Child rapist sentenced to 44 to 128 years in prison

Dec. 22--A former Scranton man who fathered three children with a girl he repeatedly raped and sexually abused from childhood into adulthood will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Jay F. Emerizy, 49, who is already serving a 15- to 50-year prison term in Michigan, was sentenced Tuesday in Lackawanna County Court to 44 to 128 years in state prison.

"Your behavior here is beyond understanding," Judge Michael J. Barrasse told the defendant before imposing the lengthy, consecutive prison sentences on each of 10 separate counts, including rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child.

At least seven years of the abuse happened in Lackawanna and Wayne counties.

The Times-Tribune does not identify victims of sexual assault.

The victim, now a young woman, spoke softly as she addressed the court before sentencing, recounting the abuse and its impact on her life. She told Judge Barrasse that Mr. Emerizy threatened to kill both her and her children.

"I am no longer a victim," she said. "I am a survivor."

Mr. Emerizy, who was represented by the public defender's office, also spoke briefly.

"I'm sorry for my actions," he told the judge. "I realize now they were inappropriate."

Investigators said Mr. Emerizy started abusing the victim around 1994, when he performed oral sex on her at age 4. The abuse escalated when she reached adolescence, with Mr. Emerizy raping her nearly every day at a house in Wayne County's Sterling Twp.

During her teenage years, he assaulted her at various locations in Scranton, as well as his workplaces in Throop and Blakely and in a vehicle at Nay Aug Park.

Investigators said Mr. Emerizy used photographs and journals in notebooks and on his computer to chronicle his abuse of the victim through the years.

The victim, who had three children with Mr. Emerizy, including one who died, finally went to authorities in Michigan in 2013, telling them she feared Mr. Emerizy would begin raping their 4-year-old daughter.

Deputy District Attorney Jennifer McCambridge called the victim a "pretty remarkable woman" to endure what she went through and praised her bravery in coming forward.

"Now she gets to rewrite the script," Ms. McCambridge said.

Mr. Emerizy was sentenced to prison in Michigan in 2014 after pleading guilty to multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct and an unrelated insurance fraud charge involving an arson at his home. Ms. McCambridge said Mr. Emerizy will serve his sentence here after completing his sentence in Michigan.

Mr. Emerizy, who was also sentenced to 38 years of probation, faces lifetime registration as a sexually violent predator if he is released by prison.

Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com

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