Roosevelt businessman receives 10 years for sexual abuse
Gale, 50, was sentenced in absentia Thursday in 8th District Court on four felony charges related to five years of sexual abuse against a teenage boy. The former businessman who owned an office supply and religious bookstore is already serving a 15-year sentence at a federal prison in North Carolina for producing pornographic images of his victim.
"I am appalled at what I have done to my victim. ... I chose pleasure over doing what was right," Gale wrote in a letter read to the court by defense attorney Herb Gillespie. "I am grateful that my abusive actions to (my victim) have come to an end and only regret that they ever started in the first place."
Gale was arrested in July 2006 after a Utah County man contacted authorities and said Gale had offered to let him have sex with a teenage boy. Duchesne County investigators met with the man and recorded a telephone call between the informant and Gale. They then interviewed Gale, who admitted to the abuse and turned over Polaroid images he'd taken of his victim.
Gillespie asked 8th District Judge John R. Anderson to weigh the "many, many good things about Brad Gale," against his "totally inexcusable" actions when considering what sentence to impose. Gale had served in numerous civic and church positions in Roosevelt over the years. His arrest came as such a shock to the community, Gillespie said, that it was "like a punch in the stomach."
The defense attorney asked Anderson to run a mandatory state prison sentence concurrently with Gale's federal time, noting that an evaluation of Gale conducted prior to sentencing indicated he had a low to moderate likelihood of re-offending, is a good candidate for treatment and has strong support from his family.
The mother of Gale's victim told Anderson that her son supported a concurrent sentence for his abuser as well and has forgiven him. She said the 17-year-old boy, who is currently awaiting sentencing on criminal charges of his own, knows firsthand the environment Gale is in and does not believe more prison time is necessary.
But Duchesne County Attorney Stephen Foote pointed to the duration of the abuse and its likely influence on the victim's own legal woes in asking Anderson to hand down a 10-to-life state sentence consecutive to Gale's federal sentence.
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My heart aches... | May 11, 2008 at 5:12 p.m.
