CAIRO, Ga. — The adjourned March term of Grady County trials included two prominent cases involving child molestation.

Judge Kevin Chason sentenced Domingo Santiago Velasco to life in prison March 18 for aggravated child molestation, incest, rape and sodomy.

A press release from Southern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Joe Mulholland stated evidence gathered by the Grady County Sheriff’s Office and the Oak House of Bainbridge concluded Velasco “did commit an immoral and indecent act to his stepdaughter under the age of 16 years old with intent to arouse and satisfy the sexual desires of himself by an act of sodomy.”

The press release stated Velasco was found to be engaged in an act of incest with his stepdaughter on or about March 7, 2018 in Grady County.

Velasco entered a blind plea, essentially ending his defense, to aggravated child molestation, two counts of incest, rape and sodomy.

A second criminal case found Joseph Henry Simmons guilty of child molestation, enticing a child for indecent purposes and false imprisonment.

Evidence gathered by Georgia Bureau of Investigations agent Matt Marchant, the Grady County Sheriff’s Office and the Oak House of Bainbridge indicated Simmons molested two children ages 9 and 10 between Feb. 6, 2015 and April 6, 2016.

A jury found Simmons guilty March 20 of six counts of child molestation, one count of false imprisonment and two counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes.

Chason sentenced Simmons to 39 years in the state penal system.

Mulholland said Velasco and Simmons’ cases were among approximately 90 criminal cases in Grady County which took place during the two-week term.