12-year sentence for repeated child molestation

The Wenatchee World - 12/11/2017

Dec. 11--WATERVILLE -- A Lake Stevens man was sentenced last week to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple acts of child molestation against an East Wenatchee youth that occurred over a four-year period.

Robert Spencer Cuff, 21, pleaded guilty in September to three counts of first-degree child molestation and one in the second degree, plus a charge of communication with a minor for immoral purposes. He remained jailed until his Wednesday sentencing while a court-ordered pre-sentence investigation was conducted.

Cuff was arrested after a December 2016 investigation by Douglas County Sheriff's Detective Tim Scott, in which the child, now 14, disclosed instances of abuse that took place in her East Wenatchee home. Cuff was about 16 at the time of the first sexual contact in 2012, while the victim was about 8 years old. The abuse continued through August 2016, when Cuff was 20. He also sent the victim intimate photos of himself via Snapchat.

The sentence handed down by Superior Court Judge John Hotchkiss is at the low end of the standard 149- to 198-month range for Cuff's level of offense. He has no prior criminal convictions. Cuff's attorney had sought an exceptional reduction from the standard range to just 18 months, plus five years of post-release supervision, citing Cuff's youth at the time the acts commenced.

Hotchkiss said the circumstances of the case did not merit such leniency. He noted that Cuff initiated the abuse when he was a teenager who was seeking Eagle Scout certification, and continued it into adulthood, after completing trade school and finding a job. He also noted that Cuff's plea allowed the victim to avoid giving painful testimony at trial, which he said justified a sentence at the lower end of the range.

Reach Jefferson Robbins at 509-664-7123 or robbins@wenatcheeworld.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRobbinsWW. Contact him securely by PGP key.

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