Rapist Gets 120 Years For 'Terrifying, Horrible Crime'
WAUKEGAN (CBS) -- A Wisconsin man was sentenced to the maximum penalty possible for what a Lake County judge called "pure evil" at his sentencing hearing Thursday.
Richard Gallatin, 38, of Pleasant Prairie was sentenced to 120 years in prison for abducting, sexually assaulting and robbing a 19-year-old Grayslake woman from the parking lot of Gurnee Mills on June 5, 2010.
"There is no excuse for what this court heard. This is positively a terrifying and horrible crime," said Associate Judge George Bridges. "Your actions are appalling."
A jury convicted Gallatin of aggravated criminal sexual assault, kidnapping, aggravated robbery and aggravated criminal sexual assault after about two hours of deliberation in April. He faced a range of 30 to 120 years in prison.
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Prosecutors Ken LaRue and Stella Veytsel asked for a 98-year sentence.
"There's not a lot of argument here. It's pretty straightforward," LaRue said.
Gallatin had told the victim he knew he was going to get caught and did not have anything to lose, LaRue said. Gallatin forced the woman to drive him to an ATM to withdraw $40, then forced her to drive to a remote location where he sexually assaulted her.
As a result of the crime, the victim has struggled with her first semester in college and contracted a sexually transmitted disease, LaRue said.
Gallatin testified during his trial the sex was consensual.
"It was clear to this court that this was some fantasy you made up," the judge said.
Bridges also pointed out that the assault occurred less than 30 days after Gallatin was released from a Wisconsin prison. Gallatin pleaded no-contest to attempted criminal sexual assault of a child in a 2003 case.
In that incident, Gallatin, while intoxicated, had two underage females remove their pajamas while he was baby-sitting at a Wisconsin home.
Gallatin was on parole and had removed an electronic home monitor that had been placed on his ankle when he abducted the Lake County woman.
"At some point, the Department of Corrections failed Mr. Gallatin," said defense attorney Tim MacArthur.
MacArthur contended that the prison system failed to rehabilitate Gallatin during his incarceration. However, Gallatin received sex offender treatment while in custody, Bridges said.
"This court can only wonder what would have happened if you would have been in the (sex offender) program longer, so I don't find it was the system that failed you. It was you who failed the system," Bridges said to a stoic Gallatin.
Gallatin displayed no sign of emotion or reaction during the sentencing hearing. He declined his right to make a statement, saying only that he had "nothing to say."
Gallatin is in custody at Lake County Jail. He is due back in court on a motion to reconsider his sentence May 25.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2010. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
