NEWTON — A Webster County man serving time in the Newton Correctional Facility on charges of lascivious acts with a child has died.

Abel M. Rodriguez Jr., 80, was pronounced dead at 10:56 p.m. on Monday. He was 80 years old at the time of his death.

Rodriguez was serving a 10-year prison sentence for second-degree sexual abuse and lascivious acts with a child. He was arrested in January 2021. The alleged offenses happened in August 2020.

During his trial in 2022, Rodriguez entered an Alford plea to one count of lascivious acts with a child. An Alford plea is one in which the defendant maintains his innocence, but accepts that a jury could find him guilty based on the strength of the state’s case. Under the plea agreement, the second-degree sexual abuse charge was dismissed.

Rodriguez began serving his sentence on May 23, 2022.