Jail term ordered in sex assault
A sexual assault victim recalled her “haunting” experience in 2015 when she became sick at a party and a man raped her.
“At the hospital, I could see the bruises where he held me down,” the victim recalled as Justin Gould, 28, of Butler stood in a county courtroom awaiting his sentencing Thursday. Gould pleaded guilty in July 2018 to felony aggravated indecent assault by forcible compulsion.
After the incident, the victim said, “Everyone looked at me like I was a whore ... But today is the day I get closure. I am a survivor.”
“I know an apology is not acceptable but I am truly sorry,” Gould said.
Judge William Shaffer sentenced Gould to 22 to 44 months in state prison. He will also be on probation for 76 months after his prison sentence and must pay a $750 fine.
The victim described having something of a “Scarlet Letter” on herself because of the sexual assault, however, it is Gould who will be registered as a sex offender for life.
Gould was initially charged in June 2015 with felony rape by forcible compulsion, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse by forcible compulsion, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault by forcible compulsion, misdemeanor simple assault, indecent assault by forcible compulsion, indecent exposure and summary harassment after an assault that state police said occurred in the 300 block of Edgewood Drive, Cabot, Winfield Township, between 2:30 and 10:56 a.m. on March 6, 2015.
Police filed the charges after a woman at the Butler Memorial Hospital emergency room reported that while she was at a party she and a friend got sick after drinking with Gould and his girlfriend, according to court documents.
The friend told police that she suspected the two of the them had been drugged because they were the only two that became ill. The victim reported that the group made their way into the bathroom while the two were vomiting, and Gould was rubbing her back, before he fondled her.
The friend observed Gould fondling the victim under her shirt. She thought it was “strange” but was then helped to bed by Gould's girlfriend and did not wake up until the next morning, the document states.
The victim reported that Gould later raped her, the document states.
She told police that Gould placed his hand over her mouth during the assault, and she didn't remember anything else. She woke up the next morning in her friend's bed, according to the criminal complaint.
