BENTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — A Bentonville man serving probation time for sexual assault has been arrested after allegedly admitting to sexually assaulting a child he was babysitting 10 years ago.
An affidavit said that on Oct. 18, detectives received a report from the Arkansas State Child Abuse Hotline that Justin John Sellers met with his probation officer and admitted to sexually assaulting a 5-year-old.
Sellers said that around 10 years ago he befriended a neighbor and agreed to babysit her daughter. The affidavit said that during this time, Sellers assaulted the child.
The child, now 15, went with her mother to be interviewed at the Child and Family Advocacy Center as a result of the investigation, according to the affidavit. She recalled two incidents when Sellers inappropriately touched her, both times while he was babysitting her.
Court documents said that Sellers initially agreed to talk with investigators but stopped returning their phone calls.
The affidavit also notes that Sellers previously admitted to his probation officer that he had six prior victims, with two still not identified by law enforcement.
Sellers, 33 at the time of his arrest on Nov. 5, is accused of two counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of sexual indecency with a child. He is currently being held in the Benton County Jail on a $650,000 bond and is expected in court on Dec. 16.
Sellers is currently serving a probation sentence related to a Washington County case where he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a child.
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