Day-Care Center Owner Receives 12 Life Terms for Molestations

A small-town day-care center operator was sentenced to 12 consecutive life prison terms Thursday as children who testified that he had molested them watched from the front row, clutching dolls and teddy bears.

“I am innocent. I have not done these things,” Robert F. Kelly Jr. said before Judge D. Marsh McLelland ordered one life sentence for each victim, ages 4 to 7.

Some of the children yelled, “I hate you!” as guards escorted Kelly to a police car to begin the trip to Central Prison in Raleigh.

“See you in a million years!” a young girl yelled.

Kelly, 44, will not be eligible for parole for 240 years. Prosecutors urged the sentence.

“There is no reason he should be restored to the community at any time,” Dist. Atty. H. P. Williams Jr. told the judge. “There’s no punishment you can impose on this man that’s commensurate for the injuries he has imposed on them.”

Kelly owned and operated Little Rascals Day Care Center in Edenton with his wife, Elizabeth. He was convicted Wednesday of 99 counts of sexually abusing children at the center between 1987 and 1989, when it closed. He could have been sentenced to 40 life terms plus 590 years in prison.

Elizabeth Kelly and five others also are charged with sexual abuse and await separate trials.

The prosecutor said he would have to review the other cases before deciding how to proceed. He said there could be pretrial hearings in a month.

Prosecutor Bill Hart said the sentence “does send a message that these cases can be successfully prosecuted.”

Defense lawyer Jeffrey Miller said Kelly wanted to appeal.

“It’s just sad to see an innocent man convicted and sentenced,” Miller said after court adjourned. “It’s a tragedy.”

The case was the most expensive and longest in North Carolina history, spanning 10 months. Jury selection began July 22, and the 14 days of deliberations ended Wednesday. The cost is estimated at $1.2 million.

Parents were jubilant about the sentencing. Nine children wearing Sunday clothes sat on the front row. Four of them testified against Kelly.

“There’s nothing that would be strong enough for the crimes committed, but it will at least keep him off the streets for the rest of his natural life,” said Morris Small Jr., father of one victim.