60-year-old Coweta County man found guilty of molesting two girls
Leslie Gene Patterson (Credit: Coweta County Sheriffs Office)
COWETA COUNTY, Ga. - A Coweta County man has learned his sentence just a week into his trial after being found guilty of molesting two girls.
Leslie Gene Patterson, 60, is accused of molesting an 11-year-old in 2020 who reported him. A second victim came forward and told the authorities Patterson would host parties at the Sweetbriar Mobile Home Park where he lived. Prosecutors believe that's where he would supply a male teen family member and his high school-aged friends with drugs and alcohol.
The second victim claimed she was 15 when she went to one of these parties in 2015. She said she and her boyfriend fell asleep in Patterson's trailer, and she was woken up to Patterson sexually assaulting her.
Other underage girls who attended the parties and testified in the trial supported her claims. They said Patterson would make sexual comments and touch them inappropriately.
Patterson has been arrested over 60 times in his life, and has a number of felony convictions under his belt.
"It is tragic that he was living freely in our community to be able to sexually assault at least two minor females. I am thankful that these victims and our entire community can rest a little easier knowing that he will never live freely among us again," Coweta County District Attorney John H. Cranford Jr. said.
Patterson was found guilty of two counts of child molestation and one count of aggravated sexual battery. He was sentenced to life without parole in light of the multiple prior felony convictions.