Judge orders jail time for serial groper

PALMER — A man who went on a groping spree, grabbing store clerks in downtown Palmer, was sentenced Friday to spend two years in prison.

Mark Ryan Bolus, 20, was arrested in mid-September 2009. An affidavit Palmer Police Officer Jason Crockett filed with his case reads almost like a police chase. First Crockett takes a report that Bolus was hugging a Dairy Queen employee with his pants down. As he’s finishing up his interview with that victim, Crockett gets report that Bolus is at Carrs, where he grabbed a store employee’s breast. As he’s finishing the report at Carrs, Crockett is called to Fred Meyer, where he takes a report that Bolus forced a store employee into a hug.

On Friday, Assistant District Attorney Rachel Gernat described the groping spree as disturbing and escalating in severity.

“The conduct is obviously not just criminal, it’s concerning. It’s predatory,” Gernat said.

She said that although the courts see cases that involve much more egregious conduct, in the majority of cases the victim knows the victimizer. Not so here.

“This is the type of individual and action that people are afraid of,” Gernat said.

Bolus’ attorney, Nathaniel Peters, said that his client is working to turn things around. He’s been getting regular counseling and therapy while in jail. He said Bolus is involved in the local music scene and would like to continue with that once he’s out of prison. And, he noted, Bolus never tried to deny that he did what he did or that what he did was wrong.

“He’s taken responsibility for this from the beginning,” Peters said.

In addition to the two years in prison, Bolus was ordered to forfeit the bicycle he used to get around town during his spree.

Asked if he had any objection to that, Bolus replied, “My bike? No. That’s cool. Give it to charity or something.”

And, when it came his turn to speak, Bolus promised to do better once his two years are up.

“I’ve never really felt this guilty or horrible in my life. I feel bad,” he said. “I really don’t see myself violating anything about probation.”

And probation was really the only thing at issue in Friday’s hearing. Both sides had agreed on the two-year term. The only question left for Superior Court Judge Kari Kristiansen to decide was the issue of suspended time — how much time Bolus risked serving if he re-offended once out of prison.

And Kristiansen decided to give him more years of suspended time than even Gernat had asked for — seven years, as opposed to the five Gernat sought.

“I believe that Mr. Bolus needs a little bit more suspended time to protect the public,” Kristiansen said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.