SEATTLE — A Tulalip man who sexually assaulted a toddler will spend the next 14 years behind bars.
Stefan Merculief, an enrolled member of the Aleut Tribe of Alaska, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle. He pleaded guilty in October to aggravated sexual abuse by force involving a 3-year-old Tulalip tribal member.
Merculief, 23, assaulted the toddler in 2007. He had been drinking heavily when he arrived at a house on the Tulalip Indian Reservation where he was staying. He broke a window to get into his bedroom. When he couldn’t find his wife, he assaulted the child, according to court documents.
The toddler’s parents caught Merculief with their child. The toddler’s father hit Merculief and chased him from the house.
U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez said Friday that other than homicide he couldn’t “think of a more horrific violation than rape of a very young child.”
In addition to prison time, federal probation officers will supervise Merculief for the rest of his life. He also will be required to register as a sex offender, undergo sexual deviancy evaluations and drug and alcohol treatment.
Martinez recommended that Merculief serve his sentence in Arizona, where sex offender treatment is available.
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