Abductor to serve 15-year sentence

A Waynesboro judge quashed alcoholism as a defense for Roy Scott Thompson in court Friday before sentencing him to 15 years in prison for abducting and soliciting sex from a teenage babysitter.

Thompson, 25, of Waynesboro, pleaded guilty in May to abduction and child pornography charges, just before a trial that would have put the 14-year-old girl on the stand.

During sentencing Friday, Thompson watched as his aunt, mother and best friend took the stand in his defense.

“He’s a great father.”

“My son’s a good kid.”

“He ran into some bad luck.”

The three described Thompson’s struggles with alcohol, a problem that began at age 14, they said.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Charles Ajemian discarded alcohol as an excuse for Thompson’s crime.

“You and your witnesses have described your problem as an alcohol problem,” Ajemian said. “It is accurate that you were in possession of child pornography, and so it’s fair to say you’ve been preoccupied with sex?”

“Yessir,” Thompson said.

Ajemian gestured toward the victim’s parents, then asked Thompson about the consequences of his actions.

“They had allowed [their daughter] to babysit for your child,” he said. “Do you know what’s happened to her since? Did you know she was hospitalized – that it was for mental problems?”

“No,” Thompson replied. “I knew she was hospitalized.”

Thompson’s actions initially seemed harmless to the girl Dec. 27, 2008, when she went to his house as a babysitter for the man’s 8-year-old daughter, authorities said. The girl did so frequently, and had spent the night.

But Thompson abused the situation that night. According to authorities:

Thompson took the girl to a party in Staunton, solicited her for sex via text messages and offered her alcohol. At one point he suggested a threesome with a 12-year-old boy.

His advances continued back at his home in the 400 block of Market Street, where the girl stayed overnight, unharmed. The next morning she made breakfast for the 8-year-old before running to the police desk, crying.

Waynesboro police later searched Thompson’s home and found “voluminous” amounts of pornography, most featuring young adult women, authorities said, and some photos of juvenile girls kept in three-ring binders.

“The most sinister thing in this case is that you can fool people,” Ajemian told Judge Humes J. Franklin. “It’s too easy to fool people.”

Ajemian motioned toward Thompson’s supporters.

“They see him as a good kid, but if they saw the images … if they saw the text messages he sent,” Ajemian said, trailing off.

Franklin asked if Thompson had anything to say before his sentencing, and then listened to an apology

Then the judge spoke.

“We could be here for days and I don’t think we could explain what this young girl went through – I don’t think a psychologist could,” he said. “[Thompson] didn’t run into bad luck, he created a nightmare situation.”

Thompson will be on probation for the rest of his life after his release from prison. He awaits a sentencing hearing in Staunton Circuit Court for an indecent liberties conviction for his actions with the girl at the Staunton party.