Gumbs gets 25 years for raping 8-year-old girl, filming it
Published: September 7, 2012
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ST. THOMAS - Akeem Gumbs, 22, was sentenced to spend 25 years in prison for raping an 8-year-old girl during a two-year period and videotaping some of his attacks.
In a statement to the court before he was sentenced, Gumbs apologized to his family.
"I hope that my family will be able to recover from all the hardships they have had to endure," he said. "I would like to especially apologize to my mom."
District Judge Curtis Gomez called the crime "extreme," "traumatic" and "horrific" before he handed down the sentence. The judge took note of the fact that in his statement, Gumbs did not apologize to his victim, whose life has been forever changed by his actions.
In February, a federal jury found Gumbs guilty of 29 rape and child pornography charges. Included in the charges were five counts of producing child pornography between Jan. 24 and July 23, 2010; possession of child pornography; and 25 counts of first-degree aggravated rape between October 2009 and March 2011.
While working on Gumbs' computer, a repair technician found the explicit videos, recorded them to a DVD and submitted it to V.I. Police detectives on March 11, 2011. The local authorities turned the evidence over to federal law enforcement officers, who executed a search warrant a week later. The search of Gumbs' bedroom turned up a thumb drive that contained six video clips of Gumbs raping the 8-year-old girl.
Gumbs' lawyer, federal public defender Gabriel Villegas, asked the court to consider a 15-year sentence, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Everard Potter urged the judge to use the sentencing guidelines of 30 years to life in prison.
Gomez gave Gumbs 300 months - 25 years - for the five production of child pornography charges, and 120 months - 10 years - for the possession of child pornography count. The two sentences are to run concurrently.
The six pornography charges are federal, but the remaining rape charges are local crimes charged under the V.I. Code. Gomez sentenced Gumbs to 20 years for the rape charges, which will be served concurrently to each other and to the federal charges.
Gumbs will serve a total of 25 years in federal prison.
In addition, Gomez sentenced Gumbs to be on supervised release for the rest of his life once he gets out of prison.
Other conditions of his probation include no unsupervised contact with children younger than 18; no use or ownership of a computer or device without permission from the probation office; no employment involving contact with children younger than 18; and mandatory listing on the sex offender registry.
Restitution will be determined at a later date, Gomez said.
Gomez said any violation of Gumbs' probation could land him back in prison for the maximum sentence - the rest of his life.
- Contact reporter Aldeth Lewin at 714-9111 or email alewin@dailynews.vi.
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