Former city employee gets 9 years on sex, theft charges
MANSFIELD - Common Pleas Judge Brent Robinson called it troubling to see a former city employee back in court on sex offender related charges.
He sentenced William Larck to 9 1/2 years prison on charges of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, a second-degree felony, along with disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, theft in office, misuse of credit cards, breaking and entering and theft of a credit card. Larck pleaded guilty to the charges in October.
Larck, 40, also was ordered to five years mandatory post-release control and to pay $1,627 in restitution to the city and $845 in restitution to the victim's mother.
He is required to register as a Tier II sex offender, meaning he must report where he lives every 180 days for the next 25 years, Robinson said.
Half of the charges relate to a sexual relationship Larck had with a 16-year-old girl. The other charges relate to theft of a credit card and more than $1,000 in gas while he was a seasonal worker for the city's parks and recreation department.
Larck previously pleaded down from rape to felonious assault in a 2003 case involving a 4-year-old boy. Coupled with the fact he had a child with a 13-year-old girl when he was 16, and Monday's sentencing, Richland County Assistant Prosecutor Omar Siddiq said Larck has exhibited a pattern of dangerous behavior toward children.
"He's gone after a child in the past and continues to go after them now," Siddiq said.
Larck encouraged the exchange of nude photos between himself and the 16-year-old victim. He also had sexual relations with the girl.
When the affair started, Larck's attorney, James Mayer III, said the teen told Larck she was 19. When he found out the girl was a juvenile, the sex stopped but they continued to exchange photos, Mayer said.
Based on transcripts from interviews with the teen, Mayer said, "It's very clear she did not, herself, see herself as a victim."
"This was a consensual relationship, albeit inappropriate," Mayer said.
Siddiq questioned the teen's ability to give consent because of her developmental disabilities. That was one of the reasons the state dismissed three counts of rape against Larck, Siddiq said. They wanted "to save the victim" from having to go through a clinical interview, he said.
The teen has attended $485 worth of counseling, Siddiq said.
With a clean-shaven head and dressed in a green and white jumpsuit, Larck read a hand-written note apologizing multiple times to the people he hurt, including the city.
"As a father I can understand how a lot of people may look at me as just some kind of monster. I'm not," Larck said. "I never wanted it to be like this. I made a bad decision and because of that I hurt a lot of people."
Of the victim and her family, he asked forgiveness, specifically saying he should not have asked for photos and sex while he was married.
That was a sign Larck didn't fully grasp the gravity of his actions, Siddiq said. Larck apologized for doing the actions while married, not for the actions themselves, he said.
"He has harmed the victim in ways that he can't even imagine," Siddiq said. "He talks about what he lost — his friends and family — but she lost her innocence because of that man. He's destroyed a child, and this is not the first one he's destroyed, and if the court lets him with a light sentence, it will not be the last one he destroys."
Larck also apologized to the city for misusing the credit card.
Siddiq said Larck would allow friends to fill up their gas tanks and pay him a fraction of the cost.
"He knew he didn't have to pay for it," Siddiq said, noting some of the money comes from taxes. "Every citizen in this county is paying for his behavior."
kdurbin@gannett.com
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Twitter: @njKaitlinDurbin