Teen charged with sexual abuse of children

A 17-year-old Spruce Pine boy was arrested Thursday and charged with first-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse of three children under the age of 12.

According to authorities, the abuse occurred over a five-year period and began when the defendant was 12 years old and the one male and two female victims were 5 and 6 years old.

A report of the abuse was made with the Franklin County Department of Human Resources by one of the family members of the children.

Officials with DHR contacted the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department and both agencies led a joint investigation that resulted in the defendant’s arrest.

After a 72-hour hearing on Friday, the defendant will remain in custody at the Tennessee Valley Detention Center in Tuscumbia.

Even though first-degree sodomy is a Class A felony, the defendant is not charged as an adult because he was 12 when the abuse began.

Investigators have not released his name due to his age.