Gary man gets 12-year split sentence for child molesting

A Gary man will serve a 12-year split sentence after admitting he molested two girls in separate incidents in 2013.

Kevin A. Byrd, 32, pleaded guilty on July 17 to two counts of Class C child molesting.

Judge Natalie Bokota sentenced him to eight years in prison, one year in Lake County Community Corrections, and three years on sex offender probation.

“I apologize to my victims,” he said in court Wednesday. “There’s nothing I can do to take it back or change what I did.”

It was a “long time ago” and he was in a “better place” with mental health treatment.

His defense lawyer Steve Mullins said he “accepted responsibility” with the plea.

Byrd was recently released from a five-year prison term for a December 2018 South Bend child molesting case.

Bokota said the Lake County victims, then 4 and 6, were “particularly young” and abused in “formative” and “vulnerable” ages. The younger victim had “nightmares” to this day, the judge noted.

In the September 2013 case, a Gary detective interviewed the girl’s mother, who said Byrd inappropriately touched her while she was visiting relatives in Gary in the summer of 2012.

Byrd admitted the allegations and said “he knew it was wrong and doesn’t know why he did it,” the probable cause affidavit states. He said he committed the acts “four or five times.”

Byrd was charged in April 2013 with Class A child molesting for a case that originated in Merrillville.

Deputy Prosecutor Jacob Brandewie was assigned.

Post-Tribune archives contributed.

mcolias@post-trib.com