Shane Cady during his sentencing for lewd conduct with a child on Wednesday. | Kaitlyn Hart, EastIdahoNews.com

IDAHO FALLS – A 44-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday after refusing to admit guilt after a jury found him guilty of lewd conduct with a child.

District Judge Bruce Pickett sentenced Shane Alan Cady to 10 to 40 years in prison.

Cady pleaded not guilty to indecent treatment of a child under 16. On May 15, a jury found Cady guilty after a three-day trial.

RELATED | Jury convicts man of lewd conduct after three-day trial

Pickett extended the restraining order between Cady, the victim and the victim’s family for at least 35 years.

Cady must also register as a sex offender.

Conviction

“In theory, it seems that a lot of things happen, but it’s never his fault.”

Cady was visibly agitated during the sentencing, staring straight ahead throughout the hearing without turning around during the victim’s statements or the prosecution’s arguments.

Jason Gustaves, Cady’s defense attorney, told the court he was willing to plead for Cady, but said Cady had asked him not to.

“After consultation with Mr. Cady, he wants me to present to the court the file that was presented to the court and that I do not present any arguments, mitigations or recommendations to the court,” Gustaves said. “The defense attorney is willing to go ahead and address these issues; however, at the client’s request, we leave the decision to the court.”

RELATED | California man extradited to Bonneville County to face lewd conduct charges related to teen

Pickett later asked Cady if he was satisfied with Gustave’s portrayal, to which he replied “no.”

Bonneville County District Attorney Lou Harris argued that Cady refuses to take responsibility for his actions, citing numerous examples in which he reportedly faced consequences and blamed others.

“Every time I read the reports on this case, I was reminded of the words of singer-songwriter and political satirist Phil Collins, who was about to lose his fourth wife,” Harris said. “He said, ‘I started to think, maybe it’s me.'”

According to Harris, in 2000, Cady claimed an ex-wife reported the abuse because she was “crazy” and wanted to “get him in trouble.” In 2012, he was again accused of abuse, but no evidence was found.

“In 2019, he was attacked by an ex-girlfriend, he called the police, but the blame was put on him,” Harris said. “So it seems that theoretically a lot of things happen, but it’s never his fault.”

Harris also told the court that Cady served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was dishonorably discharged.

“We see defendants here every day who are willing to lie to the court and to counsel, whatever it takes to stay free,” Harris said. “I believe the worst lie anyone tells is the lie they tell themselves when they are unable to accept the consequences of their own actions.”

Harris then recommended a prison sentence of five to 30 years.

The victim and her family have read multiple statements about the impact of the abuse on their family dynamics, mental health and lifestyle, detailing the traumatic impact the abuse has had on them.

“He was a family friend, a brother, so to speak,” the girl’s father said. “Our trust in other people and especially other men who come to our home is very skeptical, or you know, we don’t want to trust them.”

Her mother addressed the court in an emotional plea, urging that Cady receive the maximum sentence, saying Cady took advantage of the family’s kindness to abuse her then-13-year-old daughter.

“I felt like my kindness became my weakness because if I hadn’t been so kind, maybe none of this would have happened,” the victim’s mother said. “I struggle with guilt as her mother and ashamed because I know how I could have been so stupid and naive and trusting that I couldn’t protect her from this happening.”

The mother described in detail the physical consequences of the abuse, including that her daughter can no longer be touched or comforted because of the crime.

“(The victim) was already dealing with normal teenage emotions and hormones, and now she was dealing with this,” the victim’s mother said. “PTSD, she was waking up from nightmares, shaking, screaming, and I couldn’t hold her because not only did she not want any man to touch her – she didn’t want anyone to touch her at all. I couldn’t even comfort my own daughter.”

“My self-esteem was destroyed in those moments.”

The victim then made a statement in which she spoke about the consequences of the trauma she had experienced and the psychological strain the trial had placed on herself and her family.

“It’s hard for me to hug my father, grandfather and uncles because all I can feel is their hands on me,” she said. “As much as I want to talk to my mother and father about what happened, it’s just too hard because the look on their faces is killing me inside.”

The victim said she feels like parts of her are broken by the abuse. She said she is still working on healing.

“When all this happened, I felt like parts of me had been stolen – my innocence and my self-esteem. My self-esteem was destroyed in those moments,” the victim said. “And almost three years later, I’m still trying to fix something I didn’t break.”

Cady declined to make a statement at the sentencing.

Before announcing the sentence, Pickett explained his decision by discussing how Cady’s actions would impact the victim and her family for a very long time to come.

“Both the mother’s and the victim’s victim impact statements in this case spoke of stolen innocence. That’s exactly what this case is about,” Pickett said. “(The mother) spoke of how kindness had become a weakness, how they had been kind to her and how they had taken advantage of that kindness and sexually abused her 13-year-old daughter.”

Pickett said Cady passed a lie detector test and the defendant claimed his lawyer did not present any evidence of his innocence during the trial. Pickett also said the court must consider the fact that a jury of 12 found him guilty after the trial.

He further said that before the trial, investigators concluded that Cady believed he had done nothing wrong.

“Mr. Cady emphasized how unfair the trial was and that he did not participate in the sexual acts with the victim,” Pickett said. “Mr. Cady fundamentally sees himself as a virtuous person who gets into trouble for his well-intentioned actions.”

background

Cady was charged with lewd conduct with a 13-year-old child in January 2022. The crime reportedly occurred in August 2021 at her family home.

According to court documents, the victim told investigators that Cady, who was 42 at the time, sexually abused her. The victim reported that there were multiple incidents of sexual abuse.

Cady was reportedly a personal friend of the girl’s family.

A family member of the victim had a confrontational phone call with investigators in Cady in November 2021.

During the call, Cady admitted that he had inappropriately placed the girl’s hand on himself during an incident in August. He also said that he and the girl had slept together in the house on more than one occasion.

Cady denied engaging in any further sexual activity with her, but investigators found Snapchat conversations between the two that were of a sexual nature.

Detectives spoke to Cady on the phone in December and he said that “something inappropriate” had happened between him and the victim.

He did not go into detail, but denied having had sexual contact with her. Cady told the detective he lived in Millbrae, California, and did not plan to stay there much longer.

The case was initially delayed because investigators could not find Cady. Eventually, they learned that he had lived in several places, including Colorado, California and Nevada.

In May 2023, Cady was found in California and extradited to Bonneville County.