‘Violent offender sentenced to prison term
After he was found to be a sexually violent predator Tuesday in Fayette County Court, Earl Robinson Crumb Jr. of Ronco was sentenced to 61/2 to 13 years in a state prison and ordered to notify police of his address quarterly for the rest of his life. The state prison sentence begins after he completes a two-year federal prison sentence, which was ordered in May when a federal judge ruled that because of the charges filed against him in Fayette County, he had violated his parole.
Before Fayette County Judge Ralph C. Warman issued the sentence, which was part of a plea bargain, Crumb said: “I’m sorry. That’s all I’ve got say, right now.”
Warman also asked Crumb if he was sorry for the crimes to which he pleaded guilty.
“Can you make sure I go to a place that will help me?” Crumb responded.
On July 30, Crumb pleaded guilty to all 10 sexual-abuse charges contained in two criminal complaints filed against him by state police trooper James A. Pierce of the Uniontown barracks.
Under terms of the plea agreement, he was sentenced on two of the charges – 5-10 years for involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and consecutively to 11/2-3 years for sexual abuse of children.
By pleading guilty to those two charges, Crumb, 46, admitted to photographing a 15-year-old girl performing a sex act on him in a wooded area near Point Marion in December 2001 and taking pictures of two teenaged girls taking a shower together in his home between October and December the same year. Those girls were 15 and 16 years old.
Warman ordered no additional sentences for the other charges, which included two other counts of sexual abuse of children, five counts of corruption of minors, obscene and other sexual materials and performances.
Affidavits of probable cause state the Crumb also made passes toward a 17-year-old girl and asked a 14-year-old to pose nude for photographs.
The sentencing came after a Megan’s Law hearing in which Dr. Allan Pass of the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders’ Assessment Board testified under questioning by Assistant District Attorney Jack Heneks Jr.
“Mr. Crumb does meet the criteria of a sexually violent predator,” Pass said.
He said he made that determination after studying Crumb’s criminal, mental health, family and employment history, and interviewing him at the Fayette County Prison.
Pass said Crumb has a “chronic history of deviate sexual behavior” dating to 1975 and a compulsive need to demonstrate that behavior.
Crumb told the doctor that he was previously diagnosed with schizophrenia and responds to auditory hallucinations from the voices of five men that he hears in his head.
The names of men whose voices he heard were Earl, Rob, Steve, Tom and Ben.
Pass said Crumb’s criminal history showed eight convictions since 1975 for aggravated harassment, a bomb threat, indecent exposure, obscene materials, harassment by communications and a 1997 federal conviction for mailing harassing letters.
He was sentenced to 30 months in prison for the harassing letters and was serving parole when Pierce arrested him in April this year.
Defense attorney Susan Harper of the public defender’s office said Crumb’s federal parole was revoked and he will have to serve a federal sentence before he starts serving Tuesday’s sentence.
Pass mentioned a letter Crumb sent to a female inmate in a state prison that said he wanted to have sexual relations with minor females, cut off their heads and eat their brains. He also said the defendant has a female hair fetish.
He said Crumb’s father died in 1990, his mother lives in Virginia and he always considered himself the black sheep among his siblings.
The defendant dropped out of school in seventh grade and did not obtain a GED or any vocational training. He received Social Security disability benefits since 1986 and some welfare benefits.
He was married once for 10 years, filed for divorce from his present wife after eight months of marriage and has no children.
Crumb has been receiving mental health care since the 1980s and under medication for mental illness.
“The Commonwealth has proved by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant Earl Robinson Crumb Jr. is a sexually violent predator,” Warman said.
After sentencing Crumb, Warman advised him that he will have to register his address with state police with 10 days of his release from prison and quarterly for the rest of his life.
If he moves to another state, he will have to register with police there.
He has to provide photographs and fingerprints to state police before he begins his prison term. Annual address verifications are also required. He was also ordered to submit to and pay for DNA testing.
Failure to comply with the reporting requirements is a first-degree felony offense punishable by life in prison or life-long probation, Warman said.
The maximum punishment for involuntary deviate sexual intercourse – a first-degree felony- is 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine and the maximum for sexual abuse of children – a second-degree felony – is 10 years and a $10,00 fine.
Warman said the sentence he ordered was in the mitigated range for both crimes.
Crumb has 10 days to file post-sentence motions and 30 days to appeal the sentence to Superior Court.