Menu
Cloverdale man, 71, gets 20-year sentence in child-molesting case
A 71-year-old Cloverdale man who admitted to sexual contact with a 12-year-old relative was sentenced Monday afternoon to what appears tantamount to life in prison.
Daniel C. Stevens was sentenced to 20 years in the Indiana Department of Correction by Special Judge Blaine Akers in Putnam Circuit Court after defense attorney James Holder argued in vain that Stevens was getting what amounted to capital punishment. Holder fought to have his client freed on probation with home detention monitored by Community Corrections and a future framed by counseling and therapy.
The defense attorney reasoned that a 20-year sentence was effectively sending Stevens, already "100 percent disabled" and wheelchair-bound, "off to die."
Judge Akers, however, reversed Holder's logic as he pronounced sentencing.
"If anybody, in my opinion, is serving capital punishment here, it's the victim," the judge said.
"You (Stevens) effectively have killed the innocence of the victim and shall be punished for it."
Holder called several witnesses, mostly members of the Stevens family, who explained how much they need their husband and father at home for their well-being and support, including financially.
"I sympathize with your family," Akers continued, "but I sympathize more with the victim. This young girl, her life's changed, too. I know you know that, and if you could take it back, you would."
"With a heavy heart to all the families," Akers sentenced Stevens to 20 years in prison, the minimum sentence for a Level 1 felony.
Stevens pleaded guilty last August to two counts of child molesting as a Level 1 felony and two counts of the same crime as a Level 4 felony in a plea deal with the Prosecutor's Office. Level 1 felonies carry a 20- to 40-year sentence (with an advisory sentence of 30 years), while Level 4 felonies are punishable by 2-12 years.
Under terms of the plea agreement, Stevens' sentence was capped at 20 years. Under the new Indiana criminal code, he will have to serve 75 percent of his prison sentence.
The sentencing also requires Stevens to register as a sex offender for life and finds him a sexually violent predator under Indiana code.
"I'm afraid had this gone to trial," Akers suggested, "that sentencing would have been greater than what I imposed."
The judge recommended that Stevens be held in a facility in which he can receive mental health counseling and therapy for his sexual issues.
"It's beyond my comprehension that what you did could have happened," Akers said, adding that the "victim will be the one who will also be punished."
Although both Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter and witnesses were cautioned about straying from the facts of the one case in which Stevens was charged to explore "other uncharged alleged offenses," at least two witnesses -- including defense witness Thomas Morgan, Stevens' counselor -- indicated the defendant had been involved with more than one family victim.
One prosecution witness -- not the parent of the victim of note -- said of Stevens, "he has ruined my children's lives ... He needs to go to prison for life."
On the witness stand, she also said, "it's a generational thing. He's done it in the past."
Judge Akers suggested that testimony move past that aspect, noting that "Mr. Morgan (the psychotherapist who counseled Stevens) told me what I needed to know, this is not isolated. We don't need to beat up the rest of the family."
Akers suggested there was such a division in the family that it could not be fixed regardless what sentence he imposed.
Stevens was arrested Feb. 24 as the result of an investigation that began last Jan. 14 when the Putnam County Department of Child Services was notified of alleged sexual improprieties.
Court documents note that the child notified her school counselor of the incidents, reporting that the alleged sexual misconduct had occurred "more than 10 times."
Varying degrees of sexual contact, including sexual intercourse, had taken place, court records show.