TEXARKANA, Ark–A 79-year-old Miller County man who has been required to register as a sex offender since pleading guilty to multiple child sex crimes in 2022 is facing a new allegation of child sexual abuse.
Willard Page was arrested Wednesday on a charge of sexual assault and released Thursday after posting a $100,000 bond, records show. Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell said the charge involves a girl who is now 14, however, the sexual abuse allegedly occurred in 2017, when she was approximately 6 years of age.
Page was charged in 2019 with three counts of sexual abuse of a child involving a girl who was sexually abused by Page when she was 4 to 8 years of age. A jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict at trial in 2021, leading Circuit Judge Carlton Jones to declare a mistrial.
Rather than face a second jury, Page pled guilty in February 2022 in exchange for a probated sentence. As a result of those convictions, he is required to register as a sex offender.
If found guilty of second-degree sexual assault, Page faces five to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $15,000.
