FARMINGTON -- Stephen J. Coleman robbed two young girls of their innocence, says the mother of the victims.
The mother of the two girls, who are both younger than 12, spoke Tuesday in 2nd District Court at the sentencing hearing for the former staff member of Gov. Gary Herbert.
Judge Glen C. Dawson ordered Coleman, 40, of Bountiful, to serve two consecutive sentences of 15 years to life for two first-degree felony counts: attempted sodomy on a child and aggravated sexual abuse of a child.
The sentences are the minimum required by law.
Coleman entered guilty pleas to the two first-degree felonies June 7.
He was arrested March 7 at the Utah Capitol after police received information from the Division of Child and Family Services that Coleman had been sexually abusing two young girls.
The Standard-Examiner does not identify victims of sex abuse.
Coleman made the girls "promise to keep (the sex abuse) a secret," the mother said.
She also said Coleman, whom the girls trusted, manipulated them into performing oral sex and showed one of them pornography.
Coleman came across as a "loving man," but "his mind is sick," the woman said.
She asked Dawson to give Coleman credit for the time he has served in Davis County Jail and to recommend that Coleman receive counseling.
"There is so much good in this man, and I want him to hear that," the woman said. "Stephen Coleman is a broken man."
She said she hopes Coleman will use "his talents for good."
"He jeopardized and destroyed his whole world," the woman said.
Coleman was abused when he was a child, "leaving a hole in his development," the woman said, but that does not excuse his behavior.
Before Coleman was sentenced, he said, "I would rather get the death penalty."
Deputy Davis County Attorney Cristina Ortega said after the hearing that Coleman had been abusing the girls for at least two years.
He was originally charged with nine counts -- three counts of sodomy on a child and six counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, all first-degree felonies.
Coleman had been on the governor's staff since 2009 and worked as a budget analyst in the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget.
He graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in England in 1996. He moved to the United States five or six years ago and became a U.S. citizen.
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