Elderly man gets two years for molesting 5-year-old

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The judge, his attorney and even the defendant himself appeared at a loss to determine what happened in the case of a 69-year-old man who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 5-year-old boy.

“I don’t understand how it could have happened or why it could have happened,” said Michael DeBlasio. “I’m sorry for everybody that I had to put through this.”

DeBlasio had no prior criminal record, and the parents of the boy he molested trusted him, attorneys said.

“With all that being said, as long as I’ve sat on the bench, I still have a difficult time understanding how anyone would do this,” said Judge John M. Durkin.

He imposed a two-year sentence on DeBlasio, citing his age, medical issues and a presentence report that determined he was unlikely to reoffend as mitigating factors.

DeBlasio pleaded guilty to sexual battery in June. Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer McLaughlin said DeBlasio confessed touching the boy’s genitals.

“What this defendant did to that little boy turned this happy little boy into a victim of sexual abuse for the rest of his life,” McLaughlin said. “No sentence that you give this defendant is going to take that away.”

Atty. J. Gerald Ingram, who represented DeBlasio, said he will apply for judicial release at the appropriate time.