in his evaluation Long mentioned he had five other victims
A Salem man will serve a half-century in prison for repeatedly raping his girlfriend's preschool-age daughter.
Darrell Richard Long Jr., 30, began having sexual intercourse with the girl when she was 4. He kept abusing the girl even after she told her mother and the woman confronted him, Marion County Circuit Judge Mary James said in passing sentence Friday.
"What did you do? You went right back at her and raped her again," James told Long. "You could have stopped. You could have at least removed yourself from the home. You could have at least turned yourself in."
The crimes went on for a year and a half and came to light only after the girl, now 6, began kindergarten and told her school guidance counselor, Deputy District Attorney Jodie Bureta said.
Long pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree rape in November.
James sentenced him to 25 years in prison for each count, the sentence recommended by Bureta. Because rape is a Measure 11 crime, Long will have to serve the full sentence.
"The defendant needs to be locked up for as long as possible," Bureta told the judge. "Essentially, the state is seeking a life sentence for this defendant."
His face expressionless, Long sat with his head down and shoulders slumped throughout the hearing. He did not speak when given the opportunity.
A Marion County jury convicted the girl's mother, Ainer Williams, in January on sixcounts of first-degree criminal mistreatment for failing to protect her daughter after the girl told her of Long's sexual abuse.
"She told her daughter she would take care of it, and not to tell anyone," Bureta said. "Knowing that, she continued to let him sleep in the same room alone with her and baby-sit her while she was at work, and the abuse continued."
The girl testified before a grand jury and at her mother's trial.
"She's a very strong and brave little girl," Bureta said.
She and her older sister, 12, now live with separate foster families, as do Long's two sons, ages 3 and 4.
The girl's aunt, Empress Davis-Sloan, was the only person to testify at Friday's hearing. She denounced him for hurting the girl and tearing apart a family, saying she is not allowed contact with any of the children to comfort or help them.
"I hope you rot," Davis-Sloan said, then turned away, her face twisted in disgust. "I can't even look at him. I can't even look."
Defense attorney Steven Walls argued his client should only serve 25 years, noting that he had pleaded guilty and accepted responsibility for his actions. SCUMBAG ATTORNEY
"He got zero concession or benefit from his plea," Walls said.
Bureta said Long still is trying to blame others for his actions, noting statements he made during a psychiatric evaluation and in a letter to James that "voices" drive him to do things.
"The things I see and hear drive me to do what I did. The voices I can only ignore for so long before I can't control myself," Long wrote. "I feel like a puppet."
Long also claimed he had been physically abused by his father.
Bureta said that in his evaluation Long mentioned he had five other victims, whom he has not named. The evaluation diagnosed him as a pedophile.
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