The mother of career pedophile Robert T. Beemer's latest child victims and Beemer's adult daughter, whom he molested in the 1990s, stood within a few feet of him in a New London courtroom Thursday as they delivered victim impact statements at his sentencing hearing.

The 53-year-old Beemer, wearing a baggy orange prison jumpsuit, stood with his head bowed and hands clenched while the two women told of the pain he inflicted on their families. 

In the latest case, which involved a 9-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, Beemer pleaded guilty to risk of injury to a minor, fourth-degree sexual assault and two counts of violation of probation. Judge Hillary B. Strackbein sentenced him to 10 years in prison followed by 35 years of probation. He is registered a sexual offender and likely will remain on the registry for the rest of his life.

"(My son) wanted me to tell you he forgives you and hopes you change," said the mother of the two children who was unaware of Beemer's background when she dropped the children off for babysitting at the Norwich apartment of her best friend, who was Beemer's boyfriend.

According to the state, Beemer fondled the 5-year-old girl after taking her into the basement, asking her to change into a pair of rubber pants and photographing her while partially undressed. The 9-year-old sibling later came forward and said that he, too, had been molested. Both of the children have been in therapy, according to the mother. The boy was so damaged that he's afraid of his own grandfather, she said.

Beemer's 30-year-old daughter, Lorraine Beemer Rodriguez, was heartbroken when she learned her father, who she says has a fetish with diapers and rubber pants, hurt more children. The Day does not usually publish the names of sexual assault victims, but in 2015, Rodriguez and her siblings told their story of childhood sexual abuse with the hope that they could stop their father from hurting anyone else. 

Rodriguez said she did not have the opportunity to address the court when her father was sentenced in 2000 to eight years in prison for the case involving her family.

"I have spent many years hiding in shame, feeling the guilt that you should be feeling," Rodriguez said. "I thought I could move on, and yet my worst fear came true. You hurt more children."

Though his victims would prefer that Beemer remain incarcerated longer, prosecutor David. J. Smith, defense attorney Sebastian O. DeSantis and Judge Strackbein had worked out a plea deal that spared the young victims from having to face Beemer at trial and tell their story to a room full of adult strangers. Smith had said during the negotiations that he was prepared to take the case to a jury if necessary.

Both of the women said Beemer's crimes are unforgivable, yet they are forgiving him so they can move on with their lives. His daughter, who turned to face him while reading her impact statement, said she would always love him "the way a child loves her father," and that she hopes he gets help. Court documents indicate that Beemer had also been molested as a child, and his daughter said she wanted him "to find the root of why you have done what you have done."

"Many in this situation would only wish you ill will or harm," Rodriguez said. "However, I don't want anyone to hurt you because of your crimes. It would only bring me more pain."

Prosecutor David J. Smith, noting Beemer's predilection toward rubber pants and diapers, said Beemer has a long history of paraphilia, or abnormal sexual desires.

"This type of behavior by Mr. Beemer seems to be ongoing, and it would be the state's wish that at some point Mr. Beemer would have some meaningful counseling so that he doesn't continue this behavior," Smith said.

Beemer had pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine, which means he doesn't agree with the state's version of the case but does not want to have a trial, where he risks receiving a harsher sentence if found guilty.

"I appreciate the people who came here and said what they said," Beemer told the court. "But there are things that aren't true."

The Beemer children said that in the family home, Beemer isolated them to carry out the abuse, taking them from their bed while everybody else was sleeping or for a ride in the cab of the tractor-trailer he drove for a living. Following his arrest in 1999, state police said Beemer had lived in five states and Europe during the past five years and was suspected of leaving a trail of victims all over the country.

While out on bond in 1999, he molested a 3-year-old female.

When he was released back to the community in 2008, court documents indicate Beemer continued to seek opportunities to target children. He was charged with lingering in a New London playground and stealing diapers from the Norwich Wal-Mart, which he was forbidden from possessing under the terms of his probation.

k.florin@theday.com