A federal judge on Monday sentenced 24-year-old Noelynn N. Begay to seven years in prison for the repeated sexual molestation of two girls – ages 4 and 5 – on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in north central Oregon.
Prosecutors recommended that U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman sentence Begay to the statutory maximum for the crimes – eight years imprisonment.
But Begay's lawyer, Assistant Federal Public Defender Thomas E. Price, explained that while his client committed "terrible crimes" against two little girls, he has long suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a victim of child sexual abuse.
"He is not a pedophile," Price told the court in an impassioned plea for leniency. His client, he said, is a binge drinker with a treatable psychosexual disorder, not a remorseless psychopath. "He feels worthless."
His behaviour is not at all uncommon with people who were sexually abused as children. It is especially noticeable on Indian Reservations where there seem to be very few options for treatment of the psychological after-effects of CSA.
Without treatment, 'what goes around, comes around'. Begay's abuse lead to the abuse of two little girls; if they don't receive treatment, they are likely to pass sexual abuse on to another generation, and on, and on it goes. The federal government needs to step in and see that Indians get the help they need, and they need a lot of help thanks to residential schools, etc.
The answer for the Noelynn Begays of the world, Price said, was more support and treatment when they are still children.
Mosman told Begay his crimes in 2012 and 2013 were very serious and that he was at risk to reoffend. He ordered him to get mental health treatment during his time in federal prison.
The judge said he also would recommend to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons that Begay get the help he needs in a special treatment program in Englewood, Colo.
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| Noelynn.N.Begay Columbia County Jail |
But Begay's lawyer, Assistant Federal Public Defender Thomas E. Price, explained that while his client committed "terrible crimes" against two little girls, he has long suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a victim of child sexual abuse.
"He is not a pedophile," Price told the court in an impassioned plea for leniency. His client, he said, is a binge drinker with a treatable psychosexual disorder, not a remorseless psychopath. "He feels worthless."
His behaviour is not at all uncommon with people who were sexually abused as children. It is especially noticeable on Indian Reservations where there seem to be very few options for treatment of the psychological after-effects of CSA.
Without treatment, 'what goes around, comes around'. Begay's abuse lead to the abuse of two little girls; if they don't receive treatment, they are likely to pass sexual abuse on to another generation, and on, and on it goes. The federal government needs to step in and see that Indians get the help they need, and they need a lot of help thanks to residential schools, etc.
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| Umatilla Residential School, Oregon |
Mosman told Begay his crimes in 2012 and 2013 were very serious and that he was at risk to reoffend. He ordered him to get mental health treatment during his time in federal prison.
The judge said he also would recommend to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons that Begay get the help he needs in a special treatment program in Englewood, Colo.
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