Attorney General's News Release

March 9, 2009

Court sentences child molester to life plus 130 years

Liberty, Mo. - A Clay County judge on Mar. 4 sentenced Lafayette County resident Lee E. Cobb to life plus 130 years in prison. Cobb pleaded guilty to multiple counts of statutory rape, sexual exploitation of a minor, incest and possession of child pornography as a result of the repeated molestation of his daughter, Attorney General Chris Koster announced.

Judge Larry Harman sentenced Cobb following emotional testimony from the victim during the sentencing hearing. Cobb, 54, had custody of his daughter following a divorce and repeatedly had sexual relations with her over an 8-year period beginning when she was eight.

"The justice system can never restore the precious years of childhood that have been lost by the victim," Koster said. "Her strength and resolve in speaking out, however, gave us the tools we needed to insure, to the fullest extent of the law, that this perpetrator will never harm another child."

The case was moved to Clay County on a change of venue. The Attorney General assisted in the case at the request of the Lafayette County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.