Former Lockheed Engineer Sentenced for Child Molestation Conviction

A former engineer at Lockheed Martin will be spending decades behind bars for his sexual crimes against children, the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.

Tracy Bothel King, 59, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and another 20 years on probation on Monday, following his Jan. 15 conviction on three counts of child molestation. The jury only took 40 minutes to deliberate before returning its verdict, the District Attorney’s Office said.

King sexually assaulted a girl who was around five years old inside a home in Marietta in 1997 and 1998, then sexually assaulted another five-year-old at a residence in Acworth between 2008 and 2010. King was arrested for these crimes in 2012. A third victim testified that King sexually assaulted her when she was a little girl, but the statute of limitations had expired in her case.

All victims testified in court and gave similar accounts of King’s assaults on them. Each victim said that King pleaded with them, or threatened them, and told them not to tell anyone about what was happening because he could get in trouble. Each defendant blamed herself for not speaking out and stopping the abuse, the District Attorney’s Office said.

“These crimes are some of the most personal and violating in nature,” ADA Hannah Palmquist said during the sentencing hearing. She asked for Judge Henry Thompson to provide a stiff sentence to ensure that King never lays his hands on another child.

Thompson agreed with Palmquist’s request, saying that King was ”a monster,” adding that anyone who was not moved by the testimony of the now 10-year-old victim did not have a heart.