A Scranton man could spend up to 27 years in state prison for sexually assaulting a girl over three years starting when she was 11 years old.
Before Lackawanna County Judge Vito P. Geroulo handed down his sentence on Tuesday, he heard how Alix Benjamin would coax the girl to go with him up to the attic in a home to "conduct an experiment" for a class he was apparently taking.
Alone in the attic, their initial encounters began with him performing oral sex on her, then progressed through a series of perverse sexual acts with the minor, culminating with him engaging in sexual intercourse with her.
Mr. Benjamin had "multiple sexual" encounters with the underage girl in order to "satisfy his sexual deviances," Paula Brust, a member of the state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, told the judge as part of determining whether Mr. Benjamin, 34, should be required to register as a sexually violent predator under Megan's Law for life.
The Times-Tribune does not identify victims of sexual abuse.
Speaking in a soft voice while reading from a written statement, Mr. Benjamin begged the judge for "mercy" and "compassion," telling him that all he ever wanted to be was a family man.
"I assure you that I am here today to tell you that I am sorry," he said, standing before Judge Geroulo with a piece a paper in his hand and dressed in a prison jumpsuit.
"I find the facts and circumstances surrounding this case just to be shocking and intolerable," the judge told Mr. Benjamin before sentencing him to 13 to 27 years in state prison and deeming him a sexually violent predator.
The judge further reminded him that a jury of 12 peers determined in September he was guilty of the crimes against the girl, which happened from 2007 to 2010, up to when the victim was 14 years old.
During the trial, Mr. Benjamin's attorney, Donald Jensen, argued that the victim at one point recanted her statements about the sexual encounters during a trip to Haiti with her mother.
Assistant District Attorney Mariclare Hayes, who prosecuted the case, said the girl's mother pressured her to change her story and told her daughter she would leave her in Haiti if she refused to do so.
"I wouldn't call that a recantation," Ms. Hayes said. The girl is now under care of a permanent guardian.
She is "one of the most resilient people I have ever met," Ms. Hayes said. "Her life is no doubt going to be a great success."
Contact the writer: smcconnell@timesshamrock.com, @smcconnellTT on Twitter