Man receives 112 years for 2005 attack in Gary
Rapist of teen girls sentencedA 33-year-old
Gary man was sentenced Wednesday to 112 years in prison for the 2005 sexual attack of two Hobart girls, then 16 and 17 years old.
A Lake Criminal Court jury convicted Walter Lee Liddell in April on charges of rape, criminal deviate conduct, confinement, intimidation, sexual battery, battery and theft in the Aug 17, 2005, attack.
Liddell had called one of the girls on her cell phone, prosecutors said. After picking up both girls in Hobart, Liddell drove them to a Gary residence where he and the girls smoked marijuana together.
Instead of driving the girls home as they asked,
Liddell took them to a dark, remote, wooded area in the city's Miller Beach area, where he pulled a knife on them and forced the girls to disrobe and perform sexual acts. After driving to another location, Liddell raped the 16-year-old. The girls were released and sought refuge at a nearby apartment complex.
One of the victims on Wednesday told the court she stayed in her room for days after the attack, paranoid about what would happen if she came out.
Lake County Deputy Prosecutor John Burke asked the court for a 140-year sentence for Liddell.
"
What he did to these girls is unspeakable," Burke said, also citing Liddell's prior felony convictions for burglary and possession of cocaine.
In addition to levying the 112-year prison sentence, Lake Criminal Court Judge Salvador Vasquez ordered Liddell to pay the state-mandated fee of $53.96 per day it costs to house a prisoner in the Indiana Department of Correction. Liddell's estimated tab comes to more than $2.2 million.
The state Legislature ordered courts to impose the fee effective in January.