DAUPHIN COUNTY (WPMT)-A former Middletown man convicted of child molestation in October, was sentenced to spend 16 to 32 years in prison Thursday, according to the Dauphin County District Attorney’s office.
A jury found 59-year-old Harry Szekeres guilty on 33 counts of child sexual molestation last year. An investigation into Szekeres’ activities–revealed that the sexual abuse spanned over the course of 14 years–beginning when the victim was just 6 years-old, police said.
During the October trial investigators played for the jury a recording of a phone call between the victim and Szekeres. During that 20 minute phone call, an emotional Szekeres can be heard repeatedly apologizing to his victim for molesting her and begging for her forgiveness, according to the DA’s office. At one point on the recording, after the victim asked Szekeres if he understood the impact of what he did to her by sexually abusing her for years, he responded “it was wrong, I know it was wrong but I’m not a bad person… it was a huge mistake, if I could take it back, I would take it back a hundred thousand fold, I cannot take it back, I cannot take it back.” Unbeknownst to Szekeres, the call, which was made by the victim from Nepal, was being monitored and recorded by a detective in Dauphin County.
The victim described for the jury falling into years of alcohol and drug abuse as she tried to cope with the abuse before she was finally able to get her life together. She eventually left Dauphin County and moved to the country of Nepal where she currently lives with her husband and children. She explained that although she finally felt safe being away from Szekeres, her constant fear that Szekeres had access to other children finally gave her the strength to contact authorities in Dauphin County to report the 14 years of sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Szekeres.
On Thursday Szekeres was deemed a sexually violent predator by Dauphin County Judge Todd A. Hoover.