Man gets 68 months for child molestation

NEWPORT – Pend Oreille County Superior Court Judge Pat Monasmith sentenced Dean Lavell to 68 months in prison for a single count of first degree child molestation, turning down a defense request that Lavell be given a Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative. A SOSA would have allowed him to get sex offender treatment as part of a reduced prison sentence.

Monasmith made the ruling after hearing from people giving statements against the SOSA, as well as members of the church Lavell attended who asked that he be shown mercy and get the SOSA.

Prosecuting attorney Lori Preuss said she vigorously opposed the SOSA, saying that Lavell engaged in decades long abuse with other victims. The other crimes were past the statute of limitations.

Several people spoke against the SOSA, including the victim, who was 9 at the time of the abuse. According to the court papers and evaluators, Lavell touched the girl’s genitals on several occasions.

“Before Dean did what he did, I was a happy child,” she said. “I really believe he deserves every bit of consequences because what he did to me was unforgivable.”

Several people spoke against the SOSA for Lavell. “I understand the SOSA program is for first time offenders, which Dean Lavell is not,” one woman said. She said Lavell had molested four other females.

The victim’s father said Lavell used religion and the Bible to brainwash everyone and keep them at bay, he said.

“Please do not grant this man the SOSA,” he said. “He’s gone decades without any accountability.”

The amount of trauma Dean Lavell has caused is immeasurable, he said.

Several church members spoke in favor of a SOSA for Lavell, including Rob Greenslate, the pastor at Newport’s Southern Baptist Church. He said Lavell and his wife had been attending the church. They asked to join the church, Greenslate said. A short time later, Lavell confessed to church leadership the crime with which he is charged.

The leadership decided the only way Lavell could attend was if he confessed to the whole congregation, which he did.

“Since that day, Dean has been a servant,” Greenslate said, helping seniors with various things. He signed a contract with the church to not be out of sight at church, that someone would monitor him every Sunday and that he could not be around children.

Several other people spoke supporting the SOSA for Lavell.

When it was his time to speak, Lavell apologized to the victim. He said he was proud of her for exposing his sin. He apologized to the other, saying there is no excuse for his actions.

“I can only blame myself,” he said. Defense attorney Derek Reid said that Lavell was eligible for the SOSA. He said Lavell initially wanted to plead guilty to the six original charges, but that he talked him out of it due to the prison sentence that would call for.

If Monasmith didn’t want to grant the SOSA it could impose a sentence at the low end of the sentencing range of 51-68 months.

Monasmith said it was clear Lavell caused damage. “It strikes me that what people have heard about today is the broad sweep of damage that Mr. Lavell’s actions have caused,” Monasmith said. “To twist the purity of God’s love with the ugliness and violence of multi-generational pedophilia, it’s caused incalculable damage.”

Monasmith didn’t think a SOSA was warranted, especially considering the previous offenses.

While one sex offender evaluator said Lavell was amenable to treatment, another Department of Corrections evaluator said he thought Lavell was only concerned about consequences to himself and did not recommend the SOSA.

Monasmith said that sometimes being repentant isn’t sufficient.

“There has to be just punishment for what was done,” he said.