Forest Hill Man Pleads Guilty to Sexual Child Abuse

From the Harford County State’s Attorney’s Office:

Brian Joseph Flynn, age 38, of Forest Hill, Maryland, entered a guilty plea on February 9, 2012, in the Circuit Court for Harford County on one count of sex abuse of a minor and one count of a second degree sex offense of a minor. The case was in the second day of trial when the defendant decided to change his plea from not guilty. The victim, who was four years old at the time of the offense and is now five, had not yet testified.

Another child, age eight, who had witnessed the abuse, testified the day before. The plea agreement calls for a sentence of 45 years, with all but 20 years of that sentence to be suspended. The defendant will also be placed on lifetime sexual offender supervision and will also be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He will be required to undergo substance abuse and mental health treatment, and will not be permitted any unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18.

The abuse was reported to the Maryland State Police in July of 2011, after the four year old child disclosed the abuse to a family member. The case was referred to detectives from the Harford County Child Advocacy Center for investigation. Mr. Flynn was arrested that day by detectives and has been held at the Harford County Detention Center pending his trial. Judge Emory Plitt ordered a pre-sentence investigation and sentencing has not yet been scheduled.