Life for sex abuse of child
Life for sex abuse of child
By Vishal Persaud
Staff writer
Published: Friday, November 16, 2012 at 6:19 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, November 16, 2012 at 6:19 p.m.
An 88-year-old man was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison Friday for sexually molesting his adopted daughter over a 10-year period.
The man, whose name is being withheld to avoid identifying the victim, was charged with three counts of capital sexual battery and two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation on a child.
It took the jury less than a half-hour of deliberation to find the man guilty of all counts.
Once the jury rendered a verdict, Circuit Judge Robert Hodges immediately proceeded to sentence the man to two concurrent life terms in prison for the sexual battery charges.
On the two lewd or lascivious charges, the man was sentenced to 210 months in prison, which will run concurrent with the life sentences.
Earlier Friday, prosecutors played a recorded interview the man had with Inspector Michael Mongeluzzo of the Marion County Sheriff's Office, in which he admitted to the 10 years of sexual abuse.
At first, the man denied any of the allegations. But after some probing from Mongeluzzo, he admitted that he had forced the girl to perform some sexual acts.
He told Mongeluzzo that he also took sexually explicit pictures of the girl and forced her to perform oral sex on him.
"I don't think I'm twisted," the man said to the inspector.
During closing arguments, the man's defense attorney, Assistant Public Defender Gail Grossman, said Mongeluzzo intimidated the man and forced him to admit to the allegations during the interview.
"This confession was coerced by Detective Mongeluzzo," Grossman said.
She also said earlier in the trial that the man was forced to stay in a small interview room at the Marion County Sheriff's Office with no food or water, sitting in an uncomfortable "government" chair.
One of the main points the defense attorney brought up during her closing argument was that the girl refused to go shopping with her adopted mother and decided to stay home alone with the man.
This fact, Grossman said, didn't make sense since the girl testified on Thursday that the sexual abuse would only occur when she and the man were alone at home.
She also said there was no physical evidence to support the girl's allegations.
In her closing argument, Assistant State Attorney Linda Herrick said: "The law does not allow a child to consent to these kinds of acts."
"Clearly," the prosecutor said, "it was lewd and lascivious what this man was doing."
Contact Vishal Persaud at (352) 867-4065, vishal.persaud@starbanner.com or on Twitter @vishalpersaud.