Tuesday, August 31, 2004
The prosecutor thought the sentence should have been 18 months longer.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Judge R. Scott Krichbaum said only two kinds of people are capable of committing the crime George Santullo did.
"You are either [mentally] ill or you are evil," the judge told Santullo. "What you did is certainly evil, but you don't strike me as an evil man. You strike me as someone who needs some help."
What Santullo got, though, is 4 1/2 years in prison for molesting a teen-aged boy. He had pleaded guilty in March to four counts of gross sexual imposition. He was sentenced Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Santullo, 44, of Austintown, admitted that he engaged in improper sexual conduct with an Austintown boy over a three-year period, ending last year when the victim was 17. Santullo and the victim were related.
"I am guilty," Santullo said, reading from a written statement. "I had a conscious choice to avoid those crimes and I made the wrong choice."
He apologized to the victim and his family, to his own family, and to the authorities who investigated and prosecuted the case.
Assistant Prosecutor Dawn Krueger had asked for a six-year sentence, but Judge Krichbaum opted for the lesser term.
Evaluation
Dr. Thomas Eberle, a Pittsburgh psychologist hired by the defense to evaluate Santullo, said he does not believe Santullo presents a risk of committing such acts again.
He said Santullo was reeling from a string of several personal losses over a nine-year period, including the deaths of his grandparents and two failed marriages, the first of which caused him to lose contact with his son.
The loss of a relationship with his son is what drove him into a "non-platonic" relationship with the victim, leading to the inappropriate sexual contact, Dr. Eberle said.
"This relationship grew out of a unique set of circumstances," he said, adding that he does not believe Santullo is a pedophile.
Defense attorney Dennis DiMartino said Santullo, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, was "starved for affection and love" because of his personal losses. But he said those feelings do not justify Santullo's "despicable" actions.
"I just don't understand how someone could do this," Judge Krichbaum said.
bjackson@vindy.com