An admitted pedophile from Clearfield who pleaded guilty to a sodomy-upon-a-child has been ordered to serve a minimum of 21 years in the state prison, a 2nd District judge ordered Tuesday.
Citing his criminal record of sex crimes against children going back to 1967, Judge Douglas L Cornaby sentenced Richard G. Sullivan, 44, to a 15-year minimum mandatory term and then added two three-year minimum mandatory enhancement terms, to run consecutively.Sullivan pleaded guilty to one of two charges of sodomy upon a child, both first-degree felonies that carry a five-year-to-life prison term with a minimum mandatory term of five, 10 or 15 years. Sullivan faced additional enhancements because of his prior convictions.
The incident involved a 6- and 9-year-old boy that Sullivan was babysitting in his Clearfield mobile home last Dec. 14.
On the stand in his sentencing hearing Tuesday, Sullivan admitted his prior record and said he was diagnosed as a pedophile, an evaluation he said he concurs with. He also described himself as somewhat of a loner, a description refuted by his family and friends who later testified on his behalf.
Sullivan, a Vietnam War veteran, said he worked mostly as a janitor and maintenance worker and at one time had his own janitorial service.
Defense attorney Rober Neely portrayed Sullivan to Judge Cornaby as, with the exception of his sexual aberration, a regular guy who holds down a job, pays his bills, has no other criminal record and has friends in the community.
Neely asked for the minimum mandatory term of five years and for the enhancements to run consecutively. Prosecutor Carvel Harward, pointing to Sullivan's sex-crime convictions dating back to 1967, asked for the maximum sentence.
Cornaby called contentions by defense witnesses that Sullivan was a victim or had been set up for the crime "absolute nonsense." He also noted that Sullivan was babysitting the two boys and held a position of trust when he abused them.
In addition to the 21-year minimum mandatory prison term, Cornaby also fined Sullivan the maximum amount of $10,000.