FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 21, 2024
After a weeklong trial, a Coweta County jury found Leslie Gene Patterson, 60, guilty of two counts of Child Molestation and one count of Aggravated Sexual Battery involving two minor girls. Following the verdict, Superior Court Judge Travis Sakrison sentenced him to Life without parole in light of his multiple prior felony convictions. Assistant District Attorney Scott Teague prosecuted the case and Coweta County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Shawna Wade led the investigation. The evidence presented at trial revealed the following:
Patterson lived in Sweetbriar Mobile Home Park and hosted parties where he supplied alcohol and drugs for a teenage family member and his high school age friends, which included teenage girls under the age of 18. The State called some of these females as witnesses in the trial to testify about these parties and Patterson’s behavior, which included Patterson making sexual comments and touching the girls inappropriately.
This information including Patterson’s behavior at the parties was brought to the attention of authorities when an 11-year-old female out cried in 2020 that Patterson had molested in Coweta County. This incident was the basis of one of the counts of Child Molestation.
After the 11-year-old reported being molested, a second victim came forward and reported that Patterson had sexually assaulted her in 2015 at one of his parties when she was 15 years old. She testified that she and her boyfriend fell asleep at Patterson’s trailer and she woke up to Patterson sexually assaulting her. This incident was the basis for the charge of Aggravated Sexual Battery, which carries a maximum possible sentence of Life without parole, and for the second charge of Child Molestation.
Patterson has been arrested over 60 times in his life and has been convicted of numerous felonies. 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.
JOHN HERBERT CRANFORD, JR.
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
COWETA JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
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