Ex-student sentenced to 9 months for sexual molestation

WEST CHESTER » A former student at West Chester University who sexually molested a female friend in his dorm room when she needed a place to sleep will spend the coming nine months in prison for the crime, as well as several years under the eye of Chester County Court officials.

But whatever punishment that Daniel Garcia will undergo in the coming months and years could have been much worse.

According to state sentencing guidelines, the crime that Garcia pleaded guilty to on Monday — aggravated indecent assault — carries with it a recommended sentence of at least 22 months in state prison and as many as four years in that setting. Only by the agreement of the victim in the case and Garcia’s own stated remorse was he spared a longer stretch behind bars.

According to District Attorney Chief of Staff Andrea Cardamone, her office had approved a sentence of nine to 23 months in Chester County Prison, sex offenders treatment, eight years of consecutive probation, and Megan’s Law registration after discussing the resolution with the victim and the arresting officer at WCU.

“We agree it is in the best interest for everyone,” Cardamone, who oversees sexual assault cases for the DA’s Office, told Common Pleas Judge Alison Bell Royer, who was presiding over Garcia’s plea. “I think he knows already that what he did was wrong, and this nine months in jail will reinforce that.”

Garcia, a 22-year-old from Lancaster who appeared in court in a grey suit and white shirt, his black hair at shoulder length, admitted that he had assaulted the woman, who had been his friend, while in his room in Goshen Hall at the school. But he did not offer any open apology during the proceeding before Royer, letting his attorney speak for him.

“This is a terrible situation,” said defense attorney Ryan Grace of West Chester. “It is sad all the way around. He made what is surely the worst mistake of his life, and it is going to affect him for the rest of his life. This is justice. It is incarceration.”

According to Cardamone, the incident occurred when Garcia and the victim — who did not appear at the proceeding and whose name is being withheld by the Daily Local News because of the nature of the crime — were students together at WCU. On Dec. 11 and 12, 2018, the woman accepted Garcia’s invitation to spend the night in his room, at a time when she was “struggling” with her own housing situation and had been staying with other friends in the dorms.

Cardamone said the two were close but were not in any way romantically or physically involved. The woman had turned down Garcia’s invitations to stay in his room on previous occasions but had agreed to on that night out of necessity. They fell asleep next to one another on Garcia’s bed while fully clothed, she said.

But some point in the night the woman awoke to feel Garcia’s hand between her legs, molesting her. She panicked and froze, the prosecutor said and lay still for a significant period of time while Garcia continued his assault. At some point, he whispered to her, “I know you can’t hear me, but you

are awesome.”

The following day, the woman confronted Garcia with what had happened, and he immediately expressed remorse and admitted what he had done was non-consensual, Cardamone said. “It was immediate,” she said of Garcia’s apology. “But she was wrecked by the event.”

Eventually, around two years after the assault, the woman reported the matter to WCU Officer Matthew Rychlak, who set up a tape recording of a call by the woman to Garcia. Again, he acknowledged what he had done and tried to apologize, she said. After his arrest in January 2020, he accepted responsibility, waiving his right to trial and agreeing to plead guilty.

In accepting the plea and imposing the mitigated sentence, Royer said she did not have “any hesitancy” allowing Garcia to serve the reduced time in prison. “I think it is appropriate,” given Garcia’s age, his lack of criminal history, and the victim’s being “on board” with the disposition.

“On college campuses across the globe, stupid things like this happen very frequently,” the judge said, addressing Garcia and members of his family, who sat in the courtroom in his support. “Unfortunately, Mr. Garcia, this offense is going to follow you. Your life has been derailed by your own actions.”

Garcia, who was led from the courtroom to begin serving his sentence, is prohibited from contacting the woman for the entire nearly 10 years of the term.