A former Metro police officer charged in Clay County with aggravated sexual battery of a 12-year-old pleaded guilty to a lesser charge Monday.
James S. Stackhouse, 47, pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated sexual battery and received a three-year prison sentence along with a $1,200 fine.
As part of the plea deal, Stackhouse admitted in open court that he had sexual contact with the young victim, according to Deputy District Attorney Mark Gore of the 13th Judicial District.
On March 1, a Clay County grand jury indicted Stackhouse on two counts of aggravated sexual battery of a victim younger than 13 stemming from a May 2009 incident at the Willow Grove Campground along Dale Hollow Lake in Clay County.
The former police officer, a 17-year veteran of the force, faced eight to 12 years in prison but with the guilty plea came a reduction of one charge and the dismissal of the second.
He will now, however, have to register with the state as a sex offender.
“We were somewhat pleased with it,” Gore said. “We would have liked to have had a little bit more [of a sentence], but all in all we thought it was a pretty good resolution.”
Stackhouse resigned from the Metro Nashville Police Department in early August 2009 after the allegations surfaced. At the time of his resignation, Stackhouse was a field training officer at the Hermitage Precinct.
Gore commended the investigative work of Metro Nashville Police Department Detective Matthew King and 13th judicial District investigator Terry Hembree.