UFO author Stanley Romanek sentenced to 2 years to halfway house for child pornography possession
Witnesses and defense attorneys painted two starkly different pictures of the same man at Thursday's sentencing hearing for Stanley Tiger Romanek.
Four months after his conviction for possession of child pornography, Romanek was sentenced to two years in Larimer County community corrections, a halfway house program for criminal offenders.
Friends and family of the 55-year-old Loveland UFO author who says he is an alien abductee spoke of a man who was selfless and caring and would not hurt anyone. Prosecutors described the lengths of deception and denial he took to avoid a guilty verdict and blame anyone but himself.
A 12-member jury found Romanek guilty in August for felony possession of child pornography but not distribution, ending a more than three-year-long court case.
In addition to the two years in community corrections, Judge Susan Blanco sentenced Romanek to 10 years probation as a registered sex offender, no contact with any victims and individual sessions for mental health treatment.
Romanek was taken into custody immediately following the sentencing. His attorney, Ted McClintock, said Romanek plans to appeal the conviction.
McClintock told the judge Romanek had spent time in the hospital in the previous day and was feeling unwell because of seizures, but Blanco ruled that Romanek was fit to go through with the sentencing hearing.
Defense attorneys called on nine people who spoke to the judge, including Romanek's wife, Lisa, and his sister Ann.
Deputy District Attorney Joshua Ritter said there's no way to sugarcoat the case and the degree of deception used by Romanek and the defense team to to try to place blame on others. He cited their allegations of hacking by a paranormal organization or by the government and explanation that someone else, such as his stepson, placed the pornography on the computer. Ritter alleged much of the evidence presented was doctored.
McClintock argued the no contact order shouldn't apply because Romanek didn't even know the children in the videos found on his computer and has had no prior contact with them, and some of them are probably in their 40s.
The treatments in community corrections that Romanek would be subjected to, McClintock contended, would require him to admit to more things than he is convicted of.
But Blanco was not convinced, saying regardless of whether the victim's names are known or their current ages, every time those images and videos were watched, they were re-victimized.
"Those images are incredibly disturbing, and those are real people," Blanco said.
When Ann Romanek addressed the court, holding back tears, she said her brother had saved her life and her vision and is an "amazing, courageous, astonishing, caring good man."
She said Stanley Romanek had never shown sexually deviant behavior as a child or an adult, which was echoed by all who spoke in his support.
Lisa Romanek said they had been married for 15 years, and he helped raise her three children. Fighting back tears, she spoke about the difficulty of Romanek not being able to meet his grandchildren because of the terms of his bond, and the effects on their marriage.
"Imagine living as a prisoner in your own home ... with your wife as your prison warden," she said.
Others relayed stories about the Romaneks taking them in when they needed a place to stay and how they never worried about their children being around Stanley Romanek.
Romanek also spoke and pleaded for leniency, telling the judge he's a "good person."
"All I want to do is help people,"' he said. He added that he couldn't imagine being away from his wife for a moment.
Blanco acknowledged Romanek's and his supporters' statements and said she had no doubt that he had some good in him. But still, considering the materials found on his computer over a period of time, along with the continued denial and deception, "there's a good argument for you to go to prison."
She reminded Romanek that there was no longer a presumption of his innocence. But she said there may be some hope for rehabilitation, and therefore, he would be sentenced to Community Corrections based on recommendations from multiple professionals.
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