Booking photo of Ira M. Mathison (Courtesy: Cache County Jail).
LOGAN — A 44-year-old Mantua man has been ordered to leave the state after previously pleading guilty to molesting a young girl while babysitting her at his trailer home. Ira M. Mathison was originally arrested last December and has been held in the Cache County Jail.
Mathison was sentenced in 1st District Court Monday morning. He previously accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to one count of sex abuse of a child, a second-degree felony.
Mathison spoke only briefly during the sentencing hearing. He told the court he was sorry for what he did and would never do it again.
At the time of Mathison’s arrest, the defendant denied ever touching the young girl inappropriately. He later changed his story, claiming that he mistook the victim for his wife, while they were laying on his bed watching TV.
During Monday’s sentencing, Cache County Deputy Attorney Dane Murray asked for Mathison to be sent to prison. He said the victim’s mother had described how the now 10-year-old girl has been traumatized by what happened.
Judge Thomas Willmore said he would normally send people like Mathison to prison but noted that the victim’s mother asked for the defendant to be allowed to go back to Washington, where he previously lived. He gave him credit for the 342 days he had already served in jail and ordered him to have no contact with the victim or her family.
will@cvradio.com