James Grazioplene, a retired Major General in the United States, has admitted to sexually abusing his daughter in the 1980s.
The victim, Jennifer Elmore, turned 49 on Wednesday, the same day Grazioplene pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual battery in a Prince William County, Virginia.
The former officer has been in jail for approximately 18 months.
He is expected to be released and will serve 20 years of probation, according to Elmore’s lawyer, Ryan Guilds.
The counsel told CNN that “Jennifer cares more about the truth than the punishment”.
In 2015, Elmore first reported to Army authorities that her father repeatedly molested and raped her throughout her childhood.
The military launched an investigation in 2017.
But two weeks before the trial, the military appeals court, against precedent, said a five-year statute of limitations existed for sexual assault in the military.
The case was dismissed from the military court and Elmore pushed for it to proceed in Virginia, where there is no statute of limitations for a felony offense.
In court, Elmore made revelations as she answered questions from the prosecutor.
Elmore recalled that at age 3, Grazioplene led her “to the dark, dirty basement of my grandmother’s house and put me on the washing machine and pleasured himself while molesting me”.
She said at age 8, Grazioplene bought her a piano and “insisted on taking me to piano lessons, so he could park and take whatever sick pleasures that he so desired”.
. and voice’.
She added that these were “the things that a father is supposed to protect at the expense of his own life. I will spend a lifetime putting back the shattered pieces you left behind”.
Elmore told CNN: “Today was a win. But I’m extraordinarily sad. The way I feel right now is like an orphan.”.
