(WWJ) – A man from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has been sentenced to a lengthy prison sentence for sexually assaulting a young girl in 2021, a crime caught on her family’s “nannycam.”
Justin Harvala of Kingsford was sentenced Monday to a prison term of 142 months to 35 years, meaning he’ll spend at least the next 11 years behind bars.
Harvala, 34, was convicted in March as a habitual fourth offender for assaulting the 7-year-old girl. Harvala had previously been registered as a sex offender.
The assault, which was captured on a “nannycam” by the victim’s mother, happened in February 2021, at the victim’s home while her mother was in another room, according to the AG’s office.
Once the assault was discovered, the victim’s mother confronted Harvala, demanded that he immediately leave her home, and then called the police.
Officials did not say how Harvala was acquainted with the family, or what he was doing in the home.
The Dickinson County Prosecutor’s Office asked the Nessel’s office to review the case. The prosecutor’s office provided the Department of Attorney General with full access to their office’s resources, such as their victim advocate, their existing case files, and their child screen so that the victim would not be required to look at the defendant in court.
“Our hope, with a sentence of this length, is that this child may grow up and live freely knowing the man who assaulted her is nowhere in her community, and that he is not in a position to victimize more children,” Nessel said, per a press release.
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