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Hale, Ronnie - Grat Lust
Hale, Ronnie - Grat Lust
Media Release
For Immediate Release For more information, please contact
Thursday, April 25, 2024 (601) 825-1472
Madison and Rankin Counties’ District Attorney Bubba Bramlett, announced today that Ronnie
Hales, 44, pled guilty to one count of gratification of lust for molesting his then-girlfriend’s ten
year old daughter. He was sentenced to serve 10 years in the Mississippi Department of
Corrections without the possibility of early release or parole. Hales will have to register as a sex
offender upon his release.
On February 11, 2023, investigators with the Ridgeland Police Department received a complaint
of sexual abuse involving a minor female. The child had reported to her biological father that her
mother’s boyfriend had been molesting her since she was eight years old. Officers immediately
began an investigation which included a forensic interview of the child through the Child
Advocacy Center. A forensic interview is a child friendly conversation with children who are
alleged victims of sexual or physical abuse. During this process, a trained specialist asks non-
leading questions in a manner as to limit further trauma to the child while also getting any details
of abuse. During her interview, the child disclosed multiple incidents of sexual abuse at the hands
of the Defendant. The child explained that most of these incidents of abuse had occurred in her
bed.
Based on her disclosures, investigators executed a search warrant at Hales’ home, which he shared
with the child’s mother. They seized several items from the home including the sheets from the
child’s bed. The Mississippi Crime Lab tested the sheets and located a substance on the sheets
which indicated possible seminal fluid as well as the Defendant’s DNA.
District Attorney Bramlett stated, “We would like to thank the many state agencies who worked
together to ensure my office could obtain a conviction in this matter. The Ridgeland Police
Department, the Mississippi Children’s Advocacy Center, and the Mississippi Crime Lab were all
crucial parts of the investigative process in this case. We hope the minor child in this matter can
now have some closure in this matter and move forward from her abuse.”
Defendant: