Montgomery County Man Gets Prison For Sexually Assaulting Woman As A Child

UPPER PROVIDENCE, PA — A local man will be spending between 20 and 40 years in a state penitentiary for raping a woman when she was a child over a six-year period.

Richard Alan Beener, Sr., 62, of the Mont Clare section of Upper Providence Township, was handed the prison sentence on Thursday by Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas P. Rogers, according to court records, media reports and the victim in the case.

"I'm extremely happy he is away so now he can't hurt others," Brittany Morgan, the victim in the case, told Patch Thursday evening. "I hope he gets what he deserves."

Patch does not normally name victims of childhood sexual abuse, but Morgan broke her silence back in February when she spoke with Patch about the rape at the hands of Beener, who is her uncle through marriage.

Related: Woman Sexually Abused As A Child Speaks Out After Guilty Verdict

Morgan said that Beener sexually abused her from the time she was 6 years old until she was 12.

She is now in her mid-20s.

Morgan said she had attended Beener's four-day bench trial before Rogers and that she had testified about the abuse she suffered for a years-long period.

The Mercury newspaper of Pottstown reported Thursday that Rogers gave Beener the hefty 20-40-year prison sentence because Beener is "a danger to our children."

"I conclude this defendant cannot exist in a free society," the Mercury quoted the judge as saying during the sentencing hearing.

Patch previously reported that Beener had originally pleaded guilty in the case, but subsequently withdrew that plea and took his chances at a non-jury trial before Rogers.

In February, the judge found Beener guilty on charges of rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault of a child under 13, corruption of a minor and indecent exposure.

The sexual abuse took place from 2003 to 2009.

Morgan previously told Patch that the abuse would happen when she went to stay with Beener, who is married to her father's sister.

She had stated that the abuse was near constant, and that she was at his home for babysitting about four to five days a week.

"It happened mostly every time I went over there," Morgan told Patch in February after the conviction.

According to the Mercury story, Beener won't be eligible for parole until he is in his 80s, and he would have to remain under court supervision for the rest of his life.