Unnamed Girl - 6 to 12 yo - (2003) / Convicted: Wallace Williams Cedar Rapids IA

West Branch man sentenced to 10 years for abusing child in Linn County


June 2, 2011 5:46 pm

CEDAR RAPIDS – A young woman said in a victim impact statement
Thursday she is haunted by memories of the sexual abuse which happened
from the time she was age 6 to 12.

“I think about it every day,” the teen aged girl said. “I want to go a
full day and night without thinking about (Wallace Williams, 40, of
West Branch).

The girl said her behavior changed as a result of the abuse. She was
angry and had resentment, she blamed her mother and her relationship
with other family members suffered. She said her arms were covered in
scars because she began cutting herself.

“I think what will I tell my children some day about my scars?” she said.
The girl said she spent a year in a residential treatment program for
her behavioral and emotional issues but she feels like a “survivor, not
a victim.”

Williams pleaded in May to third-degree sexual abuse and was
sentenced Thursday in Linn County District Court to 10 years in prison.
He was originally charged with second-degree sexual abuse.

Williams abused the victim in Linn County from Jan. 2001 to Dec. 31,
2003. He also pleaded to third-degree sexual abuse and was sentenced to
10 years in Cedar County for abusing the same girl.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Stephen Jackson Jr. ran the Linn County
sentence consecutively to the Cedar County term, so Williams will serve
a total of 20 years in prison.
Williams’ sister, Cindy Lukabsky, who attempted before breaking down
to read a letter in support of her brother earlier in the hearing,
cursed at Jackson after the hearing for running the sentences
consecutively. She and other family members asked the court to run the
terms concurrently.
Ahmet Gonlubol, Williams public defender, also argued for concurrent
sentences, saying if the abuse had happened in one county there would
only be one charge. He also said Williams could be eligible for sex
offender treatment, which is important to his rehabilitation, sooner if
he only had 10 years instead of 20 to serve.

The mother of the victim in her impact statement asked the court to
give him the maximum sentences because Williams took her daughter’s
childhood and she continues to face struggles in her adult life.

The mother said she didn’t understand her daughter’s behavioral
problems because she didn’t know about the abuse until the girl was 16.
She didn’t initially understand why her daughter was cutting herself and
tied ropes about her neck in an attempt to stop living.

Williams said he was deeply sorry to his family and friends. He has changed his life now and had “found God.”

“I never meant to hurt anyone – especially someone I cared about,” Williams said crying.
“Alcohol turned me into… someone else.”

Jackson also ordered a no contact order for the victim for five years
and required Williams to pay $500 in victim restitution and $1,000 fine.

http://easterniowanewsnow.com/2011/06/02/west-branch-man-sentenced-to-10-years-for-abusing-child-in-linn-county/