WISCASSET, Maine — A “dangerous and calculating sexual predator” with a history of sex crimes dating back to the early 1970s was sentenced Tuesday to 13 years in prison for crimes including attacking a former victim with a stun gun.
Scott L. Gifford, 53, of Nobleboro was sentenced for the Aug. 27, 2014, attack in Damariscotta, as well as for violating probation in a 2003 case involving the sexual abuse of a 15-year-old girl.
According to terms of a plea agreement reached on June 10, Gifford pleaded guilty to Class C assault and Class C criminal threatening, both felonies punishable by up to five years in prison.
On Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Liberman recounted Gifford’s long criminal history during a hearing before Justice Daniel Billings in Lincoln County Superior Court.
Gifford donned a ski mask and hid behind a bush before attacking an adult female relative and attempting to immobilize her with a stun gun outside her Damariscotta home the night of Aug. 27, 2014, Liberman said.
The woman fought Gifford off and he fled. He confessed to the attack and was arrested later that night.
Gifford was convicted in 1982 of criminal mischief and criminal trespass, in 1986 of gross sexual misconduct, in 1989 of gross sexual misconduct and unlawful sexual contact involving a 10-year-old victim, in 2002 of assault, and in 2003 of four counts of sexual abuse of a minor and a single count each of assault, obstructing report of a crime/injury, and terrorizing.
Liberman also addressed the impact of last summer’s attack on the victim.
“She’s been deeply affected by this conduct, not just because of the nature of it and the traumatizing, terrorizing aspects of this conduct, but also because the defendant used to sexually abuse the victim when they were children,” Liberman said.
Gifford confessed to the abuse during a presentence investigation for the 1989 gross sexual misconduct case, Liberman said. The abuse started when he and the victim were younger than 10 years old and continued for more than a decade.
“Everything we know about the defendant is that he, based on his history, is a dangerous and calculating sexual predator,” Liberman said. Mandatory sex offender treatment “hasn’t made a difference,” he said before asking for the maximum sentence.
Liberman called the maximum sentence a “rare request” and said, “Scott Gifford is the perfect example of someone for whom maximum sentences are reserved.”
The victim of the Aug. 27, 2014, attack addressed the court in an emotional statement.
“As a result of the attack … I have in many ways become a shell of the person I once was,” she said.
For several months, she “was terrified to even go into my driveway, let alone walk by the bush Scott jumped out at me from or walk up the stairs to my apartment,” she said.
“I was constantly crying and felt like I was going to lose my sanity,” she said. “I lost a significant amount of weight and lost interest in the things that once brought me joy.
“In a sense, I felt trapped in my own personal hell. Unfortunately, I knew these feelings all too well.” She talked about the childhood abuse and said Gifford convinced her not to tell anyone because no one would believe her.
As an adult, she did not have much contact with Gifford. She tentatively re-established contact in 2011, but the reunion did not go well.
“I want Scott to get locked up and the key thrown away because he has proven he cannot function on the outside as a normal human being,” she said. She asked Billings to impose the maximum sentence.
Defense attorney Seth Levy did not argue against the maximum sentence, although Gifford made a brief statement to the court.
“I can’t apologize enough to [the victim] for what I’ve done to her in the past and recently,” Gifford said. “She may not believe me anyways, but I still care for her very much … I screwed up, your honor. I screwed up big time and I know that.”
Billings said Gifford’s age and lifelong history of “serious assaults” make the likelihood of reoffense “very high, likely certain, if given the opportunity.”
“His long track record of victimizing others is clear and the sentence I can legally impose today is inadequate, frankly, to protect [the victim and] to protect others in his family and community from his dangerous acts,” Billings said. “Mr. Gifford is one of those small number of offenders that we see that can only be kept from offending, frankly, by being locked up, and our community will only be safe when he is behind bars.”
Billings sentenced Gifford to a full probation revocation — eight more years in prison for the 2003 crimes — and the maximum five years each for the 2014 assault and criminal threatening charges.
The five-year sentences will run concurrently with each other but consecutively to the eight-year sentence, resulting in a total sentence of 13 years. Billings said the law does not allow consecutive sentences for the assault and criminal threatening convictions.