Gainesville man sentenced in child molestation case involving 14-year-old girl when he was 18

On April 28, 19-year-old Taylor Barao of Gainesville was sentenced to four years in the Missouri Department of Corrections by Associate Circuit Judge Elizabeth Bock in Douglas County Court, where the case was transferred on a change of venue motion. 

The sentence was made under Missouri Revised Statute 559.115, which means Barao will be in a 120-day program within the Missouri DoC, during which he could be released on parole or probation or required to serve the longer sentence. 

Barao will also have to complete the Missouri Sex Offender Program (MOSOP), which involves treatment, education and rehabilitation for sexual assault offenders. MOSOP consists of approximately 12 months of therapy.

Barao also will have to register as a sex offender. 

Barao pleaded guilty to the class E felony of fourth degree child molestation in November 2020 in connection with allegations that he’d engaged in sexual conduct with a 14-year-old girl when he was 18.

The offense is defined as when “a person… being more than four years older than a child who is less than seventeen years of age, subjects the child to sexual contact.”