By GINA KINSLOW
Glasgow Daily Times
GLASGOW —
A Hart County babysitter, several of her family members and two other men were arraigned Tuesday in Hart Circuit Court on additional charges in connection with a sex abuse case.
Patricia Buster, 44, of Bonnieville, pleaded not guilty to numerous charges. She was indicted by a Hart County grand jury on March 2 on the following charges: 17 counts of first-degree complicity to rape of a victim under the age of 12; nine counts of first-degree complicity to sodomy involving a victim under the age of 12; and 331 counts of first-degree complicity to sexual abuse of a victim under the age of 12, said Munfordville Police Chief Greg Atwell.
She was initially indicted in February by a Hart County grand jury on the following charges: six counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a victim under the age of 12; two counts of first-degree rape; six counts of first-degree complicity to rape; one count of unlawful imprisonment; and one count of complicity to unlawful imprisonment, he said.
Patricia Buster previously had been arrested on sexual charges. She pleaded guilty to one count of complicity to first-degree sexual abuse in March 2008 and was sentenced to five years in prison. Her sentence, however, was probated, according to Hart County Circuit Court records.
Her husband, Kenny, was also arraigned on additional charges Tuesday and entered a not guilty plea. He was indicted in the case, along with two of his brothers and two other men, Atwell said.
Kenny Buster is currently serving an 18-year-prison sentence at Luther Lucket Correctional Complex in LaGrange after pleading guilty in August 2007 to three counts of complicity to use of a minor under the age of 16 in a sexual performance; seven counts of first-degree rape; four counts of incest; one count of complicity to first-degree sexual abuse; and two counts of indecent exposure, he said.
Kenny Buster was indicted on March 2 on the following charges: 18 counts of first-degree rape of a victim under the age of 12; 18 counts of first-degree complicity to rape of a victim under the age of 12; nine counts of first-degree sodomy of a victim under the age of 12; nine counts of first-degree complicity to sodomy of a victim under the age of 12; 331 counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a victim under the age of 12; 331 counts of first-degree complicity to sexual abuse; one count of first-degree unlawful imprisonment; and one count of complicity to unlawful imprisonment, Atwell said.
Others charged in connection with the case had visited Kenny and Patricia Buster’s home when children were present, he said.
Mark Puckett, 39, of Cub Run, turned himself in on Feb. 20, and Leslie Melton, 44, of Munfordville, was arrested in Lancaster on March 2. Melton entered a not guilty plea Tuesday. Puckett was also in court Tuesday but his case was set for review, according to court records.
Puckett was indicted on the following charges: first-degree rape of a victim under the age of 12; first-degree sodomy of a victim under the age of 12; and first-degree sexual abuse of a victim under the age of 12, Atwell said.
Melton was indicted on the following charges: one count each of first-degree rape of a victim under the age of 12 and first-degree complicity to rape of a victim under the age of 12, he said.
Kenny Buster’s brothers, Palmer Buster, also 44, if Munfordville, and Harold Buster, 48, of Bonnieville, were indicted by a Hart County grand jury in February. Palmer Buster was indicted on the following charges: three counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a victim under the age of 12, Atwell said.
Harold Buster was indicted in February on the following charges: one count first-degree rape and one count first-degree complicity to first-degree rape; and 32 counts first-degree sexual abuse, he said.
The alleged acts, which involved at least eight victims under the age of 12, are believed to have occurred between 1990 and 2001, Atwell said.
“They would babysit for people and that’s mainly how they would come in contact with (the children),” he said.
Patricia Buster, Palmer Buster, Harold Buster, Puckett and Melton are all lodged in the Hart County Jail. Each is being held on a $200,000 cash bonds, according to a Hart County Jail spokesperson.
A pretrial conference for all five has been set for June 11.
A search is ongoing for information regarding additional victims.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Munfordville Police Department at (270) 524-5359 or Benson Bell with the Kentucky Department of Protec-tion and Permanency at (270) 524-7111.
