A registered sexual offender and the mother of the child he abused were both sentenced to prison on Tuesday.
According to an Eighth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office press release, Judge William Davis sentenced David Wolfe, 65, to 50 years in the Florida Department of Corrections for sexual battery or attempt with injury on a person under 12 by a person 18 or older, lewd or lascivious molestation of a person 12 years of age, aggravated child abuse and obscene performance.
Davis also sentenced the mother of the victim, Kate Murray, 42, to 10 years in prison for aggravated child neglect and failure to report suspected child abuse, abandonment or neglect.
The sentences stem from a call to the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) on Jan. 18, 2023, when police responded to Southern Pines Apartments to assist the Florida Department of Children Services. During an investigation, GPD detectives learned that Wolfe had sexually battered a child.
The investigation revealed that Wolfe, who was adjudicated in 1997 as a sexual predator in Hillsborough County, had lured the child to his apartment with cash gifts and video games.
Murray, the mother of the child, told detectives that she thought Wolfe was a sexual offender and not a sexual predator and allowed her daughter to visit Wolfe unsupervised. Even after her daughter revealed that Wolfe had been touching her in her private areas, Murray did not report the incident but continued to allow her daughter to visit Wolfe.