Rigby man given probation after inappropriately touching girl as she slept
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RIGBY – A 62-year-old Rigby man was given probation after pleading guilty to lewd conduct with a child.
District Judge Steven Boyce sentenced Stanley Bitsoi to seven to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to felony lewd conduct with a child under 16.
Boyce then suspended the sentence, placing Bitsoi on a term of six years of probation, where he will have to complete 100 hours of community service and spend 30 days in local jail with credit for 24 days already served.
He will also have to register as a sex offender.
Bitsoi initially pleaded guilty to a charge of felony lewd conduct with a child under 16 and pleaded not guilty to sexual battery of a child committed by lewd or lascivious acts.
As part of a plea agreement, Bitsoi agreed to continue with his guilty plea for the lewd conduct charge if the prosecution agreed to recommend probation.
Sentencing
The case against Bitsoi began May 8, 2022, when a deputy with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office was called to a home after receiving a report that Bitsoi had sexually assaulted a minor. He admitted to deputies that between January 2020 and March 2021, he would touch the victim inappropriately while she was asleep, according to court documents. At this time, the victim was 15 to 16 years old.
He told deputies that it happened “several times,” and the girl “was never awake or would wake up during this time.”
She told deputies she remembered a couple of times when she woke up and Bitsoi would be touching her, but when she would ask what he was doing, he would say she was “sleep talking.”
During the sentencing, Boyce reviewed a pre-sentence investigation, a comprehensive document of information concerning a defendant and the offense that can help the judge decide the sentence.
Bitsoi objected to many parts of the document, including that he denied asking the minor to lie naked, denied that “anything happened in the minor’s bedroom,” denied cuddling with the minor and that “he is deviant and continues his behavior,” according to court documents.
The teen then provided an impact statement, telling the judge that she does not want her abuser to go to prison and hopes to see him soon.
“Growing up, you’re always taught to tell the truth, no matter how bad or hard it is to hear. The outcome would always be better if you told the truth,” said the victim. “It escalated very quickly, and before I knew it, I was watching (Bitsoi) be put in the back of a police car, and that was one of the hardest things to this day that I’ve ever had to go through.”
The victim continued by describing Bitsoi as a calming person and someone she went to when she had a bad day.
“When I had a bad day, he always knew what to do, and he always knew what to say when nobody else could. He was the one that always got me over that,” said the victim. “I don’t want (Bitsoi) to go to jail, and I’ve lost a whole year with him. I just want this to be over, and I just want to be able to see him again.”
Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Chase Hendricks then argued for Bitsoi to receive probation with an underlying sentence of a minimum of seven years and a maximum of 15 years in prison.
“There is probably a lot of mixed emotions in a situation like this,” said Hendricks. “We tried to curate a plea agreement that could respond to some of those considerations in equal measure.”
Bitsoi’s attorney, Stratton Laggis, argued for the same probation recommendation with an underlying sentence.
“Stan is 62 years old, he is now working again full-time and has been for some time,” said Laggis. “He has a lot of different moving parts going in a positive direction for him.”
Bitsoi then made a statement to the court, saying he was sorry for what he did, but he had a good support system to help him in the future.
“First of all, I want (the victim) to know how sorry I am for this. I missed 15 months, I missed her whole senior year, and as she said, we were best friends. I will live every day of my life being sorry for what I’ve done to her and to this family,” said Bitsoi. “I’ve got a good family behind me. I’ve got daughters in here, and an ex-wife that probably has every reason there is on the planet to see me put away for life. And she’s here supporting me.”
Bitsoi said he confessed to the crime after being caught cheating on his wife.
“I made a mistake, Judge. And I thank God that I was able to stop it. That still doesn’t make it right, it happened. But when my infidelity came to the surface with my wife, that’s when I decided it was time to get everything off my chest,” said Bitsoi. “I went to my bishop.”
Boyce then explained his ruling before pronouncing the sentence, saying that this case is especially sad due to the “destruction” of a family because of Bitsoi’s actions.
“The characterization of what happened as a single event or a mistake, I think, misrepresents the true facts here which was a course of conduct, not just a single event,” said Boyce. “It’s just a really sad case, it really is. Some cases are sadder than others, and this is, it’s very sad that your conduct led to the destruction of this family. And there’s no one to blame but you for that.”
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