COLUMBUS Board denies parole for sex offender
The Youngstown man was convicted in 1989 for raping two girls.
By MARC KOVAC
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- The state parole board reversed an earlier decision to release a Youngstown man convicted of raping two young girls.
Clyde Beck, 57, has served more than 17 years of a 25-year sentence.
Parole board Chairwoman Cynthia B. Mausser said a majority of the nine members agreed that the inmate should serve the maximum sentence and that the decision "best furthers the interest of justice in the case."
Beck was convicted of multiple counts of sexually abusing the girls over several years in the late 1980s. He has been in prison since November 1989 and is incarcerated at the Madison Correctional Institution.
Mausser said Beck had appeared before the board seven times, with a panel late last year recommending he be released on or after April 2. Tuesday's hearing provided a final opportunity for the victims and prosecutor to argue against parole.
Barry Wilford, legal counsel for the inmate, said Beck was suitable for release after having sex offender, domestic violence and substance abuse counseling during his incarceration. "Clyde Beck has [participated in] every form of rehabilitative programming he could obtain," he said.
Wilford said Beck has earned a bachelor's degree while in prison and, citing a letter from a doctor, is aware what he did was wrong and feels guilt and empathy toward his victims.
Medical condition
Wilford added that the inmate suffered two heart attacks in 1995 and a quadruple bypass after the second. He remains under medical supervision. If released, Wilford said Beck would have relocated to the San Jose area in California and would have lived in a trailer park as arranged by his family, who live nearby. The state parole board there has OK'd the move, Wilford said.
A sister and brother-in-law attended Tuesday's hearing on Beck's behalf.
Luwayne Annos, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, countered that Beck was a danger to the public and likely to re-offend. "I think this is a dangerous pedophile who should not be released into our community again," she said.
Citing another doctor's input and other reports in the case file, Annos said Beck displayed cruelty in his sexual offenses, that there were other victims and that he admitted beating his spouses (he was married three times). "If he gets out, he's always going to be a pedophile," she said.
Several victims made emotional pleas for the board to hold Beck for the maximum sentence, recounting the acts committed against them and the lasting effects the abuse has had on their lives.
"It happened everyday -- every single day -- from the time we were 6 years old until we were able ... to escape from this man," one of the victims said. "This man is so horrible, there are no words that I can say to you that would make you understand what we went through. ... I will receive no parole, I will deal with this for the rest of my life. And there's nothing that can be done about that."
Another recalled broken bones, cigarette burns and continued physical and sexual abuse and manipulation. "I was never a kid," she said. "If he gets out, there's no maybe. He'll do this again. I guarantee he'll do this again."
mkovac@dixcom.com.