Marine pleads in rape case

[thedrifter]

Marine pleads in rape case
August 29,2003
ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF

A Camp Lejeune Marine who pleaded guilty Thursday to raping a 13-year-old disabled child and putting the act on film was sentenced to 14 years as part of a plea bargain agreement.

Lance Cpl. Derrick O. Laster, 29, a machine gunner with 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, pleaded guilty to rape of a girl under age 16, indecent acts and taking indecent liberties with minor.

The government withdrew charges of assault and destroying evidence as part of the agreement.

Although rape is a capital offense, the prosecution was not seeking the death penalty at Laster's court martial Thursday at Camp Lejeune.

Laster faced a maximum punishment of life in prison without the possibility of parole, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, a fine, reduction to the rank of private and a dishonorable discharge.

Based on a pre-trial agreement, Laster was reduced to the rank of private and given a dishonorable discharge.

His pay will continue to go to his family for the next nine months.

Laster, who has been in the Marine Corps for nearly 2 ??ars, admitted that he took advantage of the girl on four to five occasions and videotaped one incident between January and February 2003 at Tarawa Terrace II family housing area.

"She was asking me about sex and stuff and one thing led to another," Laster told military judge Col. Steven F. Day of the Piedmont Judicial Circuit Court. "I should have known better."

According to court documents Day read aloud, the girl, who was left in Laster's care, is developmentally disabled and suffers from several conditions that include attention deficit disorder, anxiety disorder, anti-social behavior and borderline intellectual function.

"She didn't know what I was trying to explain to her and it struck me as curious because I know that she had had that conversation with her mother before," Laster said.

Laster admitted offering the girl bribes and rewards for sex, like the latest edition of the Harry Potter book series or extended telephone privileges.

"I kept the video in my black gym bag," Laster said. "My wife found it and I believe she's the one who turned it in."

On April 7, the Department of Social Services called the Camp Lejeune office of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and Laster allegedly admitted the offenses in a sworn statement, special agent Scott A. Vousboukis said during the trial.

In an unsworn statement Laster said that he was truly sorry for his actions, the pain they caused his family and the discredit brought upon the Marine Corps. He said that his difficulties began when he was 18 months old when his father killed his mother and then took his own life, leaving Laster to be raised by his maternal grandparents.

"It is pure evil to commit this crime," said lead prosecution trial Capt. Stephen Keane. "We need to protect the most vulnerable victim in society - children. It must serve as a deterrent for anyone sick enough to consider such an egregious act."


Contact Eric Steinkopff at esteinkopff@jdnews.com or 353-1171, Ext. 236.


http://www.jacksonvilledailynews.com...0&Section=News


Sempers,

Roger

[firstsgtmike]

quote.
"He said that his difficulties began when he was 18 months old"
unquote.

Would anyone care to share their memories of when they were 18 months old?

I hope some guys with young daughters are waiting for him when he arrives so they can properly welcome him to his new home.

[GySgtRet]

firstsgtmike,

I appreciate your comment on the young daughters, he may get his just punishment

Semper Fidelis

[MillRatUSMC]

What happened to "Common Sense and Core Values"?
If he had used any of those...it would have told him, that it wrong.
Prison have ways of taking care of people like this.
As it was shown recently.
The part I have a hard time dealing with...is the filming of acts with this child and bribes and rewards for sex.
As a father of a daughter and agrandfather to granddaughter.
These acts are sicking.
Blaming acts commited before his age of reasoning, should have no bearing on this case.

Semper Fidelis
Ricardo

[Art Petersn]

What happened to the Prist should happen to this animal.

[Devildogg4ever]

It's totally unexceptable to rape any women! But to rape a child and on top of that, a disabled child is about as sick and low as you can get!! There are no excuses or reasons of any kind for something like this!! If that had been my daughter, the SOB would never make it to court!!!