Luis Lopez had plenty to tell Judge Frank Iannotti inside a Milford courtroom July 8 during his sentencing for what the judge called Lopez’s “egregious” sexual abuse of an Ansonia girl.
But he left some things out — like a sense of remorse.
The omission didn’t sit well with the judge, who chided Lopez before sending him to prison for nine years.
“If you think the molestation of an 11-year-old child doesn’t have longterm, everlasting consequences, you’re wrong,” Judge Iannotti said. “Your family will survive your incarceration. You will survive your incarceration. The young lady will never recover fully from this. Certainly I hope, and I hope you hope, that she will make as big a comeback in her life as possible.”
Lopez, 43, pleaded no contest to a charge of first-degree sexual assault in April connected to sexual abuse of a girl he knew. The abuse began in 2007, according to court records.
He faced between 5 and 10 years behind bars.
Ansonia police arrested Lopez in February 2013 after an investigation prompted by the state’s Department of Children and Families. The victim said Lopez abused her dozens of times.
Lopez Is A Bad Person
In court, the female victim recounted the helplessness she felt as a result of Lopez’s crimes.
At first, she blamed herself. Lopez had been like a father figure. Later, she realized it was not her fault.
“But as I grew, I understood there are predators like him that make you feel hopeless and afraid,” she said.
This wasn’t Lopez’ first time in court — nor will it be his first long stint behind bars.
Prosecutor Amy Bepko said Lopez did 10 years in prison in connection to a 1988 shooting and robbery in Bridgeport.
“If anyone in this courtroom needs a theme, here it is: the defendant’s a bad person,” Bepko said.
The girl’s mother agreed in a statement read by a victim’s advocate, saying she wished he could have faced more than 10 years in prison.
“I’m just so heartbroken and disgusted,” the mother said. “He took my daughter’s youth away.”
Before being sent to prison, Lopez spoke to the judge for more than three minutes. He said he turned his life around despite having a troubled past.
“I’ve listened to everything that’s been said about me and the things that I’ve been accused of,” he said. “I don’t want to try to paint a picture of me being a good person. I went through very hard times.”
’No Apology Whatsoever’
Lopez ended his remarks without mentioning the sexual assault case, or apologizing to the victim, exclusions that Judge Iannotti said were “conspicuous” and “unfortunate.”
“Surprisingly Mr. Lopez’s comments had no apology whatsoever,” the judge said.
He wasn’t too impressed by what Lopez did say, either.
“For a man who started in life in as difficult a position as you did, and went to prison as a young man for a significant period of time, it (should) have dawned on you that changing one’s life and becoming a good person is more than being a good father and a good worker,” the judge told Lopez.
The judge said that, while he tries to use a balancing test of the good and bad of a person’s life while handing down sentences, Lopez’s “egregious” abuse, which spanned several years, merited a nine-year prison term.
“The overriding thing that I can’t stop reflecting about is how for a long period of time, you took advantage of this young lady,” the judge said, telling Lopez that he should have known better. “You became a different kind of person, just not a better one.”
In addition to the prison sentence, the judge ordered Lopez to serve nine years of special parole during which he will be barred from contacting the girl or her family and be prohibited from having any unsupervised conduct with minors.
