On Aug. 1, 2001, Pima County Superior Court Judge Paul Tang stared at Frank Hertel's empty seat when a jury returned a guilty verdict in his child molestation trial. On Monday, Tang looked Hertel in the face and sent him to prison for 20 years.
A sobbing Hertel, 50, told Tang he hopes Monday's hearing will provide closure for the daughter he molested for years, saying he still loves her and will always love her.
"I ask for mercy, even though I don't deserve it," Hertel said, crying.
His daughter, Heather Orr, 29, wasn't there to hear him.
Her civil attorney, Lynne Cadigan, wrote in court documents that Orr simply couldn't "bear to see her abuser and father receive the love and support from her family which was denied to her" as his victim.
Hertel's mother and brother were in court to speak on his behalf, but were denied permission to do so.
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Monday's hearing ended Orr's long odyssey to get justice.
The Star doesn't usually name the victims of sex crimes, but Orr has talked to the newspaper about her story.
Orr told Ohio authorities when she was in the eighth grade that her father had been abusing her. She was ignored. She reported the abuse again after she moved to Tucson, but her father wasn't arrested until she secretly taped him confessing during a telephone conversation.
Hertel fled to Germany in August 2000 after posting bond. He was tried in absentia and found guilty of sexual conduct with a minor on Aug. 1, 2001. He also had a $7.5 million judgment issued against him after a civil trial in which they learned Hertel abused Orr between the ages of 8 and 14.
Authorities arrested him in Germany last October after Orr found an article about her fugitive grandfather being arrested, then discovered where her father was living and hounded the U.S. Marshal's Office for months.
Cadigan told Tang Monday that her client has lost her entire family. When her father and mother fled to Germany, they took her then-8-year-old brother, and her grandparents disowned her.
"The persons whose job it was to protect her from the evils of the world abused her, blamed her for her own abuse and then disowned her," Cadigan wrote. "What does Heather tell her four children about her family, the law, the justice system?"
Deputy Pima County Attorney Frances Kreamer Hope said Hertel wasn't eligible for the normal maximum sentence of 27 years because Hertel's disappearance meant prosecutors were unable to prove aggravating factors, as required.
She argued for the 20-year sentence based on the length of the abuse, Orr's age at the time and because Hertel "took her love and trust and twisted it."
Defense attorney Jason Rosell, of Phoenix, asked Tang to impose a 13-year prison sentence, saying it was sufficient. His client is remorseful, and isn't likely to re-offend, Rosell said. He also told the judge that Orr wasn't abandoned by her other relatives: They happen to love her and Hertel, he said.
Hertel must serve every day of his sentence.
A Nov. 5 hearing has been scheduled to discuss Ohio authorities' attempts to extradite him there.
He is facing charges of strong-arm rape for several alleged sexual encounters with a minor in that state.
"I ask for mercy, even though I don't deserve it."
Frank Hertel, sentenced to 20 years for child abuse
Contact reporter Kim Smith at kimsmith@azstarnet.com or 573-4241.
