David Gangi - Repeat Sex Offender

Superior Court Judge Leila Kern called 68-year-old David Gangi "someone with a sex addiction who can't control himself" and sent him back to prison yesterday for assaulting a man in his Andover apartment three years ago.

Gangi, who had two previous sexual assault convictions in 1992 and 1993 involving 14- and 15-year-old boys, was given a maximum sentence of four and a half to five years in state prison to be followed by lifetime parole upon his release.

He was convicted Jan. 30, after a jury trial in Superior Court.

The charges stemmed from a May 2005 incident in which Gangi lured a then 22-year-old man into his apartment at 20 Post Office Ave. in Andover on the pretext of a job interview and then fondled him and touched him inappropriately.

Gangi, short, slender and balding, sat beside his lawyer, Thomas Brant, in Lawrence Superior Court yesterday as Assistant District Attorney Melissa Woodard outlined the facts behind Gangi's two previous sexual assault convictions.

In asking for the maximum sentence, Woodard told the court "this defendant has done committed time and that has not deterred him. This defendant has been on probation and that has not deterred him."

"He is unable to control his sexual urges and children and young adults have suffered because of it," Woodard told Kern. "I am asking the court to look at the defendant's past record in sentencing him."

She told Kern the victim in the 2005 case did not want to be in court for the sentencing, but "he expressly wants the court to know he wants the maximum sentence."

Brant asked the court not to consider the facts of Gangi's previous convictions in sentencing him.

Gangi, he said, is 68 years old and under treatment for a heart ailment and diabetes.

"He is not in good health," Brant said.

He recommended a sentence of two and a half years, saying no force was used and that the victim testified he was alone with Gangi several times after the incident during which Gangi "had the opportunity to do it again and he didn't."

Brant said Gangi has been in custody since his arrest, and asked the court not to consider the past incidents on his record when imposing the sentence.

Kern said she agreed with Brant that she should not take into account the facts in the two previous cases, but said she was taking into account both convictions.

"I am also taking into account the defendant has failed to register as a sex offender as required by the Sex Offender Registry Board," Kern said.

She said the board had adjudicated Gangi a Level 3 sex offender, meaning he is most likely to re-offend.

Gangi was given credit for the 822 days he has been in custody since his 2005 arrest.

Prior to his arrest on the Andover charge, Gangi had been on probation for failure to register as a sex offender.