Point Marion man found guilty
A Point Marion man was convicted late Tuesday night of raping a 2-year-old left briefly in his care last July 30. Robert Eugene Sapp faces sentencing later this month on rape and other charges related to the assault. He also will undergo a sexual offender hearing done by the state to determine if he is sexually violent and should be required to register once he is released from prison.
Sapp, 24, was convicted of anally raping the 2-year-old girl he was caring for while the child’s mother went to West Virginia for about an hour last summer.
A forensic scientist testified for prosecutors earlier in the week that there was seminal fluid in Sapp’s underwear along with skin cells from the toddler. The match was 44 billion to one, according to testimony. First Trial Assistant District Attorney Joseph George Jr. pointed to that finding as strong evidence that Sapp assaulted the child.
But Sapp’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Susan Ritz Harper, argued that the skin cells could have come from anywhere on the child. She also disputed the 44 billion to one match, telling jurors that the number was inflated because there weren’t that many people on the planet.
Sapp took the stand in his own behalf during the two-day trial and told jurors that he did not touch the child, but he said he had no idea what could have happened to her.
The assault came to the attention of state police trooper David Bell, who filed charges, when the Sapps took the child to the hospital. They became worried when the girl’s mother changed her diaper and saw blood in it.
At the hospital, Bell, who was there on an unrelated matter, talked to Sapp and he agreed to take a rape test kit and allowed police to search his home. There, police found two diapers with blood in them and a towel with blood on it that matched the child’s.
Still, Sapp testified he did not know how the blood wound up on the diapers or the towel, and he denied hurting the child. The toddler required surgery at Children’s Hospital to repair damage done in the assault, according to testimony.
In February, Sapp opted not to plead guilty to the charges and rejected a 10- to 20-year sentence offered by prosecutors.
He could now face an even lengthier sentence at the hands of Judge Gerald R. Solomon, who heard the case.