A former Lakewood-based Army National Guard recruiter whose crimes were called "sadistic" and "indescribably cruel" by the judge who sentenced him Monday will spend 10 years in prison for the sexual abuse of a minor.
Joshua Carl Harrod, 44, of Spanaway was charged in July 2021 and pleaded guilty in October 2023.
Before he was a recruiter, Harrod was an Air Force special agent at Joint Base Lewis-McChord where the molestation took place. That made it a federal crime.
Between October 2017 and April 2018, Harrod sexually molested a young child who had been left in his care, according to court records. Harrod left the Air Force in 2018 and then worked as a recruiter.
U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle ordered Harrod to be on lifetime supervised release.
"The consequences of many crimes before me do not have the impact that this one does ... Victims of these crimes carry with them a life sentence," Settle said.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, JBLM's Military Police Investigations, the Lakewood Police Department and the Washington State Patrol.
