A Winston County husband and wife who were charged with sex crimes in September 2011 both accepted plea bargains this week to avoid going to trial, Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said.
Dan Busby, Jr., 59, 173 Kidds Rd., Lot 19, Haleyville, pleaded guilty to second-degree rape and second-degree sodomy and agreed to one 15-year sentence in each case to run concurrent, which means he will have 15 years to serve.
“The penalty range for Mr. Busby’s crimes was 2-20 years in prison so, after discussing the terms with the victim, we believe the 15-year sentence he agreed to was a good sentence in this case,” Rushing said.
Kristy Anne Busby, 35, with the same address, pleaded guilty to second-degree rape and agreed to a 10-year sentence split with two years to serve followed by five years probation.
Rushing said even though Dan Busby is accused of committing the actual sexual abuse, Kristy Busby was charged as a co-conspirator for knowing about the abuse and refusing to report it.
“We want to make sure we send the message that you can’t just sit back and let something like this happen and not report it to the proper authorities,” Rushing said.
“Keeping silent about abuse is almost as bad as doing it yourself.”
Rushing said the couple was originally charged second-degree rape, second-degree sodomy and other offenses in September of 2011 after authorities discovered Dan Busby had allegedly been having sex with a minor over 12 years old and his wife reportedly knew about the abuse and did nothing to stop it.
According to Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver, officers began investigating allegations of an inappropriate relationship between the underage female victim and Dan Busby after the victim told a friend about the abuse and the friend contacted authorities the second week in September of 2011.
Oliver said the alleged sexual abuse that took place in Franklin County happened while the couple lived in the East Franklin community for a short period of time, but at the time, other abuse was alleged to have taken place in neighboring counties.
Rushing said both Dan and Kristy Busby have accepted the terms of the plea agreement but will be officially sentenced at a later date.