A Chama man facing 17 and a half years in prison will not have to spend another day in jail after pleading no contest to charges that he molested two girls.
If Larry DeYapp Sr., 56, receives sex offender counseling and commits no additional crimes, he will serve a five-to-20-year probation sentence for four felony charges stemming from two separate criminal cases, according to a plea agreement assistant district attorney Juan Valencia presented at a Dec. 10 hearing in Santa Fe.
“This is a difficult plea for this court to accept,” state District Court Judge Michael Vigil told De-Yapp before approving the agreement. “These kinds of offenses against children cry out for punishment. You probably deserve to serve a lengthy prison sentence for these offenses. To cause this kind of harm to a child 11 and 13 years old is unforgivable.”
DeYapp winced as Valencia described the allegations.
In one case, DeYapp pleaded no contest to one count of criminal sexual contact with a minor for allegedly touching the “intimate parts” of a distant cousin when she was 13, Valencia said. The charge was initially for criminal sexual penetration, according to court documents.
In the other case, DeYapp allegedly lured an 11-year-old girl into a shed “to see a lawn mower,” then lifted up her clothing and forced her to engage in oral sex, Valencia said. The victim stated in an affidavit that Deyapp would not let her leave the shed until she told DeYapp she loved him. In that case, DeYapp pleaded no contest to one count each of criminal sexual contact with a minor (originally charged as criminal sexual penetration), contributing to the delinquency of a minor, bribing or intimidating a witness, and misdemeanor enticement of a child.
Valencia acknowledged the plea bargain “may seem generous,” but was the “outcome in the best interests of the community” given the obstacles prosecutors faced in both cases.
Prosecuting the first case was difficult because the victim, DeYapp’s cousin, now 22, came forward in late 2007, nearly 10 years after DeYapp allegedly touched her, Valencia said.
“Other family members at the time had also disclosed abuse or inappropriate touching, then later denied it or became uncooperative with the state’s investigation,” Valencia said.
In the second case, the victim and her mother moved out of state and did not return the phone calls of prosecutors or investigators, Valencia said.
“They moved out of state, they became fearful, and when we made contact through a victim’s advocate it appeared bringing the victim in to provide evidence in this case could be problematic,” Valencia said.
DeYapp referred questions to his lawyer, Thomas Clark, who said his client faced a “very, very difficult decision” in accepting the plea.
“He had to give up a great degree of freedom,” Clark said. “This is the kind of deal you don’t reach unless there’s a problem with the state’s case. Here you’ve got one case that’s old and another where there’s no physical evidence, where it’s basically a ‘he said, she said’ situation. But if this had gone to trial, Larry would have still risked a jury believing that little girl’s word over his.”
Vigil agreed to suspend all but two years of DeYapp’s prison sentence, and gave him credit for the seven months he spent in jail in 2007 and for having spent the past year and a half on electronic monitoring. That means DeYapp will be eligible to get off electronic monitoring by Jan. 6, Vigil said.
DeYapp will have to register as a sex offender for life, which means he cannot visit parks, schools or other public places frequented by children, Vigil said. He must also undergo counseling and submit to GPS monitoring, Vigil said.
DeYapp is the father of Rio Arriba County Jail Administrator Larry DeYapp Jr. and the husband of jail guard Ester DeYapp.