By Lisa Chmelecki,Staff Writer

PORTLAND – A 39-year-old career criminal from Leeds will spend the next 33 years in prison for raping and kidnapping two young girls under his care.

George Yeaton III was sentenced twice Wednesday in connection with a three-day incident in October involving a 15-year-old and a 10-year-old.

His first stop was in U.S. District Court in Portland, where Justice George Singal sentenced him to 33 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The firearm was a shotgun that Yeaton used to threaten his victims before raping them in the middle of the night on Oct. 25, then again on Oct. 27.

“There is no place in civilized society for that type of conduct or for people who engage in that type of conduct,” Singal told Yeaton before announcing the sentence. “I think you know deep in your heart that you need to be punished.”

Sobbing and hardly able to stand, Yeaton apologized to his victims during both proceedings.

“There is no forgiveness for what I’ve done,” he said. “I just hope someday that the time I got is good enough for you guys. I just hope you feel that you’ve got your justice.”

Yeaton was arrested Oct. 28 after the mother of one of his victims called 911 to report what the girls had told her.

The girls were alone with Yeaton at his house on Route 106 in Leeds when police arrived. Yeaton released them and surrendered after a brief standoff.

The older victim testified in federal court Wednesday, describing how Yeaton rested the shotgun against the head of her bed before raping her in the days leading up to the standoff.

The younger girl did not take the stand, but a detective testified that Yeaton conducted similar acts with her, and at one point used duct tape and rope to tie her up and lock her in the closet.

“The easiest thing for me to do is to send you away for life; that would be my knee-jerk reaction” Singal told Yeaton. “Your conduct is horrendous.”

In the end, however, Singal decided a life sentence, which would have been possible under the federal sentencing guidelines, was excessive. He sentenced him to 400 months, pointing out that he’ll be older than 70 when he gets out.

In addition to the federal gun charge, Yeaton was charged with 22 felonies, including rape, kidnapping, terrorizing and criminal restraint.

He initially pleaded innocent to those charges and asked for a jury trial. But he changed his mind after receiving his federal sentence.

Immediately after his appearance in Portland, Yeaton was transferred to Auburn, where he pleaded guilty to three of the 22 charges. Assistant District Attorney Deborah Cashman agreed to dismiss the others as part of a plea deal.

Superior Court Justice Joseph Jabar accepted the pleas and sentenced Yeaton to 30 years in prison for each count.

The sentences will be served concurrently with the federal sentence, which means Yeaton will serve a total of 33 years behind bars.

At the time of his arrest, Yeaton was out on bail for previous charges of terrorizing and operating under the influence. His criminal record includes prior convictions of robbery, burglary and theft.

Yeaton’s attorney, Thomas Goodwin, acknowledged his client’s long criminal record, but pointed out that none of the charges is similar to what he did last October.

“I’m at a loss, and so is he, to really come to grips with what happened and why it happened,” Goodwin told Justice Jabar.

Yeaton denied the girls’ allegations until his DNA was found on evidence collected from the scene, Goodwin said.