A jury on Thursday found Karl Ronald Menz guilty of sexual battery of a victim under 12 years of age; sexual battery of a victim over 12 years of age but under the age of 18, while in a position of familial or custodial authority; lewd or lascivious molestation of a victim under 12; and lewd or lascivious molestation of a victim over 12 but under 16, Bill Eddins, state attorney for the First Judicial Circuit, announced.
Judge Michael A. Flowers presided over the trial and proceeded to sentencing upon receiving the jury’s verdict. Flowers sentenced Menz to a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole, to be followed by an additional life sentence and 45 years in the Department of Corrections.
These sentences will run consecutively to each other and consecutively to the previously imposed sentence for Menz’s conviction earlier this year for a Crestview kidnapping. Menz will also be designated as a sexual predator and be required to register as such for the remainder of his life.
His latest charges arose from incidents that occurred between January 2010 and December 2012 in which Menz sexually assaulted the victim almost daily. Menz repeatedly threatened the victim to keep the victim from revealing what was occurring. Menz continued the sexual abuse until the victim was 13 years of age.
These criminal acts occurred in the defendant’s home in Fort Walton Beach as well as in hotels, vehicles and campgrounds in Okaloosa County as Menz moved around constantly.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation, with the assistance of the Department of Children and Families and Children’s Advocacy Center personnel, and made the arrest. The case was prosecuted by Assistant State Attorney Christine Bosau.
A jury found Menz guilty in 2016 for kidnapping his 3-year-old son Manny. Menz and his wife, Virginia Lynch, grabbed Emmanuel Menz at a Crestview Burger King during a supervised visit on March 6, 2014.
They fled to Nevada where they hid for 28 days before being tracked down by federal authorities.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview boy’s kidnapper now gets life for sex crimes