Robert E. Barry is a pedophile, a sexually violent predator and a state prison inmate, after being sentenced Monday in Schuylkill County Court for sexually molesting three girls over a period of many years.
"What you did was horrific. These are people you should have been protecting," President Judge William E. Baldwin told Barry, 77, of Donaldson, before sentencing him to spend nine to 18 years in a state correctional institution. "Just saying you're sorry doesn't make up for it. They were little girls. There was nothing about this that was their fault."
Baldwin ruled that Barry is a sexually violent predator, thereby subjecting him to lifetime of Megan's Law registration requirements once he leaves prison. Baldwin also sentenced him to pay costs and submit a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities.
One of Barry's three victims, now a grown woman with children of her own, testified Monday that she lives with the effects of those terrible acts every day.
"He took many, many years of my childhood away from me," she said. "It's not something I can just get over, and it has had a profound effect on how I raise my own children."
Barry took away those years of her childhood, and those of two other girls, by sexually molesting them over a period of many years in the 1990s and 2000s, state police at Schuylkill Haven charged.
A jury convicted Barry on Sept. 9, 2011, of two counts of attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, four of aggravated indecent assault, 22 of indecent assault and three each of indecent exposure and corruption of minors.
All three victims testified during the trial, while Barry did not. The victim who testified on Monday - the other two were in the courtroom but did not testify - said Barry's actions haunt her mind.
"I have started having nightmares again. This time, they are not about myself being abused, but my own daughter," she said. "My daughter is 4. My earliest memory of the abuse is this age. I have nightmares where I wake up screaming and kicking, because I dream of not being able to stop these terrible things from happening to my own baby."
That is not all Barry did to her, the victim said.
"I also have an extremely difficult time trusting people and opening up about what's bothering me," she said. "I find relief and closure in him finally being held accountable for what he did to three little girls. No matter how many years have passed since the abuse, it stays with me. A crime is a crime. It doesn't matter how long ago it happened."
Barry apologized to the victims on Monday but said nothing else.
However, Assistant Public Defender Lora J. McDonald, Barry's lawyer, unsuccessfully asked Baldwin to sentence her client to house arrest, arguing that his age and health would make any prison term a life sentence.
Testifying by telephone, Dr. Soli F. Tavaria, Minersville, Barry's physician, said the defendant has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, respiratory failure, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure and an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
"He needs expert care," Tavaria said. "I believe that his condition would get worse if he was in prison."
The Rev. Dr. Ira F. Lydic, pastor of Donaldson United Methodist Church, said that while the entire situation is tragic, imprisoning Barry would not undo what he did.
"House arrest ... would be a daily reminder of what he has done," Lydic said. "I would ask for leniency."
Helen Barry, the defendants' wife, also asked for house arrest for her husband.
"The very little he does, he's out of breath right away," she said. "I'd be very lonely without him."
However, Baldwin rejected house arrest, noting that Robert Barry hardly leaves the house anyway.
"He is asking for nothing," Baldwin said.
In ruling that Barry is a sexually violent predator, Baldwin accepted the testimony of Joseph Sheris, a Pottsville counselor who also works for the state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board.
"There were not only multiple victims, they occurred over a number of years," he said. "The children were used sexually for the purposes of the offender."
Barry is both a pedophile and a sexually violent predator, Sheris concluded.
"Pedophilia is a lifetime condition," he said. "There were strong indications of predatory behavior. He meets the criteria for a sexually violent predator."
District Attorney Karen Noon stressed that the entire situation is the defendants' fault.
"He's the one that started all of this," Noon said.
After Baldwin imposed the prison term, which consisted of three consecutive sentences of three to six years each, Noon praised the victims for coming forward.
"This has always been a very difficult case," she said. "These are three of the most courageous women I have met in my whole life. I wish them the best."
The Megan's Law sanctions against Barry include requirements that he report his address, employment and educational statuses, and any change in them, to state police for the rest of his life if and when he leaves prison. Any failure to comply with those sanctions is a crime in itself and could result in further prosecution.
Megan's Law was enacted in Pennsylvania, numerous other states and at the federal level following the 1994 murder of Megan Nicole Kanka, 7, of Hamilton Township, Mercer County, N.J. Jesse Timmendequas, Kanka's killer, was a convicted sex offender and one of the girl's neighbors.
He is serving a life sentence following then-New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine's commutation of his death sentence after that state abolished its death penalty.Defendant: Robert E. Barry
Age: 77
Residence: Donaldson
Crimes committed: Two counts of attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, four of aggravated indecent assault, 22 of indecent assault and three each of indecent exposure and corruption of minors
Prison sentence: Nine to 18 years in a state correctional institution and lifetime Megan's Law registration