From sea to shining sea!
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A judge sentenced a Madison man Wednesday to three years in prison for sexually assaulting his younger stepsister while she spent years locked in the family's basement being abused and starved, bringing an end to a case that shocked Wisconsin's capital city.
Dane County Circuit Judge Julie Genovese also gave the 20-year-old man an additional two years for sexually assaulting his then-15-year-old girlfriend in 2011. The sentences will run consecutively.
The sentences come about eight months after Genovese sentenced him to 15 months in prison for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girlfriend in 2011. He got credit for time served in jail in his stepsister's case and didn't have to spend any time in prison, though.
Assistant District Attorney Matthew Moeser asked the judge to give the man a combined 30 years in prison in the two pending cases, describing him as a conniving sexual predator.
"He has a pattern of sexual offenses that are unrivaled at his age," Moeser said. "He is a dangerous person who seems to have no ability to stop lying, stop manipulating."
The man's attorney, Ronald Benavides, pleaded for leniency. He contended the offenses took place when his client was a teenager, he had been in a relationship with his former girlfriend for seven months, everyone lies and the man grew up in a home with "socially bizarre norms."
The man gave a rambling 40-minute speech to the judge, pleading with her for another chance. He said he'll be punished for the rest of his life because he'll have to register as a sex offender and won't be able to have contact with minors.
"Thank God," his ex-girlfriend's father whispered from the courtroom gallery's front row, where he watched the proceedings along with his daughter.
