrangement.

His trial began Monday, Aug. 16. After days of testimony, the trial came to a close, and the jury found Humphries guilty on all counts. He has been transferred to Central Prison in Raleigh to begin serving his sentence.

In the wake of Humphries' arrest in 2019, the child's mother was charged with felony child abuse, accused of knowingly not reporting the sexual abuse. She has been out on bond, and her case is still pending.

Diane Turbyfill can be reached at 704-669-3334 and dturbyfill@shelbystar.com.

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