Man faints in court when facing 25-year sentence
About to face a lengthy prison sentence for attempting to meet a 5-year-old girl for sex, a twice convicted Megan’s Law offender stepped before a Butler County judge trembled, cried and then fainted.
Still, David P. Ellenberger of Summit Township declined medics’ offer to leave the courtroom on a stretcher. But he left in shackles on Tuesday afternoon.
Ellenberger — a 45-year-old father of two sons — will serve 25 to 50 years in state prison.
Butler County Judge William Shaffer, who issued the sentence, also declared Ellenberger a sexually violent predator who must register his whereabouts with state police for the rest of his life.
According to court records, investigators with the state Attorney General’s Office became aware of Ellenberger when he placed an advertisement on the Internet soliciting sex from children.
Pretending to be the father of a 5-year-old girl, the investigators chatted with Ellenberger online and through text messages, eventually agreeing to meet in Cranberry Township so Ellenberger could have sex with the child.
He was arrested at the rendezvous location.
At the time of his arrest Ellenberger was on probation and already a registered sex offender, stemming from his 2006 Butler County Court conviction for disseminating child pornography.
