WARNING: This article contains details of abuse.
A Canadian teenager returned to Oregon, nearly three years after she was abducted and taken to the state from her Edmonton home, to see the man who groomed and abused her go to prison.
The girl, who CBC News is not naming to protect her identity as a victim of s**ual assault, was 13 when she was taken from outside her junior high school, hidden away from her family for eight days and s**ually abused.
Noah Madrano pleaded guilty in January to two of the six federal U.S. charges he faced after FBI agents caught him with the girl in a hotel room in a Portland, Ore., suburb in July 2022.
After contacting and manipulating the girl online for a year, starting when she was 12, Madrano travelled to Edmonton twice to abuse her in person — the second time, taking her back over the U.S.-Canada border in the trunk of his car.
Alongside her family members at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, the teen addressed the U.S. District Court in Portland.
“I stand here today with pride and strength,” she said.
“At first I felt as if I would be alone reading my impact statement up here. However, I’m not alone. I stand here with every other victim of s**ual violence, that never got justice, in my heart.”
Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman handed Madrano a 50-year prison sentence for s**ual exploitation of a child and transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal s**ual activity.
It falls short of the possible maximum life sentence that his second offence carries, and which Assistant U.S. Attorney Mira Chernick argued he should receive.
But with decades to serve, Madrano, 43, could still end up spending the remainder of his life behind bars.
Madrano will be required to register as a s** offender. He additionally faces U.S. state charges, which have yet to be resolved.
The Edmonton Police Service previously said in a statement that Madrano wasn’t charged in Canada, because his case was dealt with by U.S. authorities.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon William Narus said in a statement Tuesday that the sentence is “a result of the extraordinary efforts of the victim, the victim’s family, their community, and law enforcement here and in Canada.”
READ FULL ARTICLE: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/u-s-man-sentenced-to-50-years-in-prison-for-sexually-abusing-abducting-13-year-old-edmonton-girl-1.7504149
(some words censored due to policy of our advertising partners).
