Friday, Feb. 4, 2000 | 11:27 a.m.
Larry Wisenbaker's years of sexually abusing boys at youth facilities across the country where he worked have come to an end and District Judge Kathy Hardcastle today guaranteed he will never get a chance to do it again.
The judge sentenced Wisenbaker to four life prison terms plus additional years that will keep him in prison for 65 years before he will even be eligible for parole.
He had pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting or molesting 16 boys at St. Jude's Ranch in Boulder City during the year he worked there.
Wisenbaker cried and tried to explain to the judge that his predatory acts were things he couldn't control and said, "I'm not the monster (prosecutors) portray me to be."
But the judge noted that he had spent most of his working life putting himself in positions to victimize those he was hired to help.
"They were already disenfranchised, they had suffered abuse. They were already victims and you victimized them further," Hardcastle said.
Deputy District Attorney Gerald Gardner said that in addition to the youngsters, Wisenbaker's criminal acts "rocked to the foundation good institutions" that will be fighting lawsuits over his conduct for years.
Wisenbaker said that the children are the most important thing to him and he wants therapy to overcome his pedophilia and Deputy Public Defender Joseph Abood said the sex offender deserves a chance,
But the judge said the recent revelation about a Georgia child abuse conviction that Wisenbaker hid from St. Jude's Ranch officials convinced her that he doesn't deserve a chance.
When Wisenbaker appeared in court today for sentencing on his guilty plea to charges he molested 16 boys at St. Jude's Ranch in Boulder City, he knew some allegations of past indiscretions were going to follow him.
Hardcastle was aware of the stories of similar acts with eight boys in Texas facilities for troubled children.
But until this week no one knew about Wisenbaker's conviction in 1996 for cruelty to a child in Macon, Ga., at the Hephzibah Home for Children where he worked.
Gardner said the conviction never showed up on computer searches of criminal records conducted by his office and police in Boulder City.
Had that been on the computer, it likely would have kept the youth ranches in Texas and Boulder City from hiring Wisenbaker -- particularly if the underlying allegations were revealed.
Wisenbaker was convicted of duct-taping a boy's hands and mouth and cursing at him in front of other youngsters at the Georgia facility. Reports of his arrest, however, indicate there was a second boy who also was duct-taped and allegations that Wisenbaker had fondled the victims and had them fondle him.
The reports state that the misconduct occurred at the facility and on a camping trip.
Wisenbaker had pleaded guilty to one count of cruelty with no sexual misconduct allegations in exchange for the second count being dropped.
In Boulder City, Wisenbaker has admitted manipulating boys living at St. Jude's Ranch and a few boys who were just visiting into letting him fondle them or perform sex acts.
Gardner has said that Wisenbaker's crimes were not opportunistic acts but a lifelong devotion to entrapping and sexually molesting children.
Wisenbaker's decision to take a plea bargain rather than stand trial came after several of the Texas boys testified about Wisenbaker's activities at youth facilities in that state before he arrived in Nevada.
While Wisenbaker's misconduct with the Texas boys wasn't part of the Nevada criminal case, Hardcastle was considering whether to allow the stories as testimony to demonstrate the defendant's long-term pattern of behavior.
Wisenbaker knew there also would be a parade of 16 boys from St. Jude's Ranch to testify against him about the misconduct he admitted to in his guilty plea.
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