A 66-year-old Anchorage man with a “lengthy criminal history” was sentenced to more than 50 years in prison for three felony counts of sexual abuse of 7-year-old neighbor girl, the Alaska Department of Law said in a statement.
Anchorage Superior Court Judge Erin Marston sentenced Paul Harris to 52.5 years in prison after he was convicted of sexually assaulting the young girl “under the guise of taking her for a ride on his mobility scooter,” the statement said.
In June 2016, the child told her father of the abuse after Harris had taken her on a ride on his scooter, the charges said. Harris admitted to a police dispatcher — calling to ask for assistance because he feared the child’s father — he had sexually abused the child, said the statement and charges.
Harris “is every parent’s worst nightmare,” said Assistant District Attorneys Betsy Bull when asking the court for a sentence of 52.5 years, according to the Alaska Department of Law statement.