Anchorage man sentenced to 5 years for sexual assault

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Anchorage man police say is tied to several sexual assaults will spend five years in prison for one of them. Richard Dorsey, 44, was sentenced Friday for sexually assaulting a woman in 2006.

Several of Dorsey's friends and family testified to his character. They said he had a troubled childhood and is doing his best, hoping to lighten his sentence for the crime.

Dorsey was found guilty of sexual assault in the second degree when he approached a stranger at a grocery store and reached up her skirt.

“The sentence the state is asking for is very reasonable,” said prosecutor Taylor Winston. “It's something that's going to be always with her now.”

The victim did not show up at the sentencing hearing, but Dorsey's wife of 20 years, Gilda Dorsey, testified to the defendant’s character before Superior Court Judge Jack Smith.

“Please, honorable judge, I'm pleading to you as a wife and mother for the sake of our family to consider that Richard is a great family man and a great father, and that a loving family depends on him and is missing him very much and waiting for him at home,” Dorsey said.

The state argues that Dorsey preys only on strangers. Although he has no prior convictions, the prosecution says he may have started assaulting women years ago.

It was during this trial when a detective swiped DNA from a cup Dorsey drank from, which tied him to cold-case evidence in sexual assaults of six other women dating back to 2001.

“Right now, it's the public at large at danger -- the female population at large, not the people close to him,” Winston said.

Smith sentenced Dorsey to 10 years in prison with five suspended, and another 10 years of probation.

“I find that because the victim was a stranger, because this occurred in daytime in a location where people have the right to expect safety, that in fact this was extreme serious conduct,” Smith said.

For Dorsey, it’s one case closed among several he’ll be facing.

“I have remorse for the conduct and the results that is brought before you today,” Dorsey said.

Both Winston and Dorsey’s attorney in this case, Ian Wheeles, described Dorsey’s sentence as fair.

Dorsey has an opportunity to appeal, but Wheeles says he hasn’t yet decided whether to do so.

Contact Christine Kim at ckim@ktuu.com