Belmont County Man Sentenced to 11 Years for Raping Young Girl
ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Belmont County Common Pleas Judge Frank Fregiato rejected a recommended sentence of 10 years for an 18-year-old man convicted of rape of a minor and instead imposed the maximum of 11 years.
The judge said he made his decision after seeing that court documents indicated the defendant had committed such an offense before. He was designated a Tier 3 sex offender.
Evan Porter, now 18 with a last known address in St. Clairsville, had entered a guilty plea to first-degree rape of a minor. Porter was 17 at the time of the offense. His case was originally in juvenile court, but the Belmont County Prosecutor’s Office said the facts of the case made it appropriate that he be sentenced as an adult.
The now 12-year-old victim and her father both chose to speak prior to sentencing.
“You hurt my daughter, a lot,” the father said. “I could never forgive you, because you took something away from her … That’s my little baby. I’m supposed to protect her.”
He said he hopes Porter gets help.
The victim spoke briefly about the lasting mental and emotional struggles.
“It’s ruined my life,” she said.
Belmont County Public Defender Frank Pierce read a statement from Porter, who was too emotional to speak.
“Words cannot describe how sorry I am for my own actions, but sorry doesn’t cut it for these types of things,” Pierce read. “It should never have happened .. .mental scars that were caused were and still are traumatizing for her and her family. I take full responsibility for my actions, and the amount of pain and suffering I’ve cause her family and her.”
Fregiato reviewed several letters he had received from the victim and family members, and pointed out the violent circumstances of the crime and the lasting emotional impact on the victim and her family.
“(She) reported being raped to her school counselor. Being raped on 10 separate occasions,” Fregiato said.
“In addition to the guilty plea of a felony 1 rape, if I go back to the pre-sentence investigation, we have in 2013 an adjudicated delinquency based upon what would have been an F-1 rape charge. Then we have a 2014 F-1 rape charge, which was dismissed,” Fregiato said.
Afterward, the prosecutor’s office indicated that adjudicated delinquency is the equivalent of a guilty conviction in adult court.
Pierce said there was an insufficiency of admissible evidence in the 2014 case. Fregiato said that in the 2013 case, the victim was 4 years old.
“That underlying offense was the main reason why our office felt that the bind-over to adult court was necessary,” Belmont County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan said.
“Upon review of the file and everything I see, we have a repeat rapist. That’s what we’ve got here,” Fregiato said. “I can’t help his age. We have a repeat rapist. This court intends to send a signal that rape will not be tolerated at Belmont County, Ohio, of anyone, but especially not of a child.”
Fregiato imposed the maximum sentence of 11 years.
Afterward, Flanagan further elaborated on the process of binding over a juvenile case to adult court.
“The law requires us to go through and prove to a juvenile court judge that essentially all of the efforts in juvenile court would be useless when it comes to rehabilitation,” Flanagan said.
Flanagan said that under the plea agreement, Porter will have no opportunity for parole or early release, and will serve the complete sentence.
“He will never be able to get an early release,” he said. “He will do the entire sentence.”
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