A 23-year-old Redmond man will serve 16 years in prison for sex crimes against a 4-year-old girl and another who was 10 at the time.

“It’s difficult to understand how you can victimize this baby, this little girl,” Judge A. Michael Adler told Victor Hugo Harrizon in Deschutes County Circuit County on Thursday. “But I’ve seen it before with other predators — which you are. You are a child sexual predator. You are a type of monster; there’s no question about it.”

Just after midnight Dec. 31, the mother of the 4-year-old called Redmond Police to say her daughter had described being sexually abused by Harrizon the day before while the mother was at a funeral and he watched the child.

On Jan. 11, he was interviewed by police.

He admitted to sexually abusing the girl multiple times, according to Dan Reesor, prosecutor for the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office.

The young victim was interviewed at the KIDS Center in Bend, a facility that investigates suspected abuse cases in Central and Eastern Oregon.

Harrizon’s second victim came forward in March after overhearing family members discuss the first victim’s case. Additional charges were added in a later indictment.

Harrizon pleaded guilty to sodomizing and attempting to have oral sex with the 4-year-old and inappropriately touching the other girl. He was given a psychosexual evaluation before sentencing in which he again admitted the abuse, Reesor said.

“He is listed as having a very high risk of re-offending,” Reesor said.

His attorney, Shawn Kollie, said his client is focused on changing his behavior.

“What I can say about Mr. Harrizon is, he’s a young man. This process has scared the bejeezus out of him, as we would hope and expect,” Kollie said. “He has been very emotionally unstable throughout this process, as we would also expect.”

The families of both victims were seated in the courtroom gallery. Four people gave victim statements — both mothers, a father and an aunt. They talked about how they feel guilty for trusting him and how they’d carry that guilt for life. All of them expressed disappointment with the sentence, which they felt was too light.

The judge agreed that 16 years was on the low end of allowable sentences for Harrizon’s crimes. The maximum Harrizon could have received is 50 years. Adler asked the prosecutor why 16 years was the recommended sentence.

Reesor, who was filling in for the deputy district attorney who worked the case, said one reason was the mother of the first victim would not allow her now 5-year-old daughter to testify at trial.

“She had promised her daughter she’d never have to face the defendant again, which would present a problem, obviously, at trial,” Reesor said.

Harrizon addressed the court. Adler told the him he could turn and give his statement facing his victims’ families if he wished.

“I know what I’ve done is unforgivable. I just want to say I’m sorry,” Harrizon said to them.

They interrupted him several times, saying, “Why?” and “But we loved you.”

“I don’t know what else to say,” he said.

Because his crimes fall under Oregon’s Measure 11 law for serious felonies, Harrizon will have no opportunity for early release from prison.

“You’re going to be about 40 when you get out,” Adler said to him. “That probably seems like an old man to you — you’re 23. That leaves a long time for you to live a life. You’re going to be closely supervised, so make sure it’s a good one. But the worst thing is you’ve permanently damaged these children.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0325, gandrews@bendbulletin.com