ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 13, 1996 TAG: 9609130149
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FINCASTLE
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
Noting how a former Coyner Springs Juvenile Detention Center counselor abused his position, Botetourt County Circuit Judge George Honts deviated from state guidelines and sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in prison for the statutory rape of a 14-year-old former Coyner Springs inmate.
The guidelines recommended no incarceration for Cedric Lavender, whose part-time job at Coyner Springs ended the day after he was arrested.
Honts said Lavender, 32, was in a position to help troubled teens, but ended up hurting one instead. Honts seconded the sentiments of Botetourt County Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom.
"It's hard for me to face" the victim's parents, Branscom said, knowing their daughter met the man who raped her while she was in the care of the state.
Isaac Van Patten, an independent forensic examiner who interviewed and ran psychological tests on Lavender, called the Roanoke water plant worker "biologically in conflict with the law."
Van Patten said sexual arousal testing showed Lavender to be a "situational child molester" - acting only when the opportunity presented itself.
Lavender was convicted April 19 after testimony in Botetourt Circuit Court revealed how he schemed with a 15-year-old boy, whom he had met at Coyner Springs, to lure a pair of 14-year-old girls to a Troutville motel.
Lavender and the boy picked up the two girls on the morning of May 17, 1995, all three juveniles testified at the April trial. Lavender bought alcohol at a liquor store, then drove to the Travel Lodge Motel.
Lavender rented two rooms, though the girls didn't know that, the 15-year-old boy testified.
The plan was for them to take turns with the girls, the boy said. The girl who was left alone with Lavender said he held her down on the bed and raped her.
Lavender put on an alibi defense, claiming he was at a friend's birthday party that morning, and that he had only responded to a call from the trio of juveniles to pick them up at the motel and take them home.
But during police interviews, Lavender changed his story several times, eventually admitting to fondling the girl, Van Patten testified.
A half dozen character witnesses for Lavender were in court, but only his boss at the Carvins Cove Water Treatment Plant actually testified. He said Lavender had never lied to him in his five years of employment at the plant.
Lavender's attorney, Robert Rider, has already appealed the case. Honts set a $2,500 bond and released Lavender on the condition that he pays it by 4:30 p.m. today.
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