Rapist gets 30-year prison sentence

BY BRIAN O’CONNOR

Frontiersman.com

PALMER — A convicted rapist will spend at least 25 years behind bars, prosecutors in the case say.

Presiding Judge Eric Smith suspended five years of a 30-year sentence for first-degree sexual assault for Ralph Loren Barenz Jr., 34, of Chugiak, Assistant District Attorney Melissa Wininger-Howard wrote in an email. The other convictions — second-degree sexual abuse of a minor and two counts of third-degree sexual assault — merged with the sexual assault charge.

The 15-year-old victim in the case had been smoking marijuana and drinking vodka with a sister and Barenz for several hours prior to the assault. The assault happened early in the morning of Aug. 5, 2014. Barenz choked the girl to the brink of unconsciousness, and threw her to the floor of the tent. Finally, in fear of additional violence, the victim relented, according to testimony at the trial. Barenz passed out after the assault, and the victim walked to a nearby camper and enlisted help from a couple staying in it.

In testimony at trial, prosecutors argued the crime was a simple failure on Barenz’ part, while defense attorneys argued the credibility of the witness was questionable.

A jury convicted Barenz in May.

Barenz also received 15 years probation, and lifetime registration as a sex offender. Friday’s total sentence is at the top of the range for a sex assault case, and the suspended sentence puts it mid-way between the minimum and maximum presumptive sentencing range, according to Wininger-Howard.

“I believe (the sentence) is appropriate given the victim’s young age and the amount of force and violence used during the sexual assault,” she wrote.

A 2013 survey by the UAA Justice Center found 34 percent of women living in the Mat-Su Borough had experienced sexual violence. Of that amount, 26.1 percent said they had experienced one forcible sexual assault. That’s higher than the national percentage of women who will experience an attempted or completed rape during their lifetime, estimated at 17.6 percent, according to figures provided by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.