SMETHPORT — In what may well be the longest sentence of incarceration ever imposed in McKean County, convicted child rapist Darvin Carpenter will spend 130 to 260 years in state prison.

A sentencing hearing was held Friday morning in McKean County Court in which three of Carpenter’s seven victims, now adults, addressed Judge John Pavlock, one via letter through a family advocate.

“He made me feel dirty,” the victim wrote. She said when she was in school, she was afraid to be around boys. “I want Darvin to stay in jail.”

Another victim said she was 14 when she met Carpenter, who is now 52.

“He’s the one who took my childhood away from me,” she said, crying and shaking with emotion. “I strongly believe I would have had a better life if not for him.”

She said she has struggled with addiction and made poor choices in the aftermath of her abuse. “I was a child and I didn’t deserve to be traumatized for the rest of my life.”

She said Carpenter doesn’t deserve to “ever see the light of day again.”

A third victim, also overcome with emotion, said, “He took everything from me. I was never believed by anybody. Nobody ever did anything for me.”

She told the judge, “I am begging you to not let him out ever again.”

Carpenter was convicted at trial of 251 sex crimes and related charges against children.

District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer said Carpenter was a “babysitter, a neighbor, a stepfather, a boyfriend of a mom, a boyfriend of a best friend’s mom” when the assaults happened.

One of the victims testified at trial that her “earliest memory was of the defendant raping her,” Shaffer said. He would use sexual assault as a punishment against children for various things, she explained.

The crimes came to light in 2022 after a juvenile girl reported to her mother that Carpenter had touched her inappropriately, and the mother reported it to the child abuse hotline, Childline.

Through their investigation, police identified “six other victims who reported numerous instances of rape from the age of 5, forced oral sex on victims under age 13, unlawful touching of children under age 16, providing marijuana to juveniles and numerous other crimes,” Shaffer said.

He was found to fit the legal criteria for a sexually violent predator.

“We’re asking for a sentence that would keep him in prison for his entire life,” she said. “This has been going on for 23 years.”

Carpenter’s attorney, Tyler Lindquist of Erie, spoke on his client’s behalf, saying, “He knows that any combination of mandatory minimums (on the charges he was convicted of) is a life sentence. With his age, it is effectively four life sentences. We ask that you bring that down. While he respects the decision of the jury, he maintains his innocence.”

When Carpenter had a chance to speak, he used the chance to again proclaim his innocence.

Pavlock spoke at length prior to imposing the sentence. Usually when he’s considering a sentence, he explained, he wants to acknowledge the victims and the crime that’s been done to them. And he wants to say something to the defendant to encourage them to change.

“What we have in this case, there are multiple victims. He stole their innocence. He’s a predator. He has no remorse,” the judge said. Even after the jury’s verdict, “sitting here today, he’s still indicating he didn’t do anything.”

Pavlock turned to the victims.

“The victims here are way more than the pain caused to them by the defendant,” he said, explaining none of them are to blame for anything that happened. “It is the predator sitting in the courtroom — he did the horrible and selfish acts.”

The judge said one of the victims had mentioned a beautiful world, and said, “There is a beautiful world out there. There is so much more out there. The victims will be in this beautiful world. He won’t.”

He stressed each syllable, telling the victims, “Don’t let him take more from you.”

While nothing can take away the pain they suffered, at least the lengthy sentence can assure them that Carpenter isn’t able to harm anyone else.

Addressing the part of the sentence where he usually speaks to the defendant, Pavlock said, “I don’t have any words for the defendant. He’s a danger to society. He’s hurt so many here. The focus of the sentence has to be on preventing further victims.”

Carpenter was convicted of 10 counts of rape of a child under 13; 10 counts of rape by forcible compulsion; 55 counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse; 6 counts of solicitation to commit IDSI on a person less than 16; three counts of aggravated indecent assault; 20 counts of statutory sexual assault; 20 counts of sexual assault; 112 counts of indecent assault; 11 counts of distribution of a small amount of marijuana; three counts of corruption of minors; and one count of indecent exposure.