Lafayette County Prosecuting Attorney Kristen Hillbrener announces that Martin Constante, Jr, 38, of Lexington, Missouri was convicted on February 5 of two counts of statutory rape and one count of possession of child pornography, along with two other felonies.

At trial, evidence was introduced that Constante committed these acts at a hotel located in Lexington as well as at a local orchard. Numerous witnesses testified over the course of the three-day trial, which was litigated by Prosecutor Kristen Hilbrenner.

Charges were filed in January of 2023, after the child disclosed during a forensic interview, conducted at Child Safe in Sedalia, that she had been raped on more than one occasion by the defendant. The mother of the child located photographs of the victim on the phone belonging to the defendant, and she turned the phone over to law enforcement. Officers then scheduled a forensic interview of the child, which led to the arrest of Constante.

Following the guilty verdict, at the sentencing hearing on March 16, 2026, the prosecutor asked for the maximum sentences on each of the counts, arguing that these types of heinous crimes deserve nothing less than the maximum. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Honorable Joshua P. Taylor sentenced the defendant to the maximum: thirty years on each of the statutory rape counts and to seven years on the possession of child pornography count, with all of those sentences to run consecutively. The defendant was sentenced to four years on the remaining counts, with those sentences to run concurrently. The end result was a total of sixty-seven years in the Department of Corrections.

This case is another example of the Lafayette County Prosecutor’s Office taking disclosures of child sexual abuse seriously and pursuing justice when the evidence supports prosecution. “These types of cases are awful for everyone involved. It is traumatic for the victims and their families to have to live through. It is difficult for law enforcement to investigate these cases, as there is rarely any physical evidence or witnesses, because these types of crimes are typically committed in secret, behind closed doors, when no one else is around. And it is awful for the juries to have to hear about these types of brutal crimes being committed against our children. However, these victims deserve justice, so it is worth every resource we have and every ounce of effort it takes to pursue that justice on their behalf,” said Ms. Hilbrenner.

You can help protect children from abuse and neglect by knowing the warning signs and reporting suspected abuse. To report suspected abuse, please call the Missouri Child Abuse Hotline 24/7 at 1-800-392-3738.