NEWS

Man sentenced to 11 years in prison for incest, statutory rape

Harrison Keegan
HKEEGAN@NEWS-LEADER.COM

A Springfield man who impregnated a juvenile relative was sentenced to 11 years in prison last week.

Steven DeMaranville, 36, pleaded guilty on Friday to statutory rape, statutory sodomy and incest — all felonies — in a case that police say left a baby with a blood disease.

DeMaranville was sentenced to six years in prison for the statutory rape charge, six years for the sodomy charge and four years for the incest charges. Those charges will run concurrently. As part of his plea agreement, however, DeMaranville will also serve a 5-year sentence for a drug charge on top of the jail time related to impregnating a relative.

According to a probable cause statement, an officer was called to Mercy Hospital in August to assist child welfare workers from the Children's Division on an investigation after a 2-month-old child was diagnosed with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a type of "blood cancer" that is sometimes a result of incest.

Police say the mother, who is now 17 but was 16 at the time she was impregnated, admitted that DeMaranville was the father.

Police say the teen has an IQ of 67 and might not "comprehend the severity of the situation."

Police arrested DeMaranville in August and say that during an interview, he admitted to having sex with the baby's mother.

Some information — such as names of victims, relationships with a defendant or locations of crimes — can be missing in News-Leader stories about sexual offenses and domestic abuse. That's due in part to a state law that redacts the identities of victims, making some information unavailable to report. The News-Leader also tries to protect victim identities, unless victims want to speak out.