BUCYRUS—Years of sexual abuse and rape came to an end Wednesday when Fred Hatfield, 74, of Galion, pleaded guilty to two counts of rape of a child under 13 years of age.
Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Hoovler represented the victim, now 17, who chose not to speak in court:
“I will do my best to speak on behalf of a strong and brave 17-year-old girl. As a prosecutor going on nine years, I have had the unfortunate situations to have to prosecute these cases. But one thing I have learned in these nine years is that I have the opportunity to meet, what I think, are the bravest of heroes I have ever met, and those are the child victims in these cases.” Hoovler said.
Hoovler told the court that the victim, now 17, had been a victim of Hatfield’s behavior and violence from the young age of nine.
“At a young age, she made a decision to allow Mr. Hatfield to do unimaginable, sexually violent things to her for what she believed was to protect her younger siblings from the same fate. She a
lowed him to advance on her sexually and rape her multiple times just to protect her siblings,” Hoovler said.
Hoovler told the court the victim made the abuse known to her grandmother, who called the police.
Hoovler addressed the victim and others in the galley:
“You did nothing wrong. In this room, if there are other adults who believe otherwise, you should be ashamed of yourselves.”
In addressing Hatfield, Hoovler did not hold back:
“Mr. Hatfield, I’m sure your attorney is going to say all the amazing things you’ve accomplished in your life, and that may be true…but YOU made the decision when the victim was nine years old to take advantage of her sexually. You continued to do that by your own admission more than 50 times. You chose to take advantage of a girl who, in her own life, may not have had any adults who stood up for her. She has been left aside by many adults in her life. She was placed in the custody of your wife for safety purposes. You chose violent tendencies to take advantage of her. I hope that however long your life is, that every day in that cell, you think about what you’ve done. Here’s the thing your life is ending here, but her life (the victim) is not. Instead, she has very great things she’s going to accomplish with her life in spite of anything you have done to her,” Hoovler said.
Defense attorney Tom Nicholson told the court his client had not acted like a good citizen, but he had been a good soldier.
Nicholson recalled Hatfield’s service in Vietnam and beyond.
Hatfield received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. He told the court his client served in another branch of the military after Vietnam and was NCO of the year in 1990. He told the court his client has great remorse but also suffers from PTSD that was diagnosed at the time the rapes occurred.
Crawford County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold expressed that the toughest part of his job is hearing these kinds of cases. Leuthold said that he is not permitted to speak to victims because his job is to maintain neutrality in such cases. However, after the conclusion of a case, he is certainly allowed to “feel” for what victims of crime go through:
“In this particular case, the victim has undergone a long, long experience spanning years that I’m sure has caused trauma no question about it. The victim certainly has my support. I agree with Mr. Hoovler that we have a very brave young woman here who stepped forward and did something that’s very difficult to do. I urge you to put this behind you as best you can with whatever help you need,” Leuthold said.
Leuthold sentenced Hatfield to life in prison without parole for ten years on each count. The counts will run consecutively. Hatfield will be 94 years old before he is eligible for parole. If paroled, he must register as a tier III sex offender and must report in person to the sheriff of the county where he resides every 90 days.
“Doing good things does not excuse you from the horrific things you have done.” Judge Leuthold concluded.
Crawford County Prosecutor Matt Crall told Crawford County Now of his immense pride in his assistant Prosecutor Ryan Hoovler.
“Mr. Hoovler does an amazing job fighting for victims of sexual assault. His efforts assist these young people in being able to move forward. On behalf of the state, we are pleased that the defendant is taking responsibility for his crimes. He took advantage of his relationship with the victim, and the only appropriate penalty is life in prison. Our thoughts and prayers are for the victim,” Crall said.
Crall also thank the Galion Police Department for their work on this case. “Their work makes our county safer,” Crall said.