‘Serial molester’ pleads guildy to 8 counts

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    COBB COUNTY, Georgia (WGCL) — A Cobb County man will spend the next 25 years behind bars after pleading guilty to eight counts of child molestation. The guilty plea came after the suspect, while awaiting trial, removed an ankle bracelet and escaped to Mexico for seven years.

According to Cobb County District Attorney Flynn D. Broady, Jr., Kevin O. Dean, 70, of Kennesaw, pleaded guilty to molesting a young relative, beginning in 2000, when the victim was four years old.

The abuse happened each time Dean was with the victim, until she was 14. In 2010, the victim told her mom about the abuse, and her mom took her to Cobb County police. During an interview with police, the victim said Dean abused her at two homes in Cobb County and at his Marietta office.

Investigators met with Dean and he initially denied molesting the girl. After further questioning, Dean admitted to showing the victim pornography and committing sexual acts with her. The Cobb County D.A. said Dean told investigators he was a former teacher, and he should have known better.

Authorities searched Dean’s home and “found a lot of evidence, including toys and videos, as the victim had described, and Dean was arrested. The investigation further revealed that Dean had abused the victim at his office in Cartersville, and Bartow County authorities also brought charges”, according to a spokesperson with the district attorney’s office.

In 2012, while awaiting trial in both Cobb and Bartow Counties, Dean cut off his ankle monitor and fled to Mexico. He was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Mexico in 2019.

After his 2019 arrest, Dean pleaded guilty in Bartow County, and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

After the victim in Cobb County told police about her case, three other women came forward and told police they were molested by Dean in the 1980s in California. During that time, Dean was a pastor of a church, a principal of a school, and he also ran a summer camp that the victims attended.

The Cobb victim, as well as the other three women, each testified against Dean at his sentencing in Cobb County:

The Cobb victim said Dean had robbed her of a healthy childhood and would continue to victimize other young girls if he wasn’t in prison.
One of the California victims called the Cobb victim “a hero,” because without her bravery in speaking up the others may never have reported the abuse Dean inflicted on them
Dean was sentenced to 25 years to serve in prison without the possibility of parole, plus life on probation.

Lindsay Raynor, a Senior Cobb County Assistant District Attorney, said “After using his position as a pastor and teacher to molest numerous children, he turned to his own family to continue the abuse for nearly a decade. We are thankful for the bravery of the victims who came forward to finally hold Kevin Dean accountable and to ensure he will never hurt another child again”.

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