THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 24, 1996 TAG: 9604240386
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Benjamin Perry Gordon III received a 60-year prison sentence this week that he may never serve.
But the mother of one of his victims says that's OK. Billie Beal knows if Gordon never serves the time he got for abusing her son, it will only be because he is serving four consecutive life sentences in Ohio.
Monday's trial and sentencing brought to an end a three-year battle for Beal, who fought to have Gordon extradited to Virginia Beach to stand trial on charges of abusing her son and a girl in the neighborhood. Even though Gordon was already serving time in Ohio for abusing children there, Beal wanted him brought to justice here.
She said the 60-year sentence was worth the trauma of having her son relive in court this week the abuse by the former neighbor.
``Even if (Gordon) makes parole in Ohio, he has 60 years to do here,'' said Beal, who is a co-founder of a support group called Families of Abused Children Traumatized Sexually. ``He's 31 years old now so, he's not going to be around children again.''
Gordon was convicted Monday of the 1990 sexual assault of Beal's son and another neighborhood child, an offense Beal's son didn't disclose for two years.
When the Beals reported the abuse to police in 1992, they were asked to delay pressing charges until the boy and the other child involved could enter therapy, so testimony would be as strong as possible, according to Beal.
Several months later, Beal found out that Gordon had been arrested in Greene County, Ohio, on charges of sexually molesting the three children of a woman he had married since leaving Virginia. In that case, Gordon was convicted in December 1992 of four counts of rape, one count of felonious sexual penetration and two counts of gross sexual imposition.
Gordon had also been convicted in 1988 of sexually abusing two 6-year-old girls in Virginia Beach. He'd been sentenced to six years in prison for that offense. Nine months of that term were suspended.
Gordon's attorney, Gwendolyn Mitchell, did not return a call to comment on Monday's sentencing.
Although Beal said she was relieved the case was over, she said she felt mixed emotions after the trial.
``You'd think I'd be happy, but I'm not sure what I feel. There's a part of you that always wants to believe that this never happened, but a trial shows it was a reality.''
KEYWORDS: CHILD MOLESTER SEX CRIME CONVICTION SEXUAL ABUSE by CNB