HARRISONBURG, Va. (AP) — A Massachusetts man will spend a year in prison in Virginia after pleading guilty to child abuse.
Khalif Lateef Sheffield of Lynn, Massachusetts, was accused of forcing his 11-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old girl to ride in the back of a U-Haul truck.
Media outlets report that the 42-year-old Sheffield entered his plea Tuesday in Rockingham County Circuit Court. He also pleaded guilty to drug possession.
Judge Bruce Albertson sentenced Sheffield to 10 years in prison and then suspended all but one year.
Police found the girls locked inside the truck at an Interstate 81 rest stop in Rockingham County last October.
The 4-year-old’s mother, 36-year-old Kathleen M. Duenas of Huntsville, Alabama, pleaded guilty in May to child abuse. She received a 10-year sentence with all but four months suspended.
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