Kevin Joseph Warbington now faces spending the rest of his life in prison following his conviction last week on eight counts of a 23 count indictment.
A Fannin County Superior Court jury returned its decision late Friday afternoon, ending a two-week trial at the courthouse in Blue Ridge.
Warbington was found guilty of two counts of aggravated child molestation, two counts of child molestation, aggravated sexual battery, sexual battery against a child under 16, cruelty to children in the first degree, and aggravated battery-family violence.
Appalachian Judicial Circuit District Attorney B. Alison Sosebee said after the trial that each aggravated child molestation conviction carries a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life. This is a minimum. Warbington’s sentences could be ordered to run consecutively.
Sentencing is currently scheduled for May 6.
Sosebee said the trial began Monday, April 12. Because of COVID-19 protocols, jury selection took the first three-and-a-half days before the actual trial could begin.
Then on Friday, April 23, the jury went out to deliberate at about 1:30 p.m. and returned with its verdict about 5:45 p.m.
The case against Warbington began when the family of the victim contacted the McCaysville Police Department July 31, 2019, but Warbington had already moved out of the area.
McCaysville authorities contacted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation immediately due to “the severity of the case and the information and evidence presented,” McCaysville Police Chief Mike Earley said at the time.
Warbington was 32 years old when he was picked up by South Carolina authorities on Georgia charges.
When Warbington was taken into custody in South Carolina, GBI Special Agent in Charge Kimberly Williams said he was charged with aggravated sexual battery and two counts of aggravated child molestation.
He was returned to Fannin County and booked into the Fannin County Detention Center August 22, 2019, where he has remained since.
In his initial appearance hearing, he was denied bond by Chief Magistrate Judge Brian Jones.
The 23-count indictment was returned by a Fannin County Grand Jury November 14, 2019.