The Abuse did not merit Leniency

A judge sentenced a Ridgefield businessman on Tuesday to eight years, two months in prison for molesting two family members.

Don W. Winton, 53, has been in the Clark County Jail since pleading guilty July 5 to two counts of first-degree child molestation and one count of third-degree child molestation.

He will be transferred to prison Nov. 23.

Defense attorney Tom Phelan argued that Winton should be sentenced to a year in the Clark County Jail and then outpatient therapy for sexual deviants under the state's Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative.

"Mr. Winton is an ideal SSOSA candidate," Phelan said, citing three psychologists who said Winton has done well so far in therapy and is considered a low risk to reoffend.

Superior Court Judge Robert Harris said that while Winton may qualify for SSOSA, the abuse he subjected two young girls to did not merit leniency. Harris sided with Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Kim Farr, who said a SSOSA sentence would be "a pat on the wrist" for the multiple times Winton abused the girls and the emotional scars he has left.

The abuse came to light a year ago, when one girl wrote about it in a notebook discovered by a teacher.

One victim told Harris that Winton used to take her on overnight trips for his import antiques business and abuse her in hotel rooms.

Both victims said they were in elementary school when the abuse began.

One victim, now 21, wrote in her statement, which was read Tuesday in court by a family friend, that she remembers as a young girl watching her mother leave for night classes, hoping she would turn around so she wouldn't be left with Winton.

The victim wrote that she wanted Winton to be humiliated and live in fear in prison so he can begin to understand how she felt all those nights when he came into her bedroom.

The sentence is a minimum term; once that term is complete, Winton could still be ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison by the state's Indeterminate Sentence Review Board.

Before his arrest, Winton was known as a vocal critic of former Ridgefield School Superintendent Mary Vagner. Winton helped defeat a $56 million bond measure in 2005 by arguing that Vagner's administration did not put students' needs first.

Stephanie Rice