Third Tee Kay Babysitter Pleads Guilty to Sodomy

A third babysitter pleaded guilty to sodomizing children as young as 7 months old in the Tee Kay Mobile Manor area. St. Charles County Sheriff’s investigators said the crimes were the worst cases of child sexual abuse they’d ever seen.

John Scott Thomas III, 28, of the first block of Tee Kay in St. Charles County, pleaded guilty Tuesday to eight counts of first-degree statutory sodomy and one count of first-degree statutory rape.

As part of the plea, St. Charles County prosecutors agreed to cap Thomas’ sentence at 30 years. The defense can request a suspended sentence or can argue for a lesser sentence.

The sentencing guidelines are from 10 to 30 years in prison with lifetime supervision or life imprisonment.

Sentencing has been delayed until Feb. 5, when he will be sentenced by St. Charles County Circuit Court Judge Lucy Rauch.

St. Charles County Sheriff’s detectives said Thomas and his girlfriend, Rebecca Sue Russell, and their neighbor Billy Joe Bunch volunteered to babysit for neighborhood parents. They then had sex with three children ages 7 months, 3 years and 5 years old, detectives aid.

Investigators said the sexual abuse took place between January 1 and May 30.

Bunch pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree statutory sodomy. Rauch sentenced Bunch Nov. 6 to 15 years in prison on each count. The sentences run concurrently.

Russell pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree statutory sodomy. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison on each charge by Circuit Court Judge Ted House. Russell’s sentences also run concurrently.

For more crime information on O'Fallon Patch, see the following articles:

• Tee Kay Babysitters Charged with Molesting Children
• O'Fallon Man Indicted On Child Molestation Charges
• O'Fallon Woman Awakes to Man Standing Over Her Bed