‘You deserve every century that I’m going to give you’: Judge sentences laughing child molester to 576 YEARS in prison
A man convicted of sexually assaulting a young girl has been sentenced to almost 600 years in prison, and laughed at the judge before his sentence was announced.
Richard Heeringa, 57, who was captured last year in Detroit, was sentenced Thursday to 576 years to life in prison on 17 counts of sexually assaulting a child.
Heeringa laughed after the judge asked if he had anything to say to the court. Judge Paul King responded: ‘If you’re laughing now, stay tuned. You deserve every century that I’m going to give you.’
Heeringa, who had been on the run for 18 months before his capture, declined to address the judge in Douglas County District Court and laughed as his sentence was read, thedenverchannel.com reported.
He was accused of sexually abusing a girl over a span of three years beginning when she was 12.
Thedenverchannel.com reported that Heeringa befriended the girl’s mother and gained her trust.
The girl reported Heeringa in 2007 after she left her mother’s home, according to Douglas County district attorney spokeswoman Casimir Spencer.
Hearing about the girl’s story, other victims of Heeringa stepped forward.
His trial was in 2010, but he fled the state just before the jury announced its guilty verdict, a point to which Mr King reprimanded him.
Heeringa eventually made the U.S. Marshal’s 15 Most Wanted Fugitive list.
He was apprehended when a resident recognized him from a picture on ‘America’s Most Wanted.’
According to authorities, Heeringa would try to befriend divorced women in hopes of getting to spend time with their daughters.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2129624/Richard-Heeringa-Judge-sentences-child-molester-576-YEARS-prison.html#ixzz1s1eHGyka
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