District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer reports that the Kane man arrested after asking for nude photographs from a decoy with the online predator group “814predhunters” who he believed to be 15 years old has been sentenced to state incarceration. Jason GORRIE appeared before a McKean County Judge on March 5th for a sentencing hearing.

He had previously pled guilty to Criminal Use of a Communication Device and Attempted Sexual Abuse (commonly referred to as child pornography) both felonies. The case was investigated by Kane Borough Police Chief Derrick Snyder.  

During the sentencing hearing, District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer told the Court that the minimum range of sentence set by the legislature for the crime is a minimum of between 3 and 6 months of incarceration and Shaffer recommends a sentence at the high end of that range. She asked the Court to set a maximum so that his sentence would be served in a state prison rather than the county jail.  DA Shaffer cited a letter GORRIE wrote to the Court in which GORRIE blamed his actions on a recent breakup with a girlfriend and for not taking medications for depression, autism, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. 

DA Vettenburg-Shaffer told the Court that these statements show a complete lack of accountability for his crimes and that many people have similar diagnoses and are not sex offenders, while GORRIE is. In seeking a county sentence, GORRIE’S lawyer asserted that GORRIE was only charged after a new appellate court case that stated that offenders who communicate with adult decoys can be charged with attempt. 

DA Vettenburg-Shaffer advised the court that the case cited did not change the existing law that the crime of Unlawful Contact with a Minor was not permitted in cases where an offender speaks to a decoy unless the decoy was also a police officer but that the case did not alter the law regarding attempts to commit certain crimes such as the crime in this case. 

The judge sentenced GORRIE to 6 months to 24 months in state prison, 24 months concurrent probation and a mandatory 3 years of supervision after his incarceration as required by the sentencing code.  GORRIE will have to register as a sex offender under the law formerly known as Megan’s Law for 15 years, the length also set by the statute, submit a DNA sample and comply with additional terms. District Attorney Vettenburg-Shaffer: “Anytime an offender is sentenced to serve a jail sentence, the Judge must set a minimum and a maximum. 

Our legislators set the standard range for the minimum.  And the maximum sentence must be at least double the minimum.  In this case, the range for the minimum set by the legislature was 3-6 months.  The judge sentenced him to a 6-month minimum which is on the high end of the range. 

The maximum is required to be at least double that, so it was required to be 12 months or more.  In this case, the judge set the maximum at 24 months which triggered the location of the sentence to be served in a state prison rather than the county jail.

In addition to determining where the sentence will be served, a state sentence provides that the parole board determines when someone is paroled whereas in the county jail, offenders typically are released after serving the minimum and then spend the rest of their time on supervision.”