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Presiding Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi reluctantly imposed the plea-bargained sentence on Angelo “Ken” Wedra, an ex-con who spent 25 years in state prison for murder and the rape of a handicapped teenager.
In both an evaluation by the Adult Diagnostic Treatment Center in Avenel and a pre-sentence assessment by the Probation Department, Wedra (above, in court yesterday) denied acts that he’d admitted in court, the judge said.
“There was utter denial,” DeAvila-Silebi said, adding that Wedra “is still maintaining that the victim has lied — and he gives reasons.”
A trial in the case last June ended in a hung jury.
Prosecutors were preparing a new trial against Wedra when he pleaded guilty in October to slightly reduced charges of criminal sexual contact and agreed to go jail immediately.
Wedra admitted knowing that the then-35-year-old woman was under sedation following a car crash earlier that day when he entered her home Rochelle Park home in March 2001 using a set of keys he had for emergencies.
He then admitted getting into bed with her and touching her breasts and thighs “to physically satisfy” himself.
Wedra also pleaded guilty to violating a restraining order for contacting the victim against her will.
The woman testified during the trial that she didn’t scream because she was afraid that her children would hear.
Even afterward, she said nothing about the incident for eight years, choosing to go on with her life as before “to maintain a relationship with her family,” Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor David Calviello told jurors during the month-long trial last spring.
As part of the October deal, another indictment charging Wedra with sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl was dismissed.
It was also agreed that he’d serve six more months in the Bergen County Jail and receive credit for three months that he’d already spent behind bars before posting $300,000 bail in August 2009.
Wedra accused the woman during the trial of wanting to borrow money from him and also of wanting him to kill her ex-husband, a Bergen County sheriff’s officer. When he didn’t, Wedra said, she concocted the rape charge “to get revenge.”
A clearly angered DeAvila-Silebi yesterday ordered him to report to the state Division of Parole in Paterson as soon as possible, warning Wedra that “a bench warrant will be issued immediately” if he didn’t.
She also reminded him of the restraining order.
“There is to be no contact with the victim or any family members who live with her — for her protection and yours,” the judge said. “Any contact of any kind will cause additional charges.”
Defense attorney Dennis Calo asked that Wedra and his wife still be allowed to visit the victim’s children, one of whom is now an adult and another who’s about to be.
However, Calviello said the children made it clear they don’t want to be contracted by the Wedras. A letter sent by Wedra’s wife, Marie Mattson, to one of them “disturbed” the boy, the prosecutor said.
Calviello said he was disturbed by Wedra’s attempts in his previous court filings “to escape any accountability – not just for this matter but also his past crimes, which he has admitted to.”
“Where previously he admitted to sexual intercourse with a 17-year old disabled child, in his Avenel report he claimed she was willing — even though he was involved in a home invasion at the time,” the prosecutor said.
The 1971 rape occurred during a Hunterdon County home invasion, Calviello told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
Wedra and two co-defendants rang the bell expecting to find a substantial amount of cash in the house, he said. After pushing their way in and not finding any, Calviellos said, Wedra took the girl upstairs and raped her.
The plea deal in the Bergen County case “although not perfect justice” was “the best we could do” for everyone concerned, he said.
That includes the victim and her family, who didn’t want to endure a second, perhaps grueling trial, the prosecutor said.
The woman testified for several days in the first trial, attended the plea hearing and asked Calviello to tell the judge that she didn’t want to attend yesterday’s sentencing. Nor did any family members.
It’s significant, Calviello said, that Wedra will be on community supervision for life. He also will be subject to Megan’s Law, which requires him to register his address with police as a sex offender for life.
Wedra, who had been in ill health, was brought into court yesterday in a wheelchair.
During his plea, he walked with a cane and received permission to remain seated because of sciatica. During deliberations in the first trial, he was taken from the county courthouse in Hackensack to Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck after complaining of “angina-like” symptoms.
STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter
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