A convicted child sex offender in Louisiana has been sentenced to both surgical and chemical castration after pleading guilty to the attempted rape of a 7-year-old girl, according to a report by Fox 12.
Thomas Allen McCartney, 37, classified as a "Tier Three" sex offender, accepted the plea deal on Tuesday. In addition to the castration procedures, McCartney will serve 40 years in prison as part of the agreement.
The case involved an attempted first-degree rape of a child under the age of 13. McCartney has a long history of child sex abuse offenses, authorities confirmed, as per the news portal.
The sentencing marks one of the rare instances in the US where both forms of castration have been ordered together as part of a legal punishment for a sex crime.
According to the news portal, when McCartney was arrested in 2023, authorities said he had been caught sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl. He was already a Tier 3 sex offender in Louisiana, having been previously convicted of attempted aggravated rape in 2011. He was also arrested on one count of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile in 2006 and on two counts of aggravated rape of a 12-year-old in 2010.
"This is a horrific crime that never should have happened. Thomas McCartney is a predator that needs to locked away from others in our community," Vernon Parish District Attorney Terry Lambright.
What Is Chemical Castration?
Chemical castration involves medication to reduce testosterone and lower sex drive, while surgical castration involves removing the testicles to stop hormone production. Both methods aim to decrease sex hormones, but differ in approach: chemical uses medication, while surgical involves a physical procedure to halt hormone production completely.
