Child molester who tried have child killed gets 20 years

MOUNT VERNON, Wash.) – A northwest Washington state man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for trying to arrange the killing of a child he molested.

The Skagit Valley Herald reported that 51-year-old William Sharples Jr. of Sedro-Woolley was sentenced Wednesday in Skagit County Superior Court.

Sharples in March pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit first-degree murder and first-degree child molestation.

Sharples in May 2016 tried to arrange the killing of the child through a fellow inmate in Skagit County Jail where Sharples was being held on molestation charges.

The other inmate said Sharples offered him a truck worth $10,000 if the inmate killed the child and another individual.

Authorities say recorded conversations capture Sharples telling the inmate how the killings should be done and ways to get rid of the bodies.