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By CARY DAVIS
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 19, 2000
NEW PORT RICHEY -- A Tarpon Springs sponge diver was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for forcing a 10-year-old girl to perform oral sex on him.
Circuit Judge Craig Villanti's sentence came after a Pasco jury deliberated for four hours Wednesday before convicting Michael Albert McIlrath, 43, of capital sexual battery on a minor.
Under state law, the judge had no choice but to sentence McIlrath to life in prison without parole. Villanti also declared McIlrath a sexual predator.
The incident happened in late 1996 in Hudson, but the victim, who now is 15, didn't tell anyone about it for three years, prosecutors said. The information came out during a counseling session in January, and authorities were notified.
The Times is withholding the girl's name because of the nature of the crime.
McIlrath, in a statement to Pasco Sheriff's Office detectives, said the incident was not his fault because the girl made a sexual advance on him and had "desire in her eyes." His public defender, Paul Firmani, argued during the two-day trial that his client was telling the truth because the girl was already promiscuous at her young age.
But Assistant State Attorney Dorothy Vaccaro told jurors Wednesday that even if the girl initiated the incident, McIlrath "met her halfway."
"He should have pushed her away," Vaccaro said.
Instead, Vaccaro said, McIlrath allowed the episode to continue.
McIlrath shook his head as the jury's verdict was read. Firmani indicated after the trial that he would appeal.