Still claiming innocence, teen’s rapist goes to jail

MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> A 41-year-old Yeadon man was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in a state prison Monday while still proclaiming that he did not rape a 15-year-old girl in 2012.

Tariq Brown was convicted on charges of rape by forcible compulsion, statutory sexual assault, indecent assault, endangering the welfare of a child and sexual assault in November following a second jury trial.

The first trial ended in a deadlock in September when the jury could not reach a unanimous conclusion. The second jury deliberated for less than an hour before returning the verdict.

The victim, now 20, testified that Brown beckoned her into his room late one night in May 2012 and asked her to pass him a television remote. She said he called her back into the room after she left and told her she was pretty.

The woman said Brown got behind her and picked her up by the armpits, putting her face down on the bed. She said she turned over and Brown held her wrists as he pulled down her sweatpants and underwear. Brown then took off his own pants and underwear before having intercourse with her, she said.

The victim said the rape took five to 10 minutes and that she did not call out because Brown had threatened to kill her mother.

The victim said she did not tell anyone of the assault until she was in therapy in early December 2015. The woman said her grades had slipped and she became depressed in the intervening period. She told her mother in January 2016 and has been hospitalized twice this year, she said.

Assistant District Attorney Chris Boggs read a victim impact statement into the record Monday in which the woman called Brown a monster with “the face of a heartless bastard.”

The victim said she struggled for years to come to grips with what Brown had done to her, cutting herself and “popping pills like candy.” She said she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

“The secret was making me sicker and sicker,” she said. “If I kept it in any longer, I could have died.”

The woman said she is now on a better path thanks largely to the love of her siblings.

Brown, represented by defense attorney Kevin Wray, denied the allegations at trial and reiterated that stance Monday.

“I do ask mercy of the court, but I haven’t done anything wrong, your honor,” he said. “I’m just an innocent man going to jail.”

Judge James Bradley noted he is bound to comply with the jury’s finding of guilt and agreed with the sentence Boggs recommended. In addition to prison time, Brown was ordered to serve five years of consecutive sex offender probation, stay away from the victim and provide a DNA sample to state police.

He was not deemed a sexually violent predator by the state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, but will have to register as a sex offender for life.