William French Anderson, a world-renowned geneticist, was convicted last July for molesting the daughter of a of a Chinese researcher at his lab at USC.. He was sentenced February 2 to 14 years in prison.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael E. Pastor said he considered the contributions the 70-year-old researcher, a pioneer in gene therapy, had made to science, as well as the many letters he received from the defendant's colleagues -- including a Nobel laureate -- vouching for Anderson's character. But, in imposing what he described as a mid-term sentence, the judge said those who wrote did not know the details of Anderson's crimes."
As he spoke, the victim's mother broke into tears, burying her face in a handkerchief. The young woman, now 19, who flew in from college in the Midwest, placed a comforting hand on her mother.
Pastor also ordered him to pay $52,000 in restitution to the victim and her family to cover past therapy bills and $16,000 in fines to state restitution funds.
The victim said Anderson first abused her shortly after they met, when she was in the fifth grade. The abuse continued for five years, though the conviction covered only three. In high school, she reluctantly agreed to cooperate with police after a school counselor got her to confide she had been abused.
Anderson resigned his USC faculty post in September 2006. (Source: Robert Jablon, AP, San Francisco Chronicle, Feb 3, 2007)