Bus driver gets life sentence for rape of disabled passenger John Hogan, WZZM
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. A former Go! Bus driver who raped a passenger with Down
syndrome was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for what the judge called
"savage and brutal attacks on an innocent woman. "This conduct saddens, sickens
and disgusts anyone who learns of these facts,' Kent County Circuit Court Judge
Dennis Leiber told 62-year-old Theron A. Cramatie. "You were entrusted
with the lives of others for their protection,' Leiber said. "And you abused
that access and that responsibility performing these savage and brutal attacks
on an innocent woman. Cramatie on March 29th pleaded guilty to two counts of
first-degree criminal sexual conduct for the assault at Short Street and Burke
Avenue NE near Kent Community Hospital in Jan. 2015. "I apologize for what
happened, sir,' Cramatie told the judge. Police got involved after the victim
disclosed the assaults to a social worker. At that time, Cramatie was still a
Go! Bus driver employed by MV Transportation, which is a contractor used
by The Rapid transit system. He was put on administrative leave after the
allegations were made. Kent County Assistant Prosecutor Kimberly Richardson
asked
for a lengthy sentence, saying the victim, while 35 years old, has the mental
capacity of a five-year-old. Before Cramatie was sentenced, the victim's
mother read a letter penned by her daughter. "I go through hell every day; I
ask why you did this to me,' she read as Cramatie looked down. "It took trust
from me that I had for you because I thought you were my friend. And you took
respect from me that I had for myself. "All night I read my Bible so I don't
think about you and what you did to me,' she continued. "I have to deal with
this stuff every day. You should never get out of prison so you won't rape
anyone again. I'm afraid you will rape me or someone I care about. Leiber
agreed. He sentenced Cramatie to between 18 and 36 years for one count of
first-degree
criminal sexual conduct causing injury and life in prison on the second count
"in the hope of your being confined for the rest of your natural life. Defense
attorney Jonathan Schildgen said his client "appears to be someone who is
heavily, heavily weighted down with his choices here and that it's not something
trivial. "This is a case that there is no justification or excuse,' Schildgen
said. "In some ways any words that he might say or that I might say undermines
his belief that there's no justification or excuse. The family of the victim
earlier this month filed a lawsuit against Cramatie and the operators of Go!
Bus. The civil suit in Kent County Circuit Court seeks damages for negligence,
false imprisonment, violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. "This is
just horrific,' attorney Mark W. Hafeli said last week. "This is about as
bad as it gets; taking advantage of a vulnerable person like he did.
