Pataskala man sentenced in rape of girl, 11

NEWARK – A Pataskala man will have to serve at least three-and-a-half years in prison, but could serve as many as seven for the rape of a young girl last year.

Joshua D. Stocks, 21, entered guilty pleas Tuesday to one count each of rape and gross sexual imposition.

Assistant Licking County Prosecutor Chris Reamer said Stocks touched an 11-year-old girl in November at a home in the Pataskala area.

Stocks' attorney, Kristin Burkett, said Stocks had been willing to accept responsibility for his actions from her first meeting with him and wanted to take a plea to spare the victim from having to testify at a trial.

Stocks apologized to the victim's family, who were in court Tuesday, and said he never meant for anything to happen.

Stocks' DNA had been found on the victim shortly after the assault occurred.

Judge Thomas Marcelain ordered Stocks to serve seven years in prison, one year above the jointly recommended sentence of six years.

Three of those years will be mandatory. He then has to serve an additional six months before he would be eligible to apply for judicial release.

He will have to register as a Tier III sexual offender upon his release, meaning he will have to register his address every 90 days for life.