LOCKPORT – A developmentally disabled man, who had sex with a 15-year-old girl several times last year, was placed on 10 years’ probation Thursday by Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas, who said she wants the defendant assigned to a residential facility.
Christopher B. LaForme Jr., 27, of Berner Parkway, Royalton, was freed from the County Jail, where he had been for more than six months. He had pleaded guilty to third-degree rape, third-degree criminal sexual act, disseminating indecent material to a minor and second-degree criminal contempt. Defense attorney David C. Douglas called LaForme “mildly retarded.”
Farkas ordered the county Probation Department to refer LaForme, rated a Level 2 sex offender, to the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities for placement. She also said Probation may require him to submit to electronic home monitoring in the meantime.
Substance abuse also may have played a role in the case. LaForme told a probation officer he’d been using opiates since age 14, but told a staffer of the county Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime program that he uses only alcohol and marijuana.
Christopher B. LaForme Jr., 27, of Berner Parkway, Royalton, was freed from the County Jail, where he had been for more than six months. He had pleaded guilty to third-degree rape, third-degree criminal sexual act, disseminating indecent material to a minor and second-degree criminal contempt. Defense attorney David C. Douglas called LaForme “mildly retarded.”
Farkas ordered the county Probation Department to refer LaForme, rated a Level 2 sex offender, to the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities for placement. She also said Probation may require him to submit to electronic home monitoring in the meantime.
Substance abuse also may have played a role in the case. LaForme told a probation officer he’d been using opiates since age 14, but told a staffer of the county Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime program that he uses only alcohol and marijuana.