Sep. 8-NORRISTOWN - Saying a Norristown man poses a risk to society, a judge sent him to prison for more than a decade for raping a 13-year-old girl while she was visiting a Douglass (Mont.) residence where the man previously lived.
"You stole her innocence and her ability to trust others," Montgomery County Judge Wendy G. Rothstein addressed convicted rapist John Anthony "Jay" Lasorda as she sentenced him to 12 to 24 years in a state correctional facility. "You pose a serious risk to society."
During a two-day trial in March, a jury convicted Lasorda, 31, of the 1500 block of West Marshall Street, of charges of rape, statutory sexual assault, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, terroristic threats, false imprisonment and corruption of a minor in connection with the April 2019 incident.
"You are a courageous, brave and strong, young lady. Your future is very bright. His control over you ends today. Never let his actions define who you are," Rothstein addressed the victim during the hearing.
The judge told the victim's parents that they have "a remarkable daughter."
The victim's father characterized Lasorda as "a monster."
"You got caught, finally. You are a coward. Your good luck is finally over and now it's time for you to go through your hell," the victim's father said to Lasorda, adding the crime devastated his family.
Lasorda, who listed a previous address along Cromby Road in Phoenixville, showed no reaction during the hearing and did not address the courtroom before learning his fate. He declined to comment as sheriff's deputies escorted him from the courtroom to begin serving the prison term.
As part of the sentence, Lasorda faces sex offender supervision and he was ordered to have no contact with the victim or her family.
Lasorda also faces a lifetime requirement to report his address to state police after he's paroled in order to comply with Pennsylvania's Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.
At trial, Lasorda, through his lawyer Brooks Thompson, suggested the girl fabricated the allegations of sexual assault. With its verdict, the jury did not find the defense claim to be credible.
Assistant District Attorney Caroline Goldstein argued for a lengthy prison term for Lasorda. The judge's sentence included several consecutive prison terms on some of the charges of which Lasorda was convicted.
"(The victim) was 13 years old when the defendant raped her. She was a kid, that alone is an aggravating factor. This was a violent offense. She couldn't fight him off. There's nothing she could do. He didn't care," Goldstein argued.
According to testimony, the rape occurred about one month after Lasorda was released from prison after serving several years behind bars on drug delivery charges in Chester County.
Thompson asked the judge not to impose consecutive prison terms against Lasorda, arguing that given the nature of the charges, every day in prison is going to be difficult for Lasorda.
At the time of the sexual assault, Lasorda was 27 and the victim was 13, according to court documents.
An investigation began in June 2019, when the girl's parents went to Douglass (Mont.) police to report that their daughter had recently confided in them that she had been sexually assaulted by Lasorda while she was visiting a residence along Swamp Pike where Lasorda had been staying with friends.
The girl subsequently told detectives and child social workers that Lasorda forced her onto a couch and sexually assaulted her while she visited the Swamp Pike residence on April 6, 2019, according to the criminal complaint. The girl said she punched Lasorda's chest and tried kicking him "but it didn't seem to bother him and he kept overpowering her," Douglass (Mont.) Detective Robert Evans wrote in the arrest affidavit.
The girl told detectives that Lasorda threatened her and told her not to tell anyone about the assault.
During the interview by detectives, the girl added that Lasorda touched her in an inappropriate manner on other occasions when she visited the residence, according to court papers.
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