A Sweet Home man was charged Wednesday, Jan. 30, in Linn County Circuit Court with first-degree sex abuse and first-degree sexual penetration in a case involving a minor.
Joshua James Deffenbaugh, 35, is alleged to have committed the crimes between January 2014 and June 2017. According to court records, the victim was under the age of 12 and 14 during that time span.
Records list Deffenbaugh’s residence on Wiley Creek Drive. The Linn County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.
Deffenbaugh has been prosecuted once before on similar charges, according to court records.
In 2003 he pled guilty to felony first-degree attempted rape and attempted sodomy, when he was sentenced to time served in jail and ordered to register as a sex offender and to avoid contact with anyone under 14 years of age and no contact with the victim. A first-degree sexual abuse charge in that case was dismissed.