Michael Shane Kilgore had already served three terms in prison for child molestation. In 2015, he began molesting a 6-year-old, according to Cobb County prosecutors.
But after his most recent conviction, Kilgore will not be a free man again.
Cobb County Chief Judge Robert Leonard sentenced Kilgore, 49, to life in prison without the possibility of parole following a conviction late last month for aggravated sexual battery, child molestation and cruelty to children in the first degree, the district attorney said Thursday.
“I don’t expect that you will ever take a breath in the free world again,” Leonard told Kilgore during sentencing.
In 2018, a then-9-year-old told her mother she had been molested by Kilgore and the allegations were reported to Cobb police. The victim’s mother had also previously been a victim, the DA’s office said.
In 1998, Kilgore pleaded guilty to child molestation, despite denying he had abused the victims, according to prosecutors. During the most recent trial, five other victims of Kilgore testified about his pattern of molestation, the DA’s office said.
According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, Kilgore served prison time from September 1990 to October 2002, September 2003 to January 2004, and again from March 2005 to August 2009 for child molestation. He has been on the state’s sex offender registry since 2002, according to the GBI.
Kilgore had been in the Cobb jail since his arrest July 31, 2018, booking records show. On Thursday, he was transferred to prison.
“Kilgore is a serial child molester who terrorized multiple victims over multiple decades,” Assistant District Attorney David Bailey said in an emailed statement. “I am thankful for the jury and all who made sacrifices so this predator would never have access to a child again.”
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