Ore. man nets 84 years for abusing young girls

McMINNVILLE, Ore. (AP) - A Yamhill County judge has sentenced an Amity man to nearly 84 years in prison without parole for sexually abusing, choking, intimidating and threatening four young girls over a four-year period.

"You will be 126 years old before you are eligible for release, and the sentence was imposed with that in mind," Judge Cal Tichenor told Troy Allen Cavitt.

Cavitt, in chains and jail blues, whispered to his lawyer but otherwise showed little response Tuesday.

Five sheriff's deputies kept a close eye on Cavitt and onlookers in the small courtroom. Cavitt told Tichenor he had little to say on his own behalf, but said he was pleased by a statement from one of the victims, read aloud by prosecutor Lisl Miller, forgiving him.

"She forgave me," he said. "That's cool. I do apologize for being with somebody so young, that I cared about. ... I heard what I wanted to hear."

In her statement, the girl said she still struggles with depression and grief and has considered suicide.

Her mother told Tichenor that she is struggling with her own depression over being unable to protect her daughter.

Another victim told Cavitt he deserved to sit in jail for life. "You live to hurt people. ... Things are so much better now that you're not around," she said.

"I hate you so much for what you did, but at the same time, there's a part of me that still loves you even though I shouldn't," she said.

Tichenor was less equivocal. "You have absolutely no concern for any other person than yourself," he told Cavitt. "One of the victims, you professed love for her, you told her you wanted to marry her. And yet when it came time to put her interests above yours, you solicited someone to kill her."

Defense Attorney Ted Coran offered no mitigating statements but said, "I believe that it is not for us to pass absolute judgment on this Earth."

He said he had sought a 39-year sentence. "He is 41 years old. He would get out at the age of 80, long past anyone's ability to cause harm."

In 1989 Cavitt was imprisoned for manslaughter and found to have a severe personality disorder.

In that case, Miller said, a drunken Cavitt shot a man in the neck, then poured gasoline on him and set both him and his trailer on fire.

If he were ever released, Miller said, witnesses would be in danger of retaliation.

Cavitt faces separate rape and sex abuse charges involving a different victim and is scheduled for trial July 1.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)