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April 28, 2005
Fayetteville man sentenced for abusing sisters
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- A Fayetteville man who defended himself in court was sentenced to more than 100 years in prison for molesting three sisters in a case that the judge said was the most disgraceful he's ever heard.
Judge Craig Ellis sentenced Ethan Hess, 58, on Tuesday after the jury deliberated a little more than an hour before finding him guilty of abusing the sisters from 2000 to 2002.
The sisters cried and hugged each other on the front row of the courtroom during the sentencing.
"I don't know of any case that has been more disgusting or disgraceful," Ellis said.
Ellis sentenced Hess to a minimum of 105 years and a maximum of 130 years in prison for nine charges of sexual abuse.
Hess had been charged with 12 counts of abuse, but three of the charges were dismissed Tuesday morning before Hess and prosecutor Rita Cox made their closing arguments. He had been charged with three counts of abusing a child under 13, but the girl testified during the trial that the events happened on her 13th birthday.
She was the oldest of the sisters. On Tuesday, she said she begged Hess not to abuse her younger sisters, who were 8 and 10, but he didn't listen. The girls are now 17, 15 and 13.
"You have robbed them of their innocence," Ellis said. "It's still having a terrible impact on me."
Cox told jurors that Hess slowly groomed the girls with the use of flattery, promises of modeling jobs and pornography. Their mother knew about the abuse, Cox said, and even got paid for it.
The mother was charged in March with three counts of felony child abuse by sex act, three counts of obstruction of justice and two counts of intimidating a witness.
Posted by Nealus at April 28, 2005 12:55 PM
