commentary by Patrick H. Moore
One of the perennial issues in sex offender cases is the single burning question: can a hands-on sex offender truly be rehabilitated? My sense, and this is based on common sense, not statistics, is that some probably can be rehabilitated and some probably cannot.
Sadly, for both his victims and his own future, Toby Eugene Griego, 42, most recently a resident of Montana, appears to be a member of the group that cannot be rehabilitated. Montana district court judge Russell C. Fagg certainly believes that, which was instrumental in the fact that he just sentenced Giego to 22 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus 60 years and six months, for raping three women and attempting to rape a fourth last year.
“In almost 20 years of being a district court judge, I’ve never seen a more dangerous criminal or a bigger predator in our community,” Judge Russell C. Fagg said, as he delivered the sentences.
The judge also designated Griego, 42, as a level 3 sexual offender and ordered that he, at least initially, be housed in a maximum security unit at the Montana State Prison.
Griego, with his chin turned up, did not show any emotion as the sentences were announced.
“It will be my hope … that you never walk the streets again as a free man,” the judge told him. “I think that’s appropriate under these circumstances.”
Griego, who perhaps thought he had nothing to lose, went to trial in the spring of this year and was convicted in April on 27 counts, including 10 counts of rape.
Although Griego has apparently already been sentenced, several witnesses were slated to testify post-sentencing. (Although this appears to be a rather strange way of proceeding, it is apparently the way these matters are handled in the great state of Montana.)
A Dr. Robert Page, the doctor who designated Griego a Level 3 sexually violent offender — which means he is at the highest risk of reoffending — has already determined Griego has antisocial personality disorder, according to court records.
Billings Police Detective Ken Parahik, a lead investigator in the case, will also testify, along with 33-year-old Kelley Hollingsworth, a woman Griego raped 17 years ago in Santa Fe, N.M. Ms. Hollingsworth has courageously agreed to be identified by name.
In 1997, Kelley Hollingsworth had been at her high school’s homecoming football game and had gone to a friend’s house after. She stopped at a gas station to fill up, when Griego noticed her and began following her. Kelley was in front of her friend’s house putting lipstick on when Griego opened her door.
“He opened my door,” she said. “He put a knife to my head, and he just told me, ‘Shut up. Shut up. I just want your car.’”
Griego dragged Hollingsworth to a vacant house across the street. He began choking her and stopped when she grabbed his pinkie finger. He then stuffed her gloves into her mouth and dragged her to another location. The now convicted serial rapist pulled her sweatshirt over her head to keep her from looking at him and proceeded to sexually assault her.
Because it was dark and because her sweatshirt was pulled over her head, Kelley never had a clear view of Griego’s face, but she was convinced that she would be able to identify his voice.
After raping her, Griego then threw Hollingsworth into the trunk of her car and drove around for a while. He then stopped and, weirdly, made her use a water bottle to rinse off her body. This peculiar demand was similar to what he made his Montana victims do, each of whom had to bathe or shower several times after the sexual assaults. Griego even dragged one Montana victim to a ditch near her home where he repeatedly dunked her head in the water.
After forcing Hollingsworth to rinse herself off with the water bottle 17 years ago, Griego eventually returned her to close to where he had accosted her, opened the trunk of her car, and told her he would kill her if she got out of the trunk before ten minutes had passed.
Although 22 life sentences could arguably be seen as a bit excessive, under Montana law, the judge had no choice other than to sentence Griego to life in prison without parole because of his previous rape and robbery conviction in New Mexico, where he reportedly had attacked and stalked numerous women.
Griego moved to Billings in 2008 from New Mexico.
The crime spree that brought Griego before the Montana court began in January and ended in July of last year. During this period, he broke into the homes of four women, repeatedly raping three of them while attempting to rape the fourth.
In two of two sexual assaults Griego was charged with perpetrating in May and July of 2013,he allegedly broke into the women’s homes while they were sleeping and their roommates were not at home.
In both of these instances, Griego reportedly bound, photographed, robbed and assaulted the victims both physically and sexually in their homes and cars, and at various bank parking lots and near a canal in Billings.
What is interesting about these assaults is the fact Griego’s DNA was reportedly never matched to any of the victims, but he was identified based on videos he made of the attacks which later came into the possession of law enforcement. (We’ve spoken before about the weird obsession a great many sex offenders have with videotaping their cruel “conquests”.)
Drew Trafton of KTVQ.com writes:
The Billings Police Department was first made aware of Griego as a possible suspect on July 15th, when a tip given to CrimeStoppers pointed investigators toward Hobby Lobby in Billings.
Officers interviewed several of the employees who told them that Griego frequently would come into Hobby Lobby and follow female customers around the store-possibly photographing them on occasion.
Investigators then began following Griego through various stakeouts and monitoring methods before executing a search warrant on the suspect’s residence, car and phone.
On August 14th, 2013, Griego was initially arrested by the Billings Police Department for charges unrelated to the sexual assaults. He was then released one week later only to be re-arrested on Friday, August 23rd, by the Billings Police Department and members of the U.S. Marshals Violent Offender Task Force at his home on the 400 block of South 30th Street in Billings.
According to court documents, images on Griego’s phone were found to be related to the sexual assault crimes in May and July and also included various images of unidentified women from outside of their bedroom windows in Yellowstone County.
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Damn. Thank god this guy has been put out of business. We’re all more or less familiar with the power of our various obsessions which can include drugs, food, alcohol, sex, love, money and a host of other predilections including an obsessive love for our favorite sports teams. Fortunately, the vast majority of us are not sex-obsessed in a manner that would lead us to sexually assault men, women or children.
The uncontrollable desire to do precisely that is undoubtedly one of the most powerful of the dark, lawless and intrinsically inhumane urges that drive violent criminals to commit their heinous acts.
To all of you who are not cursed with these dark desires, consider yourself lucky. To any of you who are plagued with them, I pity you but not nearly as much as I pity your victims – past, present or future.