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ELKINS -- A Beverly man who pled guilty to one count of sexual assault in the third degree in February was sentenced this week in Randolph County Circuit Court.
Patrick Dalton Swecker, 22, was sentenced by Randolph County Circuit Court Judge David Wilmoth to no less than one and no more than five years in prison, suspended to five years' probation.
Swecker must spend his first year of probation in home confinement with work release. Once released, Swecker will be under extended supervision for 10 years and will have to attend therapy, complete a victim awareness class and maintain full-time work. He will also be registered as a sex offender for life.
In February, Swecker pled guilty to one count of sexual assault in the third degree. He was initially indicted in 2023 on one felony count of sexual assault in the second degree, and three felony counts of sexual assault in the third degree.
Before sentencing, Swecker spoke, apologizing to the court, the victim and her family.
"If I could go back to that night, change things and make it right, I would have gotten up and left and went somewhere else like a friend's house and completely remove myself," Swecker said. "I think about it all the time and I regret it every day, but I also understand that I got to take responsibility for my actions and accept what comes."
Swecker's attorney, James R. Fox, asked the court to sentence Swecker to probation with one year of home confinement with work release instead of prison time.
"He's done everything right, except for one night in his life," Fox said. "Otherwise he's been a very, very beneficial citizen of this community. Works, pays the bills."
Assistant Randolph County Prosecutor Christina Harper said the State was recommending that Swecker be sentenced to no less than one and no more than five years in prison.
Harper asked again that the sentence be suspended for probation with a year of home confinement, with the requirement of work release and with the additional condition that he participate in therapy, until "deemed completed and released by the therapist." Harper told the court in February that the victim requested that Swecker attend therapy.
No one was present to speak on the victim's behalf.
"I hesitate to describe this as an unfortunate situation because it's really more than that," Wilmoth said before sentencing. "The circumstances are what they are. Nothing that is done here in the courtroom is going to change what took place, but it does address the issue that took place."
After sentencing Swecker, Wilmoth added that Swecker had "an opportunity here" and that he did not want to see Swecker back in the courtroom for any reason.
During the February plea hearing, when asked by Wilmoth as to what he did that made him guilty of sexual assault in the third degree, Swecker said he knowingly had sex with an underaged girl when he was 20 and she was 14.
Harper, during the February hearing, told the court that Randolph County Sheriff's Deputy Hebb received a follow-up on a complaint initially taken by Corporal Carr. Harper said during a forensic interview that the victim claimed to have been "raped three times" by Swecker after a friend's birthday party around Sept. 30, 2023.
Swecker, during an interview with Hebb, confessed to having sexual intercourse with the victim, but claimed it had been "consensual." The age of consent in West Virginia is 16 years old.
"The defendant did advise Deputy Hebb that each time he had intercourse with the victim, that it was consensual and advised that he knew the victim was only 14 years old when this happened and it was wrong to do," Harper said.