A 20-year-old from New York who pleaded guilty to the rape of four teenagers during a party at his parents' house will not go to jail: the judge sentenced him to eight years of probation on the grounds that prison was not proper punishment.
In 2019, Christopher Belter pleaded guilty to third-degree rape and attempted first-degree sexual assault, as well as two misdemeanor counts of second-degree sexual assault, in
four cases involving 15- and 16-year-olds
in his home. from Lewiston, a town located in Niagara County.
"I have been dying, I am not ashamed to say that I have really prayed about what is the appropriate sentence in this case, because there was great pain," explained Judge Matthew J. Murphy.
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"It seems to me that a
sentence that involves imprisonment or partial imprisonment is not appropriate,
so I am going to sentence him to probation," explained the magistrate.
In addition, Belter must register as a sex offender, so he will have to return to court on December 2.
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“I am very, very disappointed.
I was expecting a different result, ”said the attorney for one of the victims, Steve Cohen, as reported on WKBW television.
"Justice has not been done today," he
said.
After the sentence was announced, one of the victims vomited in the women's bathroom, Cohen told The Washington Post.
"
If Chris Belter were not a white defendant from a wealthy
and influential
family ,
in my experience ... he
would
surely
have been sentenced to prison," he
said.
During the hearing, Belter said he was sorry for what he did.
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The crimes took place between
February 2017 and August 2018
at the home of Belter's parents,
an affluent Lewiston neighborhood
located a few miles from Niagara Falls.
In that period of time, three 16-year-olds and one 15-year-old were assaulted in four different incidents, the judge concluded.
According to state police, the young man's home earned the label of
"party house"
because of Belter's mother, Tricia Vacanti, 50, stepfather, Gary Sullo, 56, and a friend of the The Jessica M. Long family, 42, allegedly offered alcohol and marijuana to young people.
The three adults helped groom the girls before Belter abused them,
according to authorities.
In court, they pleaded not guilty to the lesser charges of endangering and illegal dealing with minors.
“It is not a case of a house party. It was a house of sexual abuse, ”
said Peter M. Wydysh, assistant district attorney.
