FARMINGTON – A New Sharon man received a five-year, partially-suspended prison sentence Tuesday, after pleading guilty to having unlawful sexual contact with a juvenile in December 2017.
Benjamin Savage, 25 of New Sharon, plead guilty to unlawful sexual contact, a Class C felony, relating to an incident that occurred between Dec. 1 and Dec. 31, 2017. Savage had previously been indicted on a Class A felony charge of unlawful sexual contact; that charge was dismissed as part of the arranged plea. He waived indictment on the Class C felony Tuesday, according to court documents.
According to an arrest affidavit submitted to the court by Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Detective Kenneth Charles, the FCSO received a referral in June through Department of Health and Human Services Child Protective Services of a complaint that had been originally made by a family member of a juvenile. That juvenile reportedly told the family member that Savage, a family friend, had engaged in unlawful sexual contact.
Savage was interviewed by Charles and then arrested in late June. He was indicted by a Franklin County grand jury in October.
The arranged plea includes a five-year prison sentence, the maximum allowable for a Class C felony, with two years suspended, meaning he would spend three years in prison. Following his release, Savage will be on probation for three years.
Conditions of his suspension include no contact with children under the age of 18 and the completion of counseling. He will be required to register in accordance with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.
What? It’s 12pm and there’s no cynical amateur comments yet about the sentencing and punishment??
No one brought up some kind of Left vs. Right comment for the sake of being a firebrand, either. I am bereft.
But if you want a cynical amateur comment then here it is:
Justice is dead. He would have gotten a worse sentence for killing a dog and there would have been a much greater outcry, but because the violation was against another human being and it happens so often that it has become an accepted aspect of our existence so the concept of severe punishment of the olden days has deteriorated to the point where you’d might as well simply give a child predator a slap on the face and send them out the door so they can continue doing what they do until they get caught again and repeat the whole sequence ad infinitum. Oh well. We’re all going to die, too, so I suppose that shows what goes around comes around.
Was that cynical enough? I might be able to think of something else later.
Cheers,
Shamus
Until the majority of our society objects to the crime, the judicial system will continue to abuse the victims and neglect future victims by allowing the perpetrators every advantage of freedom.
my quote under the story about the guy from Phillips fits here as well. Check it out if you like!
There is no such thing as an amateur citizen. The legal and judicial process isn’t rocket science, outsidein. It is clear that suspension of sentences in cases of this nature is a trend–so you tell us, are prisons overcrowded, are there other factors that are causing reckless pedophiles to be given leniency?
We know what Savage received for his punishment but we are not enlightened regarding what he did. The expression “unlawful sexual contact” tells us nothing specific. Does the expression refer to one sort of action or is it a range of actions. We don’t know so the deterrent effect of this article is mostly lost.
Also the term “juvenile” could include a large range of ages. I agree with Bill Reid. This article was just a way to say look at Savage- he’s guilty! No, I do not know this individual, and if he’s guilty he should be punished, BUT I have seen Ken Charles’ investigatory habits first hand and they can leave a lot to be desired.
I agree we need some clarity in the law, or some new judges. This guy gets 3 years(actual time) on a class C unlawful sexual contact, one count, but Michael Harriman gets two class B unlawful sexual contact, with penetration and gets 3 years(actual time) per count to be served concurrently, what the hell is wrong with the Maine justice system? If a judge is going to sentence the maximum, 5 years for a class C and 10 years for a class B, then the convicted person should be doing the number of years sentenced with none suspended.