BishopAccountability.org
	'Deeply Ashamed' Tate Sentenced to Five and a Half Years By Ken Borsuk Greenwich Post February 22, 2008 http://www.acorn-online.com/news/publish/greenwich/29406.shtml Robert Tate, former musical director of Christ Church, has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography. In addition to the 66 months in prison, Mr. Tate, who is 66-years-old, will have to pay a $50,000 fine and be under supervised release for the rest of his life. Once he is released from prison, he will have to register as a sex offender wherever he works or lives, have monitored Internet usage and be barred from spending any time alone with children under the age of 18 unless there is a "responsible adult" present who is aware of his conviction, among other conditions imposed by Senior United States District Judge Alan Nevas. Mr. Tate had faced a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He pleaded guilty to the charge in January 2007 after being arrested in November 2006. While Mr. Tate was only charged with the one count of possession of child pornography, revelations were made in court that he not only possessed more than 400 images of child pornography, he had traveled to places such as Costa Rica, Amsterdam and Thailand to have sexual relations with young boys and had molested a boy decades ago before he worked in Greenwich. In imposing the sentence Thursday, Judge Nevas called this conduct "unspeakable, despicable and horrendous." "Every time you clicked on the mouse and visited one of these sites you were victimizing a child," Judge Nevas told Mr. Tate. "Every time you looked at one of these images you were victimizing a child." Mr. Tate spoke on his own behalf and admitted the allegations were true. He said he had been molested as a child, but said that could not excuse what he had done. "I've struggled all my life with a sexual attraction to young boys," Mr. Tate said in court. "I don't know why this happened to me. I was abused myself, but that is no excuse. The actions I took harmed hundreds of boys." Mr. Tate said he was "deeply ashamed" of his actions and admitted his position at the church allowed him to take advantage of the boys in his care. While there have been no allegations of any kind of molestation while he was employed at Christ Church, Mr. Tate told Judge Nevas that what should have been platonic shows of support to boys in the choir, such as touching, were in fact sexual to him and that he took advantage of the boys in a way that they weren't even aware of. Frank O'Reilly, Mr. Tate's attorney, said it was a "fair sentence in light of all the circumstances." In court, he urged Judge Nevas to consider Mr. Tate's remorse and willingness to get treatment. "If he could turn back the clock on all his actions, he would," Mr. O'Reilly said. "But he can't. No one can turn back the clock." Mr. O'Reilly now has 10 days to decide whether to appeal the sentence. He said on Thursday no decision had been made and that he would talk with Mr. Tate soon. Before returning to Connecticut for his sentencing, Mr. Tate spent 11 months as a residential patient at Alpha Human Services in Minnesota. Richard Weinberger, clinical director of the facility, spoke on Mr. Tate's behalf at the sentencing and said that Mr. Tate had been making progress through treatment, which was designed to get him to accept responsibility for the damage he had inflicted on his victims and the community as a whole, to have him learn responsible behavior and then transition back into a community. "Mr. Tate has done exactly what we would hope for," Mr. Weinberger told Judge Nevas. "He has demonstrated he is willing to address the harm he has done and make changes to his life." Mr. Tate said in court he was looking forward to being able to continue his treatment after he was released from prison. Mr. Weinberg said the program usually involved 13 to 20 months of residential treatment followed by outpatient treatment. "I've learned that I never want to hurt another child," Mr. Tate said. Judge Nevas said Mr. Tate's progress in treatment and efforts to help the state's attorney in getting information about the destruction of evidence in the case by former church attorney Phillip Russell played a part in not giving him more time in prison. "The sentence would have been significantly larger, approaching the maximum, had you not participated in that program and had you not been as forthcoming as you had been today," Judge Nevas told Mr. Tate. Mr. Tate had been the musical director at Christ Church for more than 30 years before his arrest in 2006. His youth choirs earned an international reputation for excellence. State Attorney Peter Jongbloed said Mr. Tate's actions not only damaged the church, but also anyone who wants to run youth musical programs because people will be wary of their true intentions. Mr. Tate had several supporters from Christ Church in the courtroom with him. The majority declined comment, but John Bausman said the deeds Mr. Tate had done were minor in comparison with his good works. "Bob Tate did more good than bad," Mr. Bausman told reporters outside the courtroom. "The whole thing is a sad story," he added. "As members of the church, we are all saddened by it. I think this case was judged fairly." Judge Nevas said in court he had received "many, many" letters on Mr. Tate's behalf and that he had read every one of them. Mr. Jongbloed said the tone of the letters, which praised Mr. Tate for all he had done for children in the choir and called him a musical genius and a hero, showed the necessity of a strong sentence to show that Mr. Tate's actions were crimes and deserved punishment. "These people don't get it," Mr. Jongbloed said. "They're in denial. I can understand that, but they are in denial." In court, the state detailed the fact that two men who had past histories of sexual abuse of boys had been employed by Mr. Tate in the late 1970s, early '80s. One had been fired for sexual offense, brought back by Mr. Tate, and offended again. Mr. Jongbloed told the court Mr. Tate deserved punishment because as an authority figure at the church, his role was to keep the children safe as he worked at overnight camps and chaperoned events, and, in fact, he was taking advantage of them. "The hypocrisy here is unbelievable," Mr. Jongbloed said. Mr. Tate told the court he doesn't deserve his supporters' praise. "What they've said isn't true," Mr. Tate said. "I was a terrible choir master. I was a terrible person. I harmed the kids. There's nothing I can do about that except go forth and say no more." After the sentencing, Mr. Tate said goodbye to his supporters, got words of encouragement from Mr. O'Reilly and Mr. Weinberger, and shook hands with Mr. Jongbloed before being led away in handcuffs. Contact: kborsuk@greenwich-post.com
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.