A Manatee County man has been convicted of molesting a 12-year-old girl over the course of more than a year. In September 2018, the victim told authorities in Palmetto that 37-year-old Courtney Burley had started molesting her when she was just 11, and that the incidents had continued until just a few days before she told authorities what was happening. Burley was convicted of one count of sexual battery and two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation upon a child. A judge sentenced him to life in prison, which is the mandatory sentence for this conviction, and designated Burley a sexual predator.