Man who molested a 3-week-old baby faints when judge sentences him to 260 years in jail
A Rhode Island man was sentenced to more than two centuries in prison for molesting a newborn infant and producing child pornography involving multiple prepubescent children which he uploaded to the internet.
According to the Providence Journal, US District Court Judge John J. McConnell found 45-year-old Thomas Goodman guilty of eight counts of sexually exploiting children, including a three-week-old girl, and one count of possessing sadistic and masochistic child pornography.
McConnell ruled that Goodman, of Warwick, would have to serve 30 years for each count in the first charge and another 20 for the second charge, taking his total sentence to 260 years. All the sentences will have to be served consecutively, effectively meaning that Goodman would die in jail.
The 45-year-old reportedly collapsed after he heard the verdict, falling forward onto a table as McConnell chastised him and said that "the level of depravity is beyond comprehension."
He woke up a few minutes later, allowing the judge to complete reading out the rest of his sentence.
Goodman's crimes came to light in May 2018 when his supervisor at Electric Boat called the North Kingstown police to report suspected child pornography on the 45-year-old's phone.
He was arrested and investigators with the Rhode Island Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations subsequently found thousands of images of prepubescent girls, including a toddler, engaging in sexually explicit conduct
It also emerged that Goodman had abused an infant girl from the time she was just three-weeks-old until she was one-and-a-half-years-old, touching her inappropriately while filming. There were reportedly several years worth of videos of his assaults on children on his phone, some of which had even been uploaded online.
In total, he sexually abused six victims, with the mother of one of the victims addressing the court during his trial and revealing how she was shattered to learn that someone she had trusted had abused her child and said his crimes were "unforgivable."
Goodman's lawyer, Matthew Dawson, had asked that McConnell sentence him to 22 years, pointing out that his client had a clean record, had been victimized himself — Goodman was allegedly molested as a child by a trusted teacher who was never prosecuted — and had taken responsibility for his actions.
However, Assistant US Attorney Lee Vilker sought out a sentence of 100 years, calling the case "by far the worst" one he had ever seen.
"The harm he caused them they’ll never get past," he said, speaking of the 45-year-old's victims. "He scarred them permanently. He abused them for years since they were little girls."
Delivering his verdict, McConnell acknowledged that Goodman had been a victim himself but said he had to ensure the victims would never again be abused at his hands and that he had an obligation to protect the public.
"The only way I can do that is to be sure you never get out of prison again," he said, adding, "I have no assurances you will stop."