A Brown County jury acquitted a Mt. Sterling business owner yesterday on three charges of of criminal predatory sexual assault of a child under the age of 13 — all Class X felonies.
72-year old Gary Welty was found not guilty by a jury of five men and seven women at the Brown County Courthouse, bringing a six-day trial to a conclusion. The jury deliberated for slightly more than two hours, according to Muddy River News. If he had been convicted of at least two of the charges, visiting judge Kevin Tippey would have sentenced Welty to life in prison.
Welty, who operates a fertilizer-spreading business in Mt. Sterling, provided no comment to the local media after the verdict. Vanessa Minson with the Illinois Attorney General’s office, who prosecuted the case, told the jury that six women claimed previous inappropriate conduct by Welty. Three of them were named in the charges against Welty – all of them granddaughters. The alleged conduct was said to have taken place between 1997 and 2007. Welty’s older brother Everett testified during the trial that his brother and his brother’s wife refused to pay for a wedding for a family member in Florida three years ago and that’s when the allegations of abuse allegedly began.
Defense Attorney Drew Schnack threw reasonable doubt on the accusations because there was no physical evidence presented by the state, including any evidence of sex abuse material in Welty’s home. Schnack also said the statements were inconsistent by the victims and some of the victims even came to live with Welty and his wife after the alleged incidents occurred. Schnack also pointed to the fact that the Weltys had provided financial support to some of the accused over the last ten years.
Drew Hill, deputy press secretary for the attorney general’s office, told Muddy River News in an email yesterday that they would not be offering any further comment on the case other than what was in the court record. Muddy River News reports that the alleged victims in the case left the courtroom in tears shortly after the verdict was read.
Welty greeted family members in the hallway outside the courtroom after being acquitted.