A Bradford man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for a series of sex crimes against children going back over 20 years.
52-year-old Darvin Carpenter was sentenced in McKean County Court Friday morning to 130 years to 260 years of incarceration plus 3 years of consecutive supervision.
A jury found Carpenter guilty on 251 counts against a total of 7 victims dating back to the spring of 2000. The assaults came to light after a mother reported to Childline that her underage daughter told her that Carpenter had touched her.
District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer praised investigating State Trooper Eric Thompson saying “Together, he and the victims are to be credited for putting a dangerous predator behind bars.”
Imagine if we put him behind bars earlier and victims feel empowered to come forward and that the accusations where not silenced by denial and secrecy. How can someone get away with doing this for over 20 years and nobody knew about it? People new about it, CYS, the police, doctors, teachers, etc and nobody said anything or did anything about it.
True. It took one brave child, one believing mother, and one believing State Trooper to launch an investigation to bring all this down.
Break the chains of silence. Believe children when they tell you something, and tell them not to be afraid to discuss these matters with parents and educators.