FERNDALE - A child molester from the Ferndale area must undergo sex offender treatment, serve nine months of jail work release and indefinitely cover the costs of counseling for the two young girls he violated.
A victims' advocate read aloud heart-wrenching statements from both girls - while their mother stood at the front of the courtroom fighting back tears - expressing the pain inflicted on them by David Wayne Shoup, 33, at a Whatcom County Superior Court sentencing hearing Tuesday morning, Feb. 26.
"This is my final word to you," the older sister wrote, addressing Shoup. "Don't come near me again."
Both girls suffered the sexual abuse when they were younger than 10 years old. They told detectives that, on separate occasions, they woke up to find Shoup molesting them in their bedroom, according to court records. One girl recalled she was touched; the other remembered being forced to touch him.
Shoup pleaded guilty to two counts of child molestation in the second degree.
The whole family has struggled to cope, the girls' mother said, since the charges came to light - and since she has taken the blame for the behavior problems that have arisen from the emotional scars of sexual abuse.
"It feels like I'm drowning," the girls' mother told the court.
Shoup's attorney, Lee Grochmal, said the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office had unofficially determined Shoup should register as a Level I sex offender, meaning he's at low risk to reoffend. Shoup told the court he understands what he did was "beyond wrong" and he needs to face the consequences.
"It's incomprehensible and totally inexcusable, all of the things you've done," Judge Chuck Snyder said. "You'll probably never understand it fully."
Both victims have a lifetime no-contact order against Shoup.
The girls' mother said she reluctantly endorsed the plea deal - calling for work release and an intensive sex offender treatment program - so Shoup can afford to pay hundreds of dollars each month in court-ordered support to the family. That covers counseling and other expenses.
Shoup has a steady job as an industrial painter. Under the terms of his nine-month sentence, he gets released 40 hours each week to work and then returns to jail at night.
Reach Caleb Hutton at 360-715-2276 or caleb.hutton@bellinghamherald.com. Read his dispatcher blog at blogs.bellinghamherald.com/dispatcher or follow him on Twitter at @bhamcrime.
