Man Gets Eight Years for Fourth Child Abuse Charge

A Paducah man previously convicted on three counts of child abuse has pleaded guilty again to the same offense.

Court records show 31-year-old Dustin Gorham pleaded guilty Monday in McCracken Circuit Court to criminal abuse of a child under 12. Circuit Judge Tim Kaltenbach sentenced him to eight years in prison as part of the plea agreement.

Gorham was charged in September with abusing a 2-year-old girl who was brought into Baptist Health Paducah with fractures to her left tibia, right femur and the left side of her skull. Police say the child's mother was in the hospital at the time because she had just given birth, and the child was left in Gorham's care. Gorham reportedly told police the child fell from a bed, but hospital staff told police that a fall could not have caused the girl's injuries.

Gorham has been convicted of three prior counts of child abuse before his most recent arrest. In 2006 he was convicted for abusing a 7-month old and was sentenced to 5 years in prison. In 2016 he was convicted on two counts of abuse of a 5-year-old and sentenced to three years on each count. Those sentences ran concurrently. He recently completed his parole term on those charges.