EBENSBURG, Pa. (AP) - The Latest on pediatrician’s sentencing for sexually assaulting 31 children (all times local):
12:40 p.m.
A former Pennsylvania pediatrician has been sentenced to at least 79 years in prison for sexually assaulting 31 children, most of them patients.
Dr. Johnnie Barto of Johnstown was sentenced Monday on dozens of counts, including aggravated indecent assault and child endangerment. Prosecutors say the 71-year-old spent decades abusing children in the exam room at his pediatric practice and at local hospitals.
Nineteen people gave victim impact statements both in person and through a prosecutor ahead of the sentencing. They described how he destroyed their lives, caused them to feel hopelessness and made them fear doctors.
His wife, Linda Barto, was among them. She says he “spent his whole sinister life lying and sneaking around so he could carry on his abuse uninterrupted.”
The attorney general’s office had asked for 31 to 62 years in prison.
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12:05 p.m.
Victims of a former Pennsylvania pediatrician have given statements before his sentencing in the sexual assault of 31 children, describing how he destroyed their lives, caused them to feel hopelessness and made them fear doctors.
Dr. Johnnie Barto of Johnstown will be sentenced on dozens of counts, including aggravated indecent assault and child endangerment. Prosecutors say he spent decades abusing children in the exam room at his pediatric practice and at local hospitals.
On Monday, he was deemed a sexually violent predator before the sentencing hearing began.
Nineteen people then gave victim impact statements both in person and through a prosecutor.
His wife, Linda Barto, was among them. She says he “spent his whole sinister life lying and sneaking around so he could carry on his abuse uninterrupted.”
The attorney general’s office is asking for 31 to 62 years in prison.
Barto declined to make a statement.
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1 a.m.
A former Pennsylvania pediatrician is scheduled for sentencing Monday in the sexual assault of 31 children, most of them patients.
Dr. Johnnie Barto of Johnstown will be sentenced on dozens of counts, including aggravated indecent assault and child endangerment. Prosecutors say he spent decades abusing children in the exam room at his pediatric practice and at local hospitals.
Barto appeared before the Pennsylvania Board of Medicine nearly two decades ago on administrative charges that he molested two young girls. But regulators threw out the case and allowed him to keep practicing medicine. Prosecutors say the 71-year-old doctor went on to molest at least a dozen more young patients before his arrest in January 2018.
Barto has pleaded guilty to some counts and no contest to others. He’s been jailed pending sentencing.
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