World Courant
A former caretaker was sentenced to as much as 28 years in jail for sexually abusing 14 folks with bodily and mental disabilities at a private care residence in Pennsylvania.
James Zook, 69, was sentenced to a minimal of 13 years and 9 months and a most of 28 years for the sexual assault of 14 residents on the Religion Friendship Villa in West Hempfield Township, in response to the Lancaster County District Lawyer’s Workplace. The Religion Friendship Villa, the place Zook had labored for about 20 years, is a non-profit private care residence for folks with psychological sickness and different disabilities.
The victims’ ages ranged from 33 to 69, and all of them had mental or bodily disabilities.
Zook had pleaded responsible in September to 329 counts of institutional sexual assault, 333 counts of indecent assault, and one rely of disorderly conduct.
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James Zook, 69, was sentenced to a minimal of 13 years and 9 months and a most of 28 years for the sexual assault of 14 residents on the Religion Friendship Villa. (Lancaster County District Lawyer’s Workplace)
“This was a person who used his place in an effort to victimize adults who couldn’t shield themselves for 15-plus years,” Assistant District Lawyer Fritz Haverstick stated through the sentencing continuing.
In the course of the continuing, the Religion Friendship Villa’s govt director learn statements from 9 of the victims, lots of whom stated they thought of Zook a pal and expressed forgiveness. The manager director stated 12 of 14 victims have returned to this system.
“Many of those victims skilled trauma and abuse beforehand of their lives and search refuge at Religion Friendship Villa,” she stated. “He preyed on their vulnerabilities.”
Zook learn an announcement apologizing for what he did and saying he regretted his actions.
“It is clear to me the deep and long-lasting penalties every sufferer will proceed to undergo from,” Reinaker stated earlier than ordering the sentence.
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The victims’ ages ranged from 33 to 69, and all of them had mental or bodily disabilities, the Lancaster County District Lawyer’s Workplace stated. (Lancaster County District Lawyer’s Workplace)
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A licensed psychologist discovered that Zook was a sexually violent predator, a designation that features lifetime registration as a intercourse offender and requires neighbors to be notified below Megan’s Legislation.
Zook was arrested and charged on Nov. 7, 2022, with institutional sexual assault and indecent assault after a sufferer reported him on August 14, 2022. Zook was accused of sexually assaulting the Religion Friendship Villa resident weekly or biweekly, beginning in late 2020 or early 2021 and ending in August 2022.
Additional investigation led to extra costs in January after 13 different victims got here ahead saying they had been abused.
All of the victims had been interviewed by the Lancaster County Kids’s Alliance Heart and disclosed sexual abuse spanning from 2007 till 2022.
Pennsylvania caretaker sentenced as much as 28 years for sexually abusing disabled folks
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