A man was sentenced to 274 years in prison in Arizona on May 20 for raping seven women he lured by posing to be an actor from the 1980s sitcom “Family Ties.”
Loebe met the seven women between 2003 and 2015 in a bar or through online dating websites. The victims reported that he introduced himself with pseudonyms, and the women became unconscious after having a drink with him.
“Nathan, you are a predator. You are beyond rehabilitation. I hope this trial has changed you as much as it’s changed me,” one of the victims said, according to Tuscon.com.
The woman told Judge Deborah Bernini in the Pima County Superior courtroom that Loebe was stalking her after the incident, and he told her that he’s infected with HIV. She told Bernini that because of it, she had to endure 17 HIV tests.
Another victim went up to the prosecutor’s table and said: “I waited 16 years for this day. I waited 16 damn years.”
Another woman told Bernini that she had to wait 13 years for someone to believe her story and said that the attack “messed me up in more ways than one.”
The victim told the judge that since the traumatic incident, she has been admitted to three mental hospitals and has visited five therapists. She said she has attempted suicide four times since the assault.
“He has taken the old me,” the woman told Bernini. “All of this time, I’ve been trying to get me back.”
Before the sentencing, Loebe laughed and smiled with his attorneys, local media reported. The victims wiped away tears as they spoke.
“I have many titles: mother, daughter, sister, and godmother,” a victim told Bernini. “I refuse to have the title of rape victim.”
In his defense, Loebe said that the sexual contact was justified because it happened with consent.
Deputy Pima County Attorney Tracy Miller said that Loebe had 104 police contacts and there were more victims who didn’t want to participate in the prosecution.
Miller demanded that the serial rapist be given the maximum sentence. “These survivors deserve more,” he said.
Loebe’s legal defenders said that he suffers from bipolar disorder and is on medication in the jail. Bernini said that while giving the sentence, Loebe’s “chaotic childhood” was considered.
Sexual Assualt in the United States
One in three women and one in 71 men experience some form of sexual violence in the United States, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC).One in five women and one in 71 men are likely to be raped at some point in their life and in eight out of 10 cases of rapes, the victims knew the assaulter.
The NSVRC reports that the lifetime cost of rape per victim is $122,461 and rapes cost the country more than any other crime—$127 Billion.
Sexual assault leads to severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and 81 percent of women victims and 35 percent of men victims report it.
Rape is also the most unreported crime and 63 percent of rapes don’t get reported to the police.
Rainn.org says that every 92 seconds an American is sexually assaulted.
