The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

May 1, 2009

UPDATE: Rapist sentenced to 5 to 10 years for long abusing ‘friend’

By Matt Snyder

STONEBORO — A 22-year-old Stoneboro man talked about the time he and his friend, a girl five years his junior who was “like a sister” to him, performed a song in church. He played guitar, she sang. He said he was proud.

Chad Stewart Thompson, formerly of 60 Oak St., will now spend 5 to 10 years behind bars for raping that girl over a period of years, starting when she was 7 or 8 and he was 13.

“Like everyone’s said, she was like a sister to me and she trusted me and I betrayed her, and everybody else,” Thompson told Common Pleas Court Judge John C. Reed. “To think I caused her pain and her family pain, it just tears me up.”

Thompson said he didn’t expect forgiveness, but said he was “very, very sorry.” He said he made terrible mistakes at 15.

Assistant District Attorney Ryan Bonner asked him if he had regrets for the three years Thompson had been convicted for raping the girl after he was 15 — his crimes continued until he was 18.

Thompson disagreed and said the girl was encouraged to exaggerate some of his crimes because of the severity of the ones he did commit.

“The jury’s verdict speaks for itself,” Reed said. Thompson was convicted on July 23 last year. He was found guilty of rape, statutory sexual assault, three counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, three counts of aggravated indecent assault, corruption of minors, four counts of indecent assault and rape of a child.

According to Reed, he never testified and spent the entire trial with his head buried, never looking at the jurors or the witnesses.

Since then, Reed said, Thompson also attempted suicide once in jail. He cut himself with a small, thin razor issued by the jail but was unable to cut any deep tissue, Reed said at the time.

Because of his apparent remorse at trial, his youth, and lack of a prior record, Reed sentenced Thompson below the standard range. Bonner had asked for a 15-year sentence.

Police said Thompson took the girl on walks through the woods near her home almost daily and touched her inappropriately starting in 1999. Later, he would have her undress and have sex with her. He also threatened to kill her if she told anyone, the victim told police.

The rapes and sexual assaults happened in Lake Township, Stoneboro and Sandy Lake, continuing until Thompson was 18 and the girl was 12 and 13.

Cathy L. Clover, a psychologist and member of the state Sex Offender Assessment Board, said Thompson qualifies as a sexually violent predator because of his interest in pre-pubescent girls and because he “groomed” her to perform various acts.

Defense attorney Douglas E. Straub argued that Thompson was on the borderline for the minimum ages when someone is typically diagnosed with pedophilia, and that the guidelines suggest young adolescents not be diagnosed as such.

Ms. Clover said that is true for boyfriend-girlfriend relationships, but that Thompson’s relationship with the girl was more predatory.

Reed ruled that Thompson is a sexually violent predator under state guidelines. “It breaks my heart to make the ruling that I did,” Reed said. “But the commonwealth has met its burden of proof.”

Thompson will have to register as a Megan’s Law sex offender for life.

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