Sex crimes predator sentenced to decades

A 54-year-old Plymouth man has been sentenced to a significant criminal term after being convicted of sex crimes involving his son. The man, who was accused of endangering his child’s welfare by grooming him to be a sexual partner, will serve between 35 and a half and 71 years in state prison. The man’s wife, who was convicted of raping her son, will spend more than 40 years in custody. In addition to the alleged sexual abuse perpetrated against the man’s son, he is accused of abusing two other minor girls in 2002 and 2005. He was convicted on 13 counts of sexual abuse in those cases, including aggravated indecent assault of a child and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child. Jurors convicted him on criminal charges in those cases in April 2012. The man was convicted on the six counts related to his son’s case in December 2012, but sentencing was delayed by the man’s attorneys. The defendant in this case was adamant about his innocence, saying that he had never participated in the crimes of which he was accused. In the most recent case, the couple is accused of effectively torturing their son, forcing him to have sexual intercourse with his mother and exposing him to graphic pornography from a very young age. Experts at the sentencing hearing testified that the Pennsylvania man should be classified as a sexually violent predator. Further, he can be categorized as suffering from pedophilia, a legitimate psychiatric condition. Even though this man’s crimes may seem horrifying, he deserved a fair legal trial. His attorneys attempted to request additional sentencing delays to find an expert witness, but a judge in the case refused to provide more time. Even those defendants who are accused of violent sexual crimes against children deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. An arrest or arraignment for these charges does not automatically imply guilt. Source:  citizensvoice.com, “Judge sentences ‘monster’ sex offender” Denise Allabaugh, Oct. 29, 2013