HOLLIDAYSBURG — The Tyrone man acquitted of raping his former teenage girlfriend but convicted on sexual assault and related charges was sentenced Tuesday to about 10 to 22 years in a state correctional institute.

Following a three-day jury trial in mid-October, Christopher Mattern Beck, 22, was found not guilty on two felony counts of rape and one felony count of aggravated indecent assault – forcible compulsion. He was convicted on two felony counts each of sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault without consent, aggravated indecent assault – unconscious or unaware and a single misdemeanor count each of indecent assault – person unconscious and indecent assault without consent.

In two separate but related cases, Beck was accused of sexually assaulting his then-girlfriend while she was sleeping multiple times, causing her to wake up. While the victim said their relationship initially involved consensual sex, there were instances where Beck would not listen to her when she told him “no.”

At Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Mays asked President Judge Wade A. Kagarise to hand down consecutive sentences for Beck totaling about 18 to 37 years.

“This court has a chance to recognize that abuse,” Mays said.

He said the victim was stuck in an abusive relationship and would be “dealing with this for the rest of her life.”

“(Beck) is a danger to the community, especially to younger females,” Mays said.

The victim’s mother also addressed the court, asking for Beck to be “sentenced to the fullest extent of the law.”

She said Beck was her daughter’s first boyfriend, that she had nothing to compare him to and that they had come to love and trust him.

“I can tell you that she struggles,” the victim’s mother said. “Her trust was violated.”

She said her daughter struggled to eat and appeared emaciated after having lost about 40 pounds.

“(The victim) told me the reason she stopped eating was because she didn’t want the same body that he touched,” the victim’s mother said.

She then read an impact statement prepared by the victim, who was present in the courtroom, on her behalf.

“When the assaults first started, I thought ‘never tell anyone,'” the victim wrote. “I couldn’t believe what was happening.”

She wrote that she was “finally above 115 pounds” but she “still gets nauseous” when she kisses someone.

“During his closing arguments, the district attorney asked ‘what does (the victim) get out of this?'” the victim wrote. “The answer is clearly nothing — except justice for my younger self.”

Appearing alongside Beck for his sentencing was defense attorney Thomas Dickey, who took over as Beck’s legal representation post-conviction.

Dickey provided Kagarise with character statements prepared by Beck’s father, sister and current girlfriend.

Dickey asked Kagarise to make Beck’s sentences concurrent with each other, pointing out that Beck had no prior record and was a “productive member” of society when he was incarcerated.

“This relationship started at a very young age,” Dickey said.

Beck addressed the court, first apologizing to the victim “for what you have gone through.”

“My intentions were to never have you go through this,” Beck said. “My intentions were to make you as happy as I could as a child and teenager.”

He also apologized to the victim’s family, saying he wasn’t here “to make excuses for my actions.”

After a brief recess, Kagarise expressed his sympathy to the victim and her family, noting “the criminal justice system doesn’t make it any easier” on them.

While Kagarise agreed with Dickey “to some extent” that some of the incidents for which Beck was charged occurred when Beck was younger, he said Beck was facing “a simple reality.”

“These are very serious charges that require a serious sentence,” Kagarise said. “The reality is, you have a debt to pay to society and there’s no getting around that.”

In the first case, Kagarise sentenced Beck to 83 to 184 months’ imprisonment. Beck was sentenced to 123 to 264 months in the second case, to run concurrently with his first sentence.

Kagarise also ordered Beck to pay $1,400 in fines, provide a DNA sample as a Tier III sex offender and have no contact with the victim or her family.

Beck has a third, separate case pending in Blair County court. The case stems from a second victim coming forward to allege that Beck, before he turned 18, raped and sexually assaulted her for about seven years.

The victim had reported losing her virginity to Beck at 12 years old, when Beck was about three years older.

In that case, Beck faces 37 felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse under threat of forcible compulsion, 36 felony counts of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age, 35 felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault and a felony count of aggravated indecent assault of a child. He also faces 38 misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure and 37 misdemeanor counts of indecent assault by threat of forcible compulsion.

Beck’s next court appearance is scheduled for April 9 in front of Judge Paula M. Aigner.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.