Dalton man receives prison term for sex with teen

A 30-year-old Dalton man was sentenced to four to eight years in prison Tuesday for engaging in a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl.

William Lee was sentenced on a first-degree sexual assault charge, a class II felony. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender, submit a DNA sample and pay court costs of $507.28.

Lee was arraigned last summer, stemming from an incident on May 30, when the 15-year-old girl’s mother caught her daughter sneaking back into their home at 2:20 a.m., according to court documents. The girl later admitted that she’d had sex with Lee, whom she referred to as her boyfriend.

The girl allegedly said that she and Lee had been friends for 9 or 10 years, but that the relationship changed around a year and a half prior. At that time the two began kissing and holding hands, she claimed. They grew closer through their interaction on Facebook, court documents stated.

After the relationship changed, the girl saw Lee three to five times a week.

“[The girl] advised that as their relationship grew stronger, they began having sex,” the court document stated.

The victim claimed that she had engaged in sexual intercourse with Lee many times over the course of the previous year, including in Lee’s jeep earlier on the night of May 30.

The girl was taken to Sidney Regional Medical Center for a sexual assault exam following the report of the allegations.