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Developmentally-disabled man receives 5-year sentence for molesting boy
By Justin Wier
YOUNGSTOWN
A developmentally disabled man who molested a 6-year-old boy received the maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Wilbert Patterson, 56, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to one count of gross sexual imposition in April.
While visiting a relative at a Campbell housing project in September 2015, Patterson found a 6-year-old boy at a playground and lured him inside. The boy said Patterson simulated a sexual act on him.
It wasn’t indicted as a rape only because the child made no mention of penetration, assistant county Prosecutor Jennifer McLaughlin said.
She argued prison was necessary because the victim was a stranger.
“These are the things we all fear,” McLaughlin told the court. “A kid playing on the playground, accosted by a stranger and sexually assaulted.”
The victim’s mother told the court her son didn’t want to go to school because he thought he did something wrong, and she no longer feels safe leaving her son with others.
“He doesn’t deserve to see daylight,” she said. “If he did it once, he’ll do it again.”
Gerald Ingram, Patterson’s defense attorney, noted that Patterson received services through the Mahoning County Board of Developmental Disabilities since he was a child and scored in the first percentile on an intelligence test.
“Physically, he may be a grown man, but mentally and emotionally, he’s like a toddler in my estimation,” Ingram said.
Judge Anthony M. D’Apolito said he was sensitive to Patterson’s capacity, but the child’s vulnerability outweighed any mitigating factors.
“The harm caused here is so terrible that it’s hard to sit here and say that I can do justice,” Judge D’Apolito said.
Imposing the maximum prison sentence of five years was not a difficult decision, the judge added.
Patterson will get credit for the 780 days served in Mahoning County jail.