Teen’s convicted rapist sentenced to long stint in state pen
MEDIA COURTHOUSE » A 36-year old Chester man convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl in 2016 was sentenced to 70 to 140 months in state prison Monday and ordered to register as a sex offender for life.
David Cardona was found guilty of indecent assault by forcible compulsion and corruption of minors following a trial before Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Scanlon in January. The jurors deliberated for about an hour before delivering the verdict.
The victim, now 15, told Assistant District Attorney Diane Horn at trial that the rape occurred after a dinner party at her home sometime in March 2016.
Cardona’s wife offered to take the girl and her sister to an event the next day. Cardona drove the girls and his youngest child, a 5-month-old baby, to his home in Chester that night. Cardona’s wife meanwhile drove the girl’s mother and other sister to another house.
Once at Cardona’s residence, the victim said Cardona ordered the two younger girls upstairs to play PlayStation. The girl said he told them not to come back downstairs without his permission.
The victim said the baby was fussy, so she went to make up a bottle. Just as she was going to start the tap to wash out the bottle, the girl said Cardona came into the kitchen, threw something away, then turned the lights off.
The victim said Cardona came up behind her, pulled down her leggings and had intercourse with her. The girl said she saw Cardona’s exposed penis as she pulled her leggings on, then went upstairs and took a shower.
She said there was blood in her underwear and she threw them away after trying to wash them out.
In the morning, the girl said she asked to be driven home rather than go to the event. She said Cardona drove her home and told her not to tell anyone.
The victim said Cardona asked her several times afterward whether she had told anyone and one time asked if she “wanted to do it again.”
The girl said Monday that she was driven to the point of suicide and has struggled with depression and feelings of hopelessness.
“My thoughts, my memories are haunted daily by the horror and the pain that has been inflicted upon me,” she said. “I constantly relive what happened to me.”
The girl said Cardona has ruined her life with his actions and made her feel that she is in constant danger. His incarceration has brought some semblance of normalcy back to her life, however, and she asked the judge to impose the maximum possible sentence.
Horn sought a sentence of 66 to 132 months, noting Cardona’s actions impacted not just the victim, but the two families involved as well.
Scanlon noted that Cardona has not taken responsibility, as evidenced by a presentence investigation.
In addition to prison time, he ordered Cardona to serve five years of consecutive sex offender probation and comply with the recommendations of the psychosexual evaluation.