PEDOPHILE JAILED FOR 30 YEARS FOR RAPING SIX-MONTH-OLD DAUGHTER WHO HAD TO BE FLOWN TO HOSPITAL FOR LIFE-SAVING TREATMENT

A Kentucky man was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the horrific rape of his six-month-old daughter. Mykill Puckett, 26, pleaded guilty to raping his infant daughter in Webster County after he was arrested for the vile act in August 2023, the Kentucky Attorney General's Office announced late last week.
The child was initially treated in the emergency room of a hospital in Madisonville but had to be flown to Norton's Children's Hospital in Louisville some 150 miles away.
'Every day, Kentucky’s law enforcement and prosecutors stare into the darkness and see some of the worst conduct imaginable,' Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said in the announcement.  
Puckett will not be eligible for probation and has a 10-year protective order to keep him away from the child, prosecutors said.
'The abuse in this case was simply horrific,' said prosecutor Zac Greenwell, the Commonwealth's Attorney for the 5th Judicial Circuit.  
'Law enforcement and prosecutors responded with the full weight of Kentucky's justice system.' 
Puckett will be subject to five years of supervised release after getting out of prison, and he will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. 
The child was initially treated in the emergency room of a hospital in Madisonville but had to be flown to Norton's Children's Hospital in Louisville (pictured) some 150 miles away.
Puckett was arrested alongside his wife, Holly Jo Jones, on August 10, 2023. 
The investigation into the couple began on August 7, when Kentucky State Police received a complaint from staff at Baptist Health Madisonville about a six-month-old who had injuries consistent with abuse and assault. 
Police arrested the couple three days later on felony charges of first-degree assault and first-degree criminal abuse of a child under 12.
Two months later, Puckett was hit with three more felony charges of first-degree rape of a child under 12 years of age, incest with a child under 12 years of age, and first-degree wanton endangerment. 
He pleaded guilty to all of the charges earlier this month. 
A grand jury in April 2024 declined to indict Jones.
Child abuse rates in Kentucky are the fourth highest among US states, according to the latest data from a 'Child Maltreatment' report by the US Department of Health & Human Services Children’s Bureau.
The report examined statistics from the state in 2023 and found the rate of child maltreatment victims in Kentucky was 14.2 per 1,000 children. 
That means 14 out of every 1,000 children in Kentucky experienced some form of abuse or neglect during 2023.
The child maltreatment victim rate in the state is almost twice the national average, which is 7.4 per 1,000. 
Babies under the age of one accounted for the highest rate of victims in Kentucky.