Man Sentenced To 12 Months And One Day In Prison For Sexual Contact In National Forest

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Ronald Shannon Sosebee, 38, of Brevard, N.C. was sentenced on Thursday, October 15, 2015, by U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger to serve 12 months and one day in federal prison for sexually touching and propositioning another person without that person’s permission, announced Jill Westmoreland Rose, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.  Sosebee was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release and to register as a sex offender.

Joining U.S. Attorney Rose in making today’s announcement is Lee Boyd, United States Forest Service Patrol Captain.

According to filed court documents and the sentencing hearing, on or about June 24, 2014, Sosebee approached the male victim near Sleepy Gap Overlook, located on the Blue Ridge Parkway, while the male hiker was resting after hiking on a trail.  Court records show that Sosebee asked the male hiker if they could hike down the trail together, to which the victim agreed, and the two proceeded to walk, crossing into the Pisgah National Forest.  According to court records, after a short distance, Sosebee made an unsolicited sexual remark and touched the victim sexually without permission.  The victim resisted Sosebee’s sexual contact, ran toward his campsite and reported the incident to law enforcement.  Sosebee was arrested shortly thereafter.   

Sosebee pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual contact with another person without that other person’s permission and is currently in federal custody.  He will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.  All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.  

The investigation was handled by the United States Forest Service and the National Park Service.  The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville.