Four months in jail isn?t enough time for a Severna Park man convicted of molesting his daughter and two nieces, the man?s neighbors say.
“No one is happy about it ? it?s disappointing,” said one of them, Pam Bustard.
Bustard and other residents of Robinson Place Court had a lot at stake in the sentencing of the man because they reported his abuse to authorities and have stayed actively involved in the case.
So they were disappointed when Anne Arundel County Judge Joseph Manck sentenced him Friday to four months in the Anne Arundel County Detention Center, with permission to leave the facility for work.
Anne Arundel County prosecutors also made a case for a longer sentence. At the hearing, Deputy State?s Attorney Laura Kiessling asked for active incarceration and presented sentencing guidelines that called for one to nine years.
“We felt that we presented a strong case and sufficient evidence for a much longer jail sentence,” said Kristin Riggin, a spokeswoman for the Anne Arundel County State?s Attorney?s Office.
The man, who works as a real estate broker, was originally charged with molesting his daughter in their home from the time she was 8 until she was 15. During the investigation, he was indicted on two additional counts of child abuse for molesting his nieces, who were about 13 at the time, Riggin said.
The man remains a licensed real estate broker, according to the Maryland Real Estate Commission.
“Let?s hope at this point in time his daughter will not have to put up with what she?s put up with for the past seven years,” Bustard said.
