Colorado man sentenced to 122 years for starving, locking, and sexually abusing child in basement
07/12/2022 12:18 pm PDT
WELD COUNTY, Colo. (TCD) -- A man who was found guilty of sexually abusing a young child and keeping them locked in a basement has been sentenced to 122 years in prison.
In April, Dante Larks was convicted on several assault-related charges, including sexual assault with a deadly weapon, child abuse causing serious bodily injury, and two counts of sex assault on a child — position of trust and pattern of abuse.
In December 2018, the Dacono Police Department launched an investigation into Larks for domestic violence, and in 2019, officials started looking into sexual abuse and assault allegations by a juvenile against Larks. A juvenile victim told authorities they were locked in an unfinished basement during some nights for several months.
The juvenile victim was forced to stay in the basement and wasn’t allowed to leave except for a few hours a day. At times, the victim had to use a bucket to go to the bathroom.
The victim ate mostly peanut shells that were thrown down the stairs by Larks. Larks also sexually assaulted the victim while holding a gun when the child was asleep.
According to KDVR-TV, at the sentencing hearing earlier this week, the victim told the court, "I will suffer with a diagnosis of PTSD for the rest of my life, I still struggle with the sound of footsteps above me because I hear him pacing on the floorboards and wonder if tonight is the night he’ll be coming down the stairs."
The victim added, "I panic when someone walks by me because I remember how he’d grabbed me from behind. I can’t handle even the thought of someone grabbing my ankles because I remember how he grabbed mine before he raped me. But what I’m not doing is playing the victim, because I’m not a victim. I spent years being made to feel broken because he successfully convinced the world I was crazy. But I’m not broken. He is — Dante Larks is broken."
On July 11, after a four-hour hearing, Larks was officially sentenced to 122 years in prison, according to the Weld County District Attorney’s Office. Larks will reportedly not be considered for rehabilitation because the crimes were intentionally cruel, and Larks is likely unsusceptible to treatment.
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