A Riverton man who ran for a seat on the local school board last year and served as a teacher’s assistant and child care volunteer throughout town was sentenced Tuesday to between 25 and 30 years in prison for molesting a child for several months.
Hunter DeVries, 23, had ingratiated himself with the child’s family after meeting them through the local Boys and Girls Club, according to statements Fremont County Attorney Patrick LeBrun made at a Tuesday sentencing hearing in Fremont County District Court.
DeVries, despite being aware of unspecified “grooming” tendencies in himself, positioned himself in multiple roles working with kids and ultimately in his victim’s family’s life and routine, Judge Kate McKay said. He changed the course of a child’s life and sent a shock wave through the child’s family and his own, the judge added.
Yet everyone, including the judge, prosecutor and DeVries’ public defense attorney James Whiting, acknowledged DeVries’ extremely accountable and remorseful attitude.
“For someone to just so wholeheartedly take responsibility for their actions … doesn’t convert you into a victim,” said McKay. “It makes (this process) hard and makes me want to give you some benefit of the doubt.”
“But,” the judge continued, “I cannot lose sight of the many layers of victimization that your lapse in judgement caused.”
Probation wasn’t appropriate for DeVries, andneither is Wyoming’s youthful offender or “boot camp” program, which lasts about a year and after which young defendants typically seek a sentence reduction, said McKay.
Rather, DeVries needed a “lengthy prison sentence” for his own punishment and treatment, for the victim’s sake and as an announcement to the public about the kinds of sentences people can expect from these acts.
DeVries pleaded guilty in November to two counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor after signing a plea agreement in which the prosecutor agreed to cap his sentencing argument at 27-30 years.
The crime is punishable by between 25 and 50 years in prison, though judges can and often do layer sentences on multiple counts consecutively, or simultaneously.
LeBrun resoundingly condemned DeVries’ actions Tuesday, but noted that DeVries cooperated with law enforcement and the prosecution from the moment he was confronted.
Mother’s Letter
The victim’s mother wrote a letter describing what she and her family have been enduring, but she asked LeBrun to read it in court for her.
The prosecutor did.
“The last year and a half were filled with great memories of Mr. DeVries in our lives,” LeBrun read from the letter, but with the clarification that the original letter addressed the defendant directly instead of calling him “Mr. DeVries.”
“That joy has turned to so much anger and pain,” the mother wrote. “I looked at him as another of my kids. I trusted him with my most precious things in the whole world: my children. As a mother, that is something so difficult to trust people with — and Mr. DeVries has proved why that’s so.”
Her son struggles with nightmares, trauma, fear and pain, the mother wrote.
These types of crimes tear families apart, LeBrun added.
Blame Me
DeVries read a prepared statement of his own, directed at everyone involved in the case and his life.
“Any of you would like to see me in custody for the remainder of my life, and in no way can I blame you,” he said. “I’ve failed you, I’ve betrayed you, and I’ve betrayed myself.”
DeVries noted that his case, which was filed just days before the November general election in which his name was on the ballot for a Fremont County School District No. 25 school board seat, was extremely public.
“My sins are laid bare,” he said.
He urged the community to blame him for everything — not the victim’s family, his own familyor anyone else.
He can’t undo the damage he’s inflicted, DeVries said, but he can do everything he can to counsel others out of those same acts. And he pledged to do so.
Whiting remarked how uncommon DeVries’ level of remorse is, and noted that several people submitted letters to the judge on his behalf.
He asked for a sentence of 25-27 years, but noted DeVries is in the age range for the boot camp program.
“At the end of the day, real resolution of this matter will be sorted out by a higher power,” Whiting said.
Election Season
In October when DeVries’ victim’s family learned of his abuse and notified law enforcement, DeVries confessed to molesting the child in an interview with Riverton Police Department Detective Bhagya Nethicumara. Then he sent an email to the Fremont County Clerk dropping out of the school board race.
The clerk placed notices at the voting centers that DeVries had dropped out of the race.
He received 509 in-person votes on election day regardless, a week after his case went public. But his total vote tally, which also included several mail-in and early votes, didn’t give him more votes than the candidates who won school board seats.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
