Juniata Park man sentenced for rapes
Despite his attorney's argument that it was "theft of services" and not rape, a Juniata Park man was sentenced today to 20 to 40 years imprisonment for two daytime knifepoint rapes of streetwalkers.
Despite his attorney's argument that it was "theft of services" and not rape, a Juniata Park man was sentenced today to 20 to 40 years imprisonment for two daytime knifepoint rapes of streetwalkers.
In one, he posed as a police officer.
The defendant, Harry Woldsmit, 39, of the 4000 block of L Street, also was ruled a "dangerous predator" during the sentencing hearing under Megan's Law, which means he will have to register regularly with police and notify the public of his whereabouts.
Woldsmit had pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and related charges for the two incidents, which took place on Kensington Avenue over an 11-day period during the summer of 2006.
At today's sentencing, Woldsmit attempted to withdraw the guilty plea, made at an Oct. 18, 2006 hearing. The two prostitutes could not be found, and Common Pleas Court Judge Albert Snite rejected the motion.
Prosecutor James Carpenter said he did not know whether the women were alive or dead.
Woldsmit, driving a van and later an SUV he borrowed from an automotive dealer where he worked, picked up the women, who were hooked on drugs, authorities said.
Jerome Mallon, one of Woldsmit's public defenders, argued that the women had already consented to have sex and that Woldsmit was simply taking more than they had agreed to in a sort of sex-crimes theft of services.
"He wanted more than they wanted to do," argued Mallon.
Prosecutor Carpenter said that what had begun as consensual turned nonconsensual. He said that the passenger side of each vehicle was wired shut to prevent escape.
Carpenter said Woldsmit prowled the streets of the city looking for vulnerable victims in a human trap.
He then would drive them to an isolated area. He allegedly told one of the women that he was an undercover cop while wielding a knife and said that she had better not report the incident or he would harm her mother.
Police Officer John Robison, sitting outside the courtroom during the trial, said many crimes against prostitutes go unreported because the streewalkers feel they will not be believed by a jury.
The second incident was reported when the victim managed to escape from the SUV with her pants around her ankles. She attracted the attention of a Good Samaritan who came to her aid and then called police.
Woldsmit has a lengthy criminal record for an assortment of crimes, including robbery, which landed him in jail from 1990 to 2002.
