Sex offender sentenced to prison for violation in Dothan

A judge sentenced an Ashford sex offender Wednesday to serve five years in prison for working too close to a school.

Circuit Court Judge Ed Jackson sentenced Samuel Wadsworth, 38, of U.S. 84 East, to serve five years for each of the four felony violations of the community notification act he’d pleaded guilty to on Wednesday. Jackson ordered the sentences to run concurrently.

Wadsworth apparently had worked at a tattoo parlor in the Dixie community for about a month before his arrest. Wadsworth was on probation for a sex abuse conviction involving an 11-year-old girl. Wadsworth pleaded guilty to working too close to a school and day care, which included a Houston County alternative school called Hope High School and Colorfull Wonderland Daycare.

Valerie Judah, who represented Wadsworth, said her client declined to apply for probation on the charges because he was wanted in Russell County where the original sex crime happened.