Ex-State College psychologist gets decades in prison for sexual attacks in Centre County
A former State College psychologist was sentenced Wednesday to at least two decades in state prison following his convictions for the repeated sexual attacks of a young girl in Centre County.
Richard Scott Lenhart, 63, was sentenced by Centre County Judge Julia Rater to 20 to 40 years in state prison in a case Pennsylvania prosecutors said was about a young girl robbed of her innocence. The attacks began when she was about 6 years old.
“You saddled her with those horrible memories when she was just a child. She was still in elementary school,” Rater said after she announced her ruling. “She was child who should have been making snowmen in the backyard but instead she was being raped.”
Lenhart received credit for nearly a year served in the Centre County Correctional Facility and was also sentenced to three years of probation.
He was classified as a tier three sex offender, a designation that requires him to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He was also ordered to pay nearly $8,000 to cover the woman’s counseling bills.
The woman he was convicted of attacking did not speak before his sentence was handed down. Senior Deputy Attorney Michael Madeira said she did not want to repeat much of her testimony that Rater heard during the trial.
She told jurors during an August trial that Lenhart groomed and sexually abused her for the better part of a decade in and around State College.
She testified in a matter-of-fact tone about seven specific instances of abuse, some of which she tied to significant dates like her 10th birthday. When questioned, she would occasionally sit silently and turn her gaze downward for about 15 seconds at a time.
In one of the trial’s most gripping moments, she was briefly excused after what appeared to be a stress ball filled with a liquid burst in her hand.
“The victim in this case will, for the rest of her life, deal with the trauma and psychological damage inflicted upon her,” Madeira and Senior Deputy Attorney General Megan McGoron wrote in a presentence memo sent to the judge.
Lenhart spoke for about 45 minutes uninterrupted before he learned how long he’s set to serve behind bars. He maintained his innocence and did not apologize or express remorse.
Instead, Lenhart alleged prosecutorial misconduct, railed against the investigation that led to his arrest and referenced other court cases and academic research. At one point, he referred to himself as intelligent and “not crazy.”
Madeira rubbed his brow about halfway through Lenhart’s statement and later shook his head as others spoke in support of him. Lenhart said he plans to appeal.
“Thou protest too much,” Madeira said, loosely quoting Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Rater described the actions Lenhart was convicted of as “egregious” and “heinous.” She said she expected him to have empathy and sympathy for the woman even if he believes he’s innocent.
Lenhart was found guilty by a Centre County jury of all seven charges at the end of a three-day trial. He did not testify. Seven men and five women deliberated for about 80 minutes before they announced their verdict.
He was convicted of child rape, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, sexual assault, indecent assault, child endangerment and corruption of minors.
The verdict marked the second time in the past decade Lenhart was convicted. He pleaded no contest in 2015 to charges that accused him of indecently assaulting two adult patients and then submitting bogus insurance claims for the sessions.
He was sentenced to up to six years in state prison and ultimately served the maximum after twice being denied parole. In a 2019 decision, the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole cited his risk to the community, minimization of his crimes, his refusal to accept responsibility and more.
His second attempt at being released on parole was denied after the board found his abuse of a position of authority warranted a “longer period of incarceration.” He was released in February 2022 from Rockview state prison.
Those charges grew out of a misconduct investigation by the state Board of Psychology, which revoked Lenhart’s license in 2013 and fined him more than $68,000 for more than 100 counts of professional misconduct.
The two patients were survivors of previous sexual trauma and the board found Lenhart was “re-traumatizing them in his role as a psychologist.”
Lenhart will remain incarcerated at Centre County’s jail until he is transported to a state prison.
This story was originally published December 18, 2024 at 6:10 PM.