TO: MEDIA
FROM: HOLLEY CARNRIGHT
DATE: MAY 8, 2015
RE: PRESS RELEASE - DISTRICT ATTORNEY D. HOLLEY CARNRIGHT ANNOUNCES: SEXUAL PREDATOR RECEIVES MORE THAN 65 YEARS
TO LIFE IN PRISON
Kaj-Erik Eriksen a/k/a Richard Lewis, 60, of 73
Crown Street, Kingston, was sentenced on Friday, May 8, 2015, in Ulster County
Court by Honorable Donald A. Williams.
On the top count, Predatory Sexual Assault of a Child, a Class “A-II”
felony, the defendant was sentenced to twenty-five years to life in
prison. On the Second Count, Course of
Sexual Conduct Against a Child in the First Degree, a Class “B” violent felony,
the defendant was sentenced to twenty five years in prison to be followed by
twenty years of post-release supervision.
On both counts of Criminal Sexual Act in the Second Degree, a Class “D”
violent felony, the defendant was sentenced to seven years in state prison to
be followed by ten years of post-release supervision. On the final count, Criminal
Sexual Act in the Third Degree, a Class “E” felony, the defendant was sentenced
to one and one-third to four years in state prison to be followed by ten years of
post-release supervision. All sentences
are the maximum permissible by law and are to run consecutively. Orders of protection for the three adult
victims who testified at trial will remain in effect until May 8, 2065. Should the defendant ever be released from
prison, he would be required to register under the New York State Sexual
Offender Registration Act for the remainder of his life.
None of the victims attended the sentencing but one
victim’s mother spoke vowing that she would never forgive the defendant. Another victim’s mother prepared a statement
which was read at sentence by the prosecutor, Special Victims Bureau, Chief
Katherine Van Loan. The statement asked,
“What do you say to someone who violated your child, someone who stole his
innocence, someone who did something so despicable that it forever changed his
view of the world?” That parent
ultimately wished the defendant, “peace, healing and forgiveness”, with the
qualification, “but may you find those things forever behind a prison wall.”
Van Loan stated that the defendant’s failure to
accept responsibility time and time again demonstrate that he is either unwilling or unable to be rehabilitated and
as such asked for the maximum penalty.
In her arguments, Van Loan discussed the horrific acts perpetrated by
the defendant and pointed out that the three victims, who are now adults, were
forced to relive their victimization in open court. Van Loan also cited the defendant’s prior
criminal convictions for sexual abuse of children dating back to 1978 in the
State of Washington. His only conviction
from New York occurred in Ulster County in 2007 for a misdemeanor. While being supervised and treated on
probation for that misdemeanor offense, Endangering the Welfare of a Child, the
defendant was engaging in some of the acts for which is now convicted.
While imposing sentence, Judge Williams commended
the brave victims and their families. He
discussed the “insidious and vile way” the defendant “manipulated young minds”
to satisfy “his perverse desires”.
Williams told the defendant that this time he had selected the wrong
victims, the wrong jurisdiction and the wrong court. Williams stated that the defendant had left
him no choice but to remove the defendant from society for as long as possible.
District Attorney Holley Carnright called
Eriksen a “text book pedophile”.
Carnright stated that Eriksen “preyed on our most vulnerable population,
our children.” Carnright noted that
defendant had groomed both the victims and their families for years to develop
the level of trust necessary to perpetrate crimes of this magnitude. This is exactly the type of conduct that caused
the legislature to create the Class “A-II” felony of Predatory Sexual Assault
of a Child and extend the Statute of Limitations for child victims.
Eriksen was convicted of all counts on Friday, March
20, 2015, following a week-long trial before Williams. The jury, which consisted of eight women and
four men, deliberated for approximately an hour and a half. At the trial, three victims, now adults,
testified to sexual abuse, including oral sexual conduct, which occurred at the
defendant’s residence and his prior residence, both in the City of Kingston,
over the course of years. The victim of
the top count met the defendant around 2004 and testified to a course of
conduct which included numerous sexual acts which occurred between 2004 and
2008 while the victim was an elementary school student at Meaghar Elementary
School and while attending J. Watson Bailey Middle School. The victim of the second count met the
defendant around 2000 and testified that sexual abuse began when the victim was
around eight years old and continued for a year or more between 2000 and 2003.
The People called Dr. Donald Lewittes, Ph.D. to
testify to behaviors of child and adolescent victims of sexual abuse such as
delayed reporting and reasons for continued association with the
perpetrator. In this case the defendant
had bought the victims expensive gifts such as snowboards, video game systems
and games, dirt bikes and a quad all terrain vehicle. He also took them and their friends on
snowboarding trips, camping trips, swimming and even to Disney World.
Eriksen was arrested in April of 2014 following an
investigation by the Kingston Police Department.
The defendant is represented by Carol Morgan Esq. of
the Law Office of Mitchell Spinac. Van
Loan prosecuted the case at trial for the District Attorney’s Office.
