Convicted sex offender sentenced, sent to prison

A Franklin County man who escaped from the Franklin County Jail in early July will now serve 50 years in the state prison system.

Jerry O'Dell Kelley

Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said Jerry O’Dell Kelley, 34, formerly of 9165 Franklin 81 in Phil Campbell pleaded guilty to violating the Community Notification Act by living with a minor child as a registered sex offender and second-degree escape.

Authorities said initially Kelley was charged with first-degree attempted rape, enticing a child for immoral purposes, first-degree sodomy, first-degree sexual abuse and failure to register as a sex offender in Franklin County and escape charges were tacked on later when Kelley escaped from the jail July 15.

Rushing said a plea agreement was reached in the case Friday, which put Kelley behind bars serving two 25-year sentences running concurrently.

Rushing said the sentence and plea agreement is considered a victory for his office.

“Authorities told me Kelley was immediately transported to the Kilby state prison facility to serve his sentence,” Rushing said. “The plea agreement was signed off by family members and anytime we can avoid having a minor victim testify against a defendant at an open trial, we want to take it. We feel like the plea agreement was solid and feel that we did a good job by getting the 25-year sentences.”

Rushing said the Franklin County Sheriff’s office did an excellent job in recapturing Kelley and bringing charges against him.

Rushing said if it wasn’t for the sheriff’s office it could have potentially been a lengthy trial.