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| Senior sentenced for child sex abuse |
| By dailylocal.com |
| Published: 10/01/2010 |
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WEST CHESTER — President Judge James P. MacElree II on Thursday told a Parkesburg man that he wanted to make absolutely certain he knew what the effect of his guilty plea to child sexual abuse charges would be. "You understand that for all practical purposes that with the terms of your sentence there is a good possibility that you will die in prison?" MacElree asked Leonard A. Devlin. "Yes, I do," Devlin answered. Devlin, who pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory sexual assault and endangering the welfare of children, agreed to a sentence of 12 to 25 years in prison. Given that he is now 72 years old, completion of his minimum sentence and eligibility for parole would not come until he is 84 — if, as the judge noted, he lives that long. Devlin, who was charged with sexually assaulting two young girls on numerous occasions between 1986 to 1993, is among the rare but not unusual group of older men who are charged with such crimes in Chester County and who face virtual life sentences because of their age and the seriousness of their alleged offenses. Earlier this month, William Lee Rhoads, a 70-year-old former teacher and baseball coach from Charlestown, was charged with sexually assaulting four young boys over a period of several years. If convicted of the charges against him, each one of the multiple counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse would carry with it a possible mandatory minimum of 10 to 20 years in prison. "This is a horrific crime, and proves once again that predators come in all ages," said First Assistant District Attorney Patrick Carmody last week in discussing Rhoads' arrest. In Devlin's case, the abuse involved two women who are now in their 20s. Between the times that the women were ages 4 to 11, they told Parkesburg Detective Gerald Davis Jr., Devlin would sexually molest them when they were at his house or with him at other locations. They kept information about what happened to themselves until January, when one woman disclosed the abuse to police. The other woman came forward in March. The first of the two women, whose names are being withheld by the Daily Local News because of the nature of the crimes, told Davis she had confronted Devlin in February about the abuse, and said that he admitted the crimes. In an interview with Davis in March, Devlin admitted to sexually assaulting both women when they were young. Defense attorney Francis Miller of West Chester, who represents Devlin, said his client had from the beginning acknowledged his guilt. "He accepts full responsibility for what happened," Miller told MacElree as the judge was considering whether to accept the plea agreement worked out with Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth B. Pitts of the District Attorney's Child Abuse Unit. "He is aware of what he is doing," Miller said. "The last thing he wants to do is put these two girls through a trial." Miller said that had his client either gone to trial and been found guilty, or entered an open guilty plea and allowed MacElree to decide the sentence, he could have faced as much as 74 years in prison. Instead, in exchange for the plea, Pitts had agreed to seek sentences on only two of the counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and statutory sexual assault. Although MacElree accepted the plea and approved the plea bargain, he did not formally sentence Devlin, for two reasons. First, Devlin's case must be reviewed by the state Sexual Offender Assessment Board to determine whether he fits the classification of a sexually violent predator, which would call for his address to be given to neighbors if and when he is released from state prison. Second, Pitts said the two victims of his abuse wanted to appear before MacElree to see the sentence formalized, and they could not attend court on Thursday. MacElree said he would give them an opportunity to attend court and make any statement they wished to enter at a future date. Devlin was arrested and charged in May, and has been incarcerated at Chester County Prison since then. Inmates in state prison who are older than 65 are not assigned to any particular institution, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections said Thursday. They are initially screened at the Camp Hill state prison and transferred to a prison that meets their particular needs. Read More. |
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