Rapist violates probation, gets 10 years
A man who raped two girls almost five years ago when he lived in Spokane was sent to prison Wednesday for 10 years because he failed to stay away from children without an approved chaperone.
Anthony J. Boteilho, 35, is “manipulative” and constitutes a “significant risk” to the public, Spokane County Superior Court Judge Neal Rielly said.
Testimony Tuesday and Wednesday indicated Boteilho persisted in having unsupervised contact with girls through activities at his church in Wenatchee and the church’s Knights of Columbus chapter, of which he was grand master.
His victims in October 2000 were a 13-year-old baby sitter and her 11-year-old friend.
Rielly said he believed, when he sentenced Boteilho in January 2001, that Boteilho would pose little risk under a special sentencing program that allows first-time sex offenders to receive outpatient treatment and probation in lieu of prison terms. In exchange Boteilho pleaded guilty as charged with first-degree and second-degree child rape, knowing a 10-year prison term would be imposed if he failed treatment or probation.
By August 2001, Boteilho had already violated his probation by frequenting places where girls congregate, going to places that primarily serve alcohol and by failing a lie-detector test. Rielly gave him 15 days in jail for each of those violations, but allowed Boteilho to remain in the treatment program.
That jail time should have cleared up any misunderstanding Boteilho had about the terms of his probation and put him on notice against further violations, Rielly said Wednesday. Instead, Rielly received testimony in February of this year that Boteilho was still going to parks and other places where children hang out, and that he failed to get state Department of Correction permission to leave Chelan County, to enter relationships with mothers of minor children or to visit taverns or bars.
Boteilho was supposed to disclose details of his crimes and to have a state-approved chaperone while in the presence of girls. But Deputy Spokane County Prosecutor Sharon Hedlund said Boteilho insisted his parents were adequate chaperones even though they weren’t approved and may not have been fully aware of the conditions of his probation.
“He minimizes the danger of what he does,” Hedlund said in court Wednesday. “He does what he wants to do.”
Assistant Public Defender Amy Sullivan contended Boteilho tried to follow the rules, but was frustrated because officials changed the rules and gave him “so much of a runaround.”
Rielly said he was “shocked” several weeks ago by a report that Boteilho continued to violate his probation even after Rielly put him on notice during a hearing in April.