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July 15, 2005
Man gets 25 to 50 years for raping girl
A former Lehigh Valley man who sexually assaulted a child in New Jersey, didn't register as a sex offender when he moved to Pennsylvania and then molested a Catasauqua girl was sentenced Wednesday to 25 to 50 years in state prison.
Daniel Kerrigan, 51, who was called a ''modern-day monster'' by a Lehigh County judge, got a longer sentence than defendants convicted of third-degree murder.
''I am fearful … that if your client is released again, he … will engage in the same behavior,'' Judge Robert L. Steinberg told Norris Gelman, Kerrigan's lawyer.
In December, a jury convicted Kerrigan of rape of a child, rape of a child with serious bodily injury, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with serious bodily injury, indecent assault, corruption of a minor and two counts of aggravated indecent assault.
Kerrigan earlier pleaded guilty to failing to register as a sex offender under Pennsylvania's Megan's Law when he moved from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.
In 1991, he was convicted in New Jersey of sexual abuse of a child and served time in prison there.
For not registering, Kerrigan was sentenced in September in Lehigh County Court to three to six years in prison, which will run concurrently with the latest sentence.
The 12-year-old Catasauqua girl testified Kerrigan molested her beginning in 2001 and threatened that she would go to a juvenile center if she told anyone.
When Kerrigan was arrested in 2003, he was living in New York.
During the trial, Steinberg allowed the girl to testify via closed-circuit television, which is allowed in Pennsylvania under certain circumstances in child abuse cases.
The judge determined that the girl would be too traumatized to communicate effectively if she testified in front of Kerrigan.
Kerrigan watched the girl on a television monitor in the courtroom while she testified in a nearby room.
The victim was not at the sentencing hearing Wednesday, but the judge read a written statement she prepared.
The girl's mother cried on the stand as she recalled how she didn't believe her daughter when the girl said Kerrigan was doing inappropriate things to her.
''It's hard,'' the mother said. ''I don't know how else to put it. … I feel like I've let her down in the biggest way possible.''
The mother, who said she is burdened with guilt, didn't believe her daughter until 2003 when the girl got genital warts caused by a virus that can be transmitted through sexual contact.
In the future, the girl not only will have to cope with the psychological harm the abuse caused, but will have to be monitored for the medical condition and will have to divulge it to anyone she becomes involved with, Senior Deputy District Attorney Matthew Falk said.
That, said county Detective Theresa Rentko, is a life sentence in itself.
Gelman said Kerrigan didn't want to speak at the hearing and maintains his innocence.
Gelman told the judge he will challenge the conviction.
The defense agreed to have Kerrigan classified as a sexually violent predator under Pennsylvania's Megan's Law.
However, Gelman said Kerrigan is not admitting the prosecution's version of the facts in the case.
Kerrigan will have to register his address with state police for the rest of his life and get monthly counseling for life.
If he is released from prison, his photograph, with a sexually violent predator title, and his address will be listed on a state police Web site.
Posted by Nealus at July 15, 2005 04:20 PM
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