Man to spend nearly 20 years in prison in child sex case

Christopher Searls

Credit: Montgomery County Jail

Credit: Montgomery County Jail

Christopher Searls

A Dayton man accused of inappropriately touching a 9-year-old girl and having dozens of sexually explicit videos of children will spend nearly two decades behind bars.

Christopher Searls was sentenced Tuesday in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court to a range of 19 to 23 years in prison after he was convicted Nov. 9 of two counts of gross sexual imposition, 60 counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor and one count of attempt to commit tampering with evidence, according to Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr.

“Not only did this defendant sexually assault a 9-year-old child, he showed her pornographic videos and child pornography. In order to protect other children from this defendant, he deserves the lengthy prison sentence,” Heck stated in a release.

In addition to his prison sentence, Searls was designated a Tier III sexual offender, meaning that once he is released from prison he will have to register with his local sheriff’s office every 90 days for the rest of his life.

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