A disgraced Indiana politician was thrown behind bars Thursday for getting his daughter plastered on Long Island iced teas on her 21st birthday – then sexually assaulting her when she passed out.
“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” John Jessup, 50, told his daughter Rachel Keesling during the birthday trip to Sin City in January last year, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Jessup was slapped with a six-to-15 year prison term for the disturbing assault, during which he served as the commissioner of Hanock County, Indiana. He was initially charged with sexual assault but pleaded down to attempted sexual assault as part of a deal with prosecutors.
Keesling delivered an emotional statement before his sentencing in court – saying that she publicly identified herself after her father was elected to the council despite the twisted allegations.
“Since my biological father sexually assaulted me on Jan. 26 last year, my life feels like it’s shattered,” Keesling told the court.
Keesling, who was adopted by her stepfather and changed her last name from Jessup to Keesling the day before the hearing, said she is glad the ordeal is behind her.
“I’m processing a lot right now in all aspects,” Keesling said after the decision.
She described her dad’s actions as “sickening.”
The birthday trip to Harrah’s Las Vegas was supposed to be a fun-loving jaunt it quickly turned into a nightmare, according to prosecutors and court records.
Jessup and his daughter started gambling and drinking on the floor of the casino. Despite feeling unwell, he urged his daughter to “keep up” with him, according to prosecutors. He plied her with three Long Island iced teas. She wanted to stop, but he pushed on.
“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” he told his daughter before taking her to a strip club. While he slinked off to a private room while she stayed at the bar.
When he was done, his daughter was so drunk she needed to be taken back to the hotel room in a wheelchair, records show.
She took a shower with all her clothes on, and at some point fell asleep. She awoke to find her father sexually assaulting her. He only stopped when she started moving.
As part of the terms of the plea deal with prosecutors from the Clark County District Attorney’s Office, Jessup must serve a minimum of six years behind bars and can never have contact with his daughter or the rest of his family for the rest of his life.
He also must register as a sex offender.
“I’m not the same man I was,” Jessup said in court.
Since the assault and her father’s betrayal, Keesling has had to attend therapy and psychiatrists have diagnosed her with a host of mental illnesses including post-traumatic stress disorder. She suffers from panic attacks and had to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases.
Jessup, who was serving as the county commissioner at the time of the assault, ran for a seat in the Hancock city council while these accusations were swirling around him. The allegations about what he had done to his daughter did not stop the voters of Hancock from electing the perv into a new office.
He has since formally resigned.
“Fathers are supposed to protect their children. They’re not supposed to violate them when they are vulnerable,” said Deputy District Attorney Morgan Thomas.
