Md. Man Pleads Guilty in 1980 Kidnapping, Assault

Man accused of cross-border kidnapping of 9-year-old, sex crime

A Maryland man pleaded guilty in a 31-year-old kidnapping and sex assault case in Pennsylvania.

John Leroy Kroll pleaded guilty Thursday in the cross-border kidnapping of a then-9-year-old girl from Cumberland, Md., the Altoona Mirror reported.

Kroll was scheduled to go in trial in Bedford County court but pleaded guilty instead to charges including attempted homicide, aggravated assault and indecent assault.

Kroll took the girl in March 1980 then drove to southern Pennsylvania and assaulted the girl with a broom handle, prosecutors said. He was convicted in Maryland and sentenced to life in prison but the conviction was overturned because the sex crime happened out of state.

Sentencing is set for January 12. District Attorney Bill Higgins told The Mirror he hopes Kroll will die in prison.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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