Instructor pleads guilty to sex offenses involving 14 year old

By Linda Cicoira

A horse-riding instructor and coach pleaded guilty Monday in Northampton Circuit Court to sex offenses involving a 14-year-old girl who was vacationing with the man’s family at Cherrystone Campground in July of 2020.

Fifty-nine-year-old John Fairly Barnett, of Anderson Highway, in Powhatan, Va., admitted to taking indecent liberties with a minor while serving as her guardian, proposing sex acts to a child under the age of 18, sexual battery of the girl, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Sentencing was set for Sept. 9. A long-form presentence report was ordered. Barnett could get up to seven years. The defendant is also awaiting sentencing for committing an indecent act with a child and general sexual battery in Chesterfield Circuit Court. He also pleaded guilty to those offenses. Barnett is free on an unspecified bond.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jack Thornton, of Northampton, said the case was “an extreme betrayal of trust.”

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