Former Fire Chief McConnell gets 10 years for rape, sodomy

Larry McConnell, the former chief of the Brookline Fire Protection District, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday, Jan. 24, for three counts of second-degree statutory sodomy and one count of second-degree rape.
According to court records, McConnell was sentenced to five years for each of the counts of sodomy, and five years on the count of rape. The sentences for each count of sodomy will run concurrently, but consecutively with the sentence for the count of rape.
McConnell was found guilty of the four charges during a bench trial on Nov. 8, 2019; the verdict followed two days of testimony.
According to the judgement filed in the case, the victim testified that McConnell, now 70, had oral sex with her before she turned 17, and that he had sexual intercourse with her after she turned 17, but she had told him “No” the first time it happened. The judgement also stated that McConnell had several hundred social contacts with the victim, told her once she turned 17, they could have legal sexual intercourse, and stated the victim also gave specific testimony about the incidents between her and McConnell.
According to the grand-jury indictment in the case, McConnell was charged with having deviate sexual intercourse with the victim between Sept. 1, 2015 and March 1, 2016, and he was charged with raping her between March 2, 2016 and April 30, 2017.
After he was originally indicted in 2018, McConnell posted a $25,000 bond and remained free until the day of the bench trial. After being found guilty, McConnell was taken into custody again, but posted a $50,000 bond and remained free until the day of sentencing. He is being held in custody at the Greene County Jail, pending his transfer to the Missouri Department of Corrections.
Judge Calvin Holden, of the 31st Judicial Circuit, presided over both the bench trial and sentencing.