WAYNESVILLE, N.C. — Three men accused of operating what police described as a sadomasochistic “dungeon” that included castrations have been sentenced to jail time. Richard Peter “Master Rick” Sciara, his partner of 20 years Michael Mendez, and the man they called their slave, Danny Carroll Reeves, pleaded guilty to felony castration and maiming. Superior Court Judge Dennis Winner said it was difficult to call the dungeon’s willing patients “victims,” but he said six castrations performed there were certainly a crime.
“I think this is a type of perversion that cannot be tolerated by society,” Winner said during a sentencing hearing Thursday.
In plea bargains, Sciara, 62, was sentenced to a year in prison, though he has served all but two weeks of that time. Reeves, 50, was sentenced to eight months in prison, and Mendez, 61, received four months. Reeves and Mendez have already served their sentences and will enter four and two months of house arrest, respectively, and three years of supervised probation.
In exchange for the pleas, the state dropped charges of misdemeanor practicing medicine without a license and conspiracy.
Prosecutors said the men ran a sadomasochistic “dungeon” fashioned from an enclosed carport in 2004 and 2005 at a house in a quiet neighborhood near Waynesville in western North Carolina. Six men, some from as far away as South America, came to the home for castration, while others went seeking other types of body-modification surgery, prosecutors said.
Sciara had worked as a physician’s assistant at the Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center in Topeka, Kan., from February 1976 to June 1999
Here’s a tip for the guy who beat up a 101-year-old woman in a walker and took off with her purse: Get out of New York.
The vicious mugging, caught on surveillance tape, has sparked outrage in a city where people are accustomed to hearing about strange and violent crimes. Police have launched an all-out manhunt, but it’s not just the cops who want the villain’s head.
“I could hold him, and let the woman beat him up,” said Joe Sarju, 59, who lives in the Queens neighborhood where the attack occurred. “I’d love to beat him, but then they would lock me up.”
The heartlessness of the March 4 attack is clearly conveyed on the grainy, black-and-white videotape, which has now been broadcast well beyond New York.
In it, 101-year-old Rose Morat is trying to leave her apartment building to go to church. The mugger, a man who looms over the senior citizen and is holding on to a bicycle, pretends to help her get through the vestibule.
Then, he turns to grab Morat’s head and delivers three hard punches to her face, and swipes her purse. The dazed victim tries to reach for her purse when the mugger hits her again, pushing her and her walker to the ground.
He got away with $33 and Morat’s house keys. She suffered a fractured cheekbone and spent time in the hospital. The attack didn’t break Morat’s spirit, though: She has said in the days since that if she had been just a bit younger, she would have gone after the guy.
“I’m a very strong woman,” she said. “I’ve been that way my whole life.”
The NYPD has assigned dozens of detectives to the case and shown every uniformed officer in the city the surveillance video. Police are canvassing nearby residential buildings and businesses.
They believe the same man also attacked 85-year-old Solange Elizee, another neighborhood resident, shortly after robbing Morat. Elizee suffered facial cuts and bruises. The mugger took off with $32 and her wedding band.
Based on the victims’ memories and the tape, police say the attacker is a black man in his 30s, about 5 feet 10 and 165 pounds. He wore a winter jacket with a fur-lined hood. Police said Tuesday there were no new developments.
Several posters have been placed throughout the generally quiet Queens neighborhood, urging anyone with information to call with tips. So far, at least $18,000 in reward money is being promised by several sources, including the police.
On Tuesday, lawmakers in the state Senate proposed making it a felony to assault anyone older than 70. Currently, such assaults are misdemeanors, punishable by no more than a year in jail.
Meanwhile, New Yorkers struggled for the right words to describe the attacker because expletives just don’t seem adequate. In interviews and letters to newspapers, some suggested he deserves life imprisonment — or perhaps until he’s 101.
John Brown, 45, said the mugger must have been on drugs, because no rational person would do such a thing. “That was a cowardly act,” he fumed.
Others were reminded of the perils that could face their own parents and grandparents. Some wondered whether the mugger’s mother was alive.
“My mom is 95, and if someone ever raised a hand to her … they’d be dead,” said Anthony Riccardelli, 58, who works near the crime scene.
For others, it’s not just about getting revenge. Glenridge senior center in Queens decided to bring back self-defense courses after receiving dozens of phone calls on the topic after the attacks.
Susan Simonetti, the center’s executive director, also had a warning for the mugger: “Pick on somebody your own age.”
NEW YORK (AP) — For a moment, the man in the grainy video looks like a good Samaritan holding the door open for an elderly neighbor. Then he turns and delivers three sharp punches to the 101-year-old woman’s head.
“The next thing I knew, I had a big bang on the side of my face,” said Rose Morat, who suffered a fractured cheekbone and lost her purse and $33 to the mugger.
The attack was captured by a surveillance camera in the lobby of her Queens apartment building last Sunday.
“I’m quite sure that if it had happened when I was younger, I would have been after him,” she said. “I’m a very strong woman. I’ve been that way my whole life.”
Police said the same man is believed to have later attacked a second elderly woman in the neighborhood. Investigators were searching for a suspect Saturday.
“We are pulling out all the stops to find him,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement. “We want to stop him before he strikes again.”
Morat said she was headed to church when she met the man in her lobby. He offered to help her make her way out, but she declined.
“I know how to handle myself,” she said.
As Morat maneuvered her walker through the building’s small vestibule, the man slowly put his bicycle against the wall, turned, and attacked her, the security video showed.
Her hat flew off, but she remained on her feet as the man removed her bag and felt her coat pockets.
Then, before making his escape, he punched her in the head again and shoved her to the ground.
Morat spent three days in the hospital.
The 85-year-old woman believed to be the mugger’s second victim, Solange Elizee, told police she was punched and pushed to the floor outside her apartment door by a man who had initially offered to help her get home.
“I like to help old people,” he said before turning violent, according to Elizee.
The man took her purse and got away with $32, police said.
