Man who used Internet to meet 15-year-old sentenced for rape

YAKIMA, Wash. - A California man was sentenced to more than three years in prison for using the Internet to lure a Yakima teen-ager into a sexual relationship.

The young woman was 15 when they first met.

Despite protests from the now-17-year-old victim, who said she intends to marry 34-year-old Leonard Siroy, Yakima County Superior Court Judge Michael Schwab ordered a 41-month sentence. He also ordered Siroy to stay away from the young woman.

Siroy, of San Lorenzo, Calif., pleaded guilty in April to charges of third-degree rape and sexual exploitation of a minor.

''The continuation of your relationship cannot be condoned or blessed by the court,'' Schwab said at Friday's sentencing.

The recently divorced Siroy, a father of two, met the Yakima girl in an Internet chat room for teen-agers two years ago.

He posed as a 16-year-old, sending her a high school yearbook picture of himself, Deputy Prosecutor Steve Keller said.

The two started talking on the telephone. Eventually, Siroy flew to meet the girl in Yakima. The two spent three days together and had sex in a Yakima hotel room, prosecutors said.

They met a second time, after the girl convinced her parents that she was taking a school trip to Canada. She flew to California and spent a week with Siroy.

Siroy was arrested in September on his second trip to Yakima. In his hotel room, police found evidence of exploitation.

''It was the most graphic videotape I have ever seen,'' Keller said of recordings Siroy made of the girl engaged in sexual acts.

Siroy stood quietly throughout most of the hearing.

''I'm just sorry that things worked out this way,'' he said.

The girl choked back tears as she asked Schwab to give Siroy a lighter sentence.

''We do intend to get married,'' she said. ''I do love Leonard. I know it seems wrong, but age doesn't matter.''

Schwab discounted the girl's statements.

''Oftentimes love, or what we think is love, is capable of making us do irrational things,'' he said. ''The law is designed to protect people when they are doing things emotionally and not rationally.''

The judge issued an order making it a crime for Siroy to contact the girl.

If the two still want to get married when Siroy is released from prison, they can petition to have the order lifted, he said.