33 Yrs NJSP in Greenwich NJ Child Sex Abuse

PRESS RELEASE
July 1, 2011
For Immediate Release
Contact: Bernie Weisenfeld- PIO

Michael L. Pavlyik (DOB 9/16/70), a former resident of Greenwich Township, Gloucester County NJ was sentenced today to 33 years in New Jersey state prison on seven counts of sexually assaulting and endangering his stepdaughter, starting when she was eight years old and continuing for more than two years.

Pavlyik was convicted of all crimes charged in a jury trial that ended 4/1/11. He was found guilty of committing sexual intercourse, multiple acts of oral sex, fondling the victim and showing pornographic material to her on a home computer. He was arrested on the charges by the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office in March 2007. He has been in jail since his conviction, his bail revoked.

Pavlyik also was found guilty of possessing an explosive device- a nine-inch tube filled with black powder- found in his former 180 Harmony Rd. residence.

Praising the courage of the victim for coming forward and noting that the defendant remains remorseless over what he called “horrible acts,” Superior Court Judge Walter L. Marshall Jr. rejected defense requests to sentence Pavlyik as if the primary offenses were second-degree (5-10 yrs) rather than first degree (10-20 yrs). He also ruled that at least one consecutive sentence was in order on the three first-degree sexual assault counts because of the time frame in which the crimes occurred, and he imposed the sentence in that fashion- two 18-year terms that run concurrently and a consecutive 15 year term, for a total of 33 years.

“These clearly are separate crimes occurring at separate times over a period of at least three years,” the judge said. He noted that while the oral sex crimes occurred close in time to each other, the sexual intercourse for which he imposed 15 years was entirely separate.

Pavlyik must serve 85 percent of the 33 year term before being considered for parole. Upon release he will be subject to 15 years of supervision and the conditions of Megan’s Law for sex offenders.

Pavlyik additionally was sentenced to concurrent eight year terms on four second-degree sexual assault counts and five years each for the obscene material and explosive device convictions. Judge Marshall ordered $1795.79 in restitution for victim counseling costs.

The incidents took place while the stepdaughter, who testified in Pavlyik’s trial, visited her biological mother in Greenwich Township. She lives in Maryland with her biological father.

Prior to sentencing, Judge Marshall denied a motion for a new trial, saying the rulings he made in Pavlyik’s trial were appropriate.

Senior Assistant Gloucester County Prosecutor Audrey Curwin, who presented the case against Pavlyik, read a letter from the victim about the “torture” of her experiences and her self-blame, but also about her resilience. “I’ve been through hell and I’m still trying to find my way back,” she wrote. Her father also spoke, asking the court to consider his daughter’s life “has been turned upside down.”

Curwin had argued for consecutive sentences, saying “this was not something which was an act of aberrant behavior” in a limited time span. “These were ongoing physical sexual assaults upon a child for years.”