24-year-old man gets potential 30-year sentence for molesting child, possessing over 4K child sex abuse images

IDAHO FALLS — A 24-year-old man will spend at least a dozen years in prison after being convicted of molesting a young girl and possessing over 4,000 pictures and videos of child sexually exploitative materials.

Lukes Birch was sentenced on Tuesday by retired Senior District Judge Joel Tingey to 12 years fixed and 18 years indeterminate, giving him a potential 30-year prison sentence. He will also be required to register as a sex offender and pay at least $3,591 in court fines and fees.

RELATED | Local man charged with possession of child porn and lewd conduct with a minor

Birch was initially charged with 10 felony counts of possessing child sexually exploitative materials and one felony count of lewd conduct with a child under the age of 16.

In March, Birch signed a plea agreement, in which he agreed to plead guilty to one count of felony lewd conduct with a child and one count of felony possession of child sexually exploitative material in exchange for the prosecution agreeing to drop the remaining charges.

The hearing

One of Birch’s relatives spoke to the court in his support at the beginning of the hearing, saying he is “loyal to a fault” and that she believes he “still has the chance to be someone.”

“(If) you ask him for help, he’s going to be there, to the point that even up to when he was put in jail, he was helping his grandmother, who has COPD. He was helping her clean her house,” said the relative. “He also has an amazing capacity to want to do more, to learn more, to be more, to try his hardest, even when things come really hard to him.”

Jeff Nye, a prosecutor with the Idaho Attorney General’s Office, asked the relative whether she was aware of the kinds of things Birch had pleaded guilty to, to which they stated they did not know much about it.

“To be honest, I don’t quite understand, specifically, everything that has happened. I recognize the charges, and I recognize that those charges are not something to be proud of,” said the relative. “What I know is that he may have done something and has charges pressed against him.”

She also stated that she had not seen any of the illegal images or videos that Birch was found to possess, and she did not wish to see them.

Victim’s speak out

Nye then read two victim impact letters that were submitted, one from the victim of the lewd conduct charge and another from the victim’s mother.

In the victim’s letter, she detailed the anguish that she is now forced to go through because of what Birch did to her when she was very young.

“Since the assault, my life has changed in ways that are hard to explain. I struggle with feelings of fear, sadness, anger, confusion, hatred, suicidal thoughts, and anxiety,” writes the victim. “There are days when I feel overwhelmed and exhausted emotionally.”

The victim continued saying she does not enjoy family gatherings anymore, and struggles in nearly every aspect of her life because of the abuse she suffered at the hands of Birch.

“I don’t want to go to school, and was even placed in a mental health facility because of what he did. I hate what he did to me, what I think about myself after, and the anger and hatred I have for him,” writes the victim. “I want the court to understand that I did not deserve what happened to me. I was hurt by someone I should have been able to trust.”

The mother of the victim wrote to the court saying that she has had to watch her daughter regress physically and emotionally, even witnessing her daughter having stress-induced seizures due to being sexually abused.

“I have felt immense guilt with what happened because I was allowing her to be around this person, because they … were supposed to be a trusted adult,” wrote the victim’s mother. “My daughter went from being free from nonepileptic seizures for a couple of years to having them again. Her nonepileptic seizures are stress and anxiety-induced. … My daughter has attempted suicide twice since then.”

The mother also wrote to the court that her daughter has multiple disabilities, which have also worsened since the assault.

“My daughter has severe cerebral palsy, autistic tendencies, generalized delays, clinical depression, and anxiety,” writes the victim’s mother. “My daughter was diagnosed with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) following what happened to her. I watched her go from being able to attend stressful school events like debate tournaments and trying out for state tournaments, as well as theater camp and sold-out plays, to barely making it through her last play.”

There was also a letter submitted from one of the victims of child sexual abuse that was seen in one of the illegal videos, but Nye chose to submit it to the judge and not read it out loud due to privacy concerns.

“I just want to emphasize how much that child who’s featured in that video is not helpless. There are men across the country, including the defendant, who are using this video of her most vulnerable moment for their own sexual gratification,” said Nye. “She describes in great detail the pain and suffering that (the video) has caused her.”

Attorney’s arguments

Birch’s defense attorney, Serhiy Stavynskyy, argued that his client should be given a chance at rehabilitation and be sentenced to no more than six years fixed and 24 years indeterminate.

“Rehabilitation cannot happen unless the defendant has something to look forward to, some kind of hope to eventually improve himself and get back out into society,: said Stavynskyy. “We’re not disputing these are very serious offenses, and they of course merit incarceration.”

Stavynskyy also claimed that Birch has admitted to his crimes and has taken responsibility for them, which prosecutors say he has not.

“I should point out that as far as this case, he has talked to the police, he has admitted wrongdoing,” said Stavynskyy. “He waived his preliminary hearing and pleaded guilty to the crime. He’s taking full responsibility, he’s not minimizing anything.”

Nye argued for Birch to receive a prison sentence of 15 years fixed and 15 years indeterminate, due to the seriousness of the offenses, the thousands of victims that were harmed by Birch possessing and watching the illegal content, and his alleged inability to take responsibility for his crimes.

Nye then read the following excerpt from a psychosexual evaluation of Birch conducted by a professional:

“(Birch) holds his alleged victim responsible for his sexual behavior because she ‘kept coming over to see him, appeared and acted older, asked for it by the way she looked and talked. (The victim) was so curious and interested in sex, led him on all the way, already had sexual experience, was loose or easy, and wanted and liked all of the sexual things that happened.'”

According to Nye, investigators found Birch in possession of over 4,000 videos and images of children between the ages of 5 and 13 being sexually abused by adults and being forced to perform sexual acts with animals.

“As the state investigates these ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children) cases, this is really our worst nightmare,” Nye said. “This is an individual who started by seeking child sexual abuse material. Then he started seeking a real child, a live child victim. Then, he eventually acted on that and abused a live child, an underage victim.”

Birch provided a short statement to the court, saying he regretted his actions.

“Being truly honest, I deeply regret doing both of my crimes and everything that is associated with them,” said Birch.

Before pronouncing the sentence, Tingey explained his thoughts to Birch, calling his actions “insidious.”

“We’re talking about thousands of victims in this, and the descriptions of what’s in the images, these were horrific. They’re just, it’s just awful. It’s just extremely troubling,” said Tingey. “Children are going through this, and people like you, Mr. Birch, are facilitating that by uploading that and watching it and being part of the group that facilitates this insidious practice.”

Speaking about the victim that Birch physically abused, Tingey reiterated the trauma she will deal with because of Birch’s actions.

“That is trauma — psychological and mental trauma — that she will live with for the rest of her life. It’s not something she should’ve gone through at the age of 13 or 14. It’s not something that she should’ve been subjected to. But now she has, and she’s going to have to live with that.”