OCONEE, S.C. (AP/WSPA) — An Oconee County couple has been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a child over the course of several years.
Anthony Hugh Sluder, 67, of Westminster, pleaded guilty Monday to five counts each of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, Tenth Judicial Court Solicitor David Wagner said in a news release.
Judge Cordell Maddox sentenced him to 25 years, according to the release.
Sluder’s wife, Edna Sluder, 56, pleaded guilty Wednesday to the same charges, according to Wagner. Maddox sentenced her to 20 years, he said.
The victim reported the crimes to the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office last December, Wagner said. He recounted years of repeated and continuous sexual abuse at the hands of both the Sluders over multiple years in the 2000s during his early adolescence, Wagner said.
When confronted by law enforcement, the Sluders confessed to repeatedly abusing the boy as a form of punishment for not completing things such as ordinary household chores, referring to the punishment as “naked sessions,” Wagner said.
“The crimes perpetrated by Anthony and Edna Sluder are some of the most disturbing that I have seen during the course of my prosecutorial career,” Wagner said. “The victim, in this case, has suffered immensely and I hope this resolution will provide some measure of justice for him. Anthony and Edna Sluder deserve every day in prison that they received.”
