Man sentenced for prison for raping, marrying 14-year-old girl

ST. ANTHONY – A 25-year-old Ashton man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for raping a 14-year-old girl.

Aaron J. Seaton, 25, will be incarcerated for a minimum of 3 years with 12 years indeterminate. Seaton pleaded guilty to one count of felony rape as part of a plea agreement on January 21. Seaton was taken into custody at that time.

Seaton was 24 when the rape occurred, which resulted in a pregnancy. Two months later, in August 2015, he married the teenager in Missouri. The girl’s father, Keith Strawn, is facing charges for taking the couple out of state for the wedding.

During sentencing in Fremont County Courthouse on Tuesday April 12 both the defense and prosecutor stuck to their recommendation as part of the plea agreement. Fremont County Prosecutor Karl H. Lewies recommended a unified sentence of 8 years, 2 fixed and 6 indeterminate with prison time to suspended and Seaton to be placed on probation.

Defense attorney Rusty B. Hansen called his client to the stand to testify. Seaton told the court that he found out that the victim was pregnant and that he decided to take up the responsibility to be there for her and that child. Seaton also told the court th

Moeller spoke about mediating and aggravating factors in Seaton’s behaviors and how they are to be considered during setencing. Moeller mentioned Seaton’s attempts to mislead the psychosexual evaluator and how on several occasions Seaton seems to change his position on if he wants to stay married to the victim. Moeller was concerned that during the pre sentence investigation, done about two weeks ago, that Seaton referred to victim as his wive over and over again.

“I want to make something very clear to you Mr. Seaton, (the victim) is not your wife, and after it was annulled in the courts eyes she never was your wife” Moeller told Seaton.

Seventh District Judge Gregory Moeller took note of the recommendations but strongly disagreed with both after reviewing a pre sentence investigation and a psychosexual evaluation.

“This is rape involved a 24-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl.” Moeller told Seaton “I have had my doubts on whether or not you appreciate the serious nature of these charges and I must say that today I may even have more doubts that you fully comprehend the heinous nature of the crime you have been accused of.”

Moellers concerns were Seaton’s direct violations of a no contact order. Moeller referenced threatening and disturbing messages Seaton sent to the victim through social media. Moeller mentioned a situation when the victim attempted to retrieve some of her property from Seaton’s residents. The victim was assured by Seaton’s family that Seaton would not be there, but he was in fact hiding in a bedroom and had contact with the victim.

The victims mother addressed the court on behalf of the her daughter. She told the court her family suffers health complications from stress in regards to this. The mother was particularly disturbed that Seaton fought to stay married, even appealed the annulment. The mother also told the court her dight suffers emotional and physical pain as a result of a miscarriage.

Moeller stated that the pre sentence investigator recommended that Seaton be placed on RIDER to received treatment though Moeller seemed to rely more on the psychosexual evaluation which stated that Seaton was no a good candidate for treatment. Moeller noted that Seaton told the evaluator that no one was hurt by his crime. Seaton also told the evaluator that he didn’t believe he needed treatment because he did nothing wrong. Moeller questioned if Seaton would benefit from treatment if he didn’t believe he did anything wrong.

“As an adult you’re expected to protect children.” Judge Moeller told Seaton “You’re not supposed to take advantage of them, exploit them or harmed them, and thats what you have done."

Read more at www.eastidahonews.com.