A local businessman, Heber Barlow, was sentenced to three years of supervised probation Wednesday for molesting a non-blood relative while she was asleep in January 2018.
Barlow, 52, is the owner of Avvid Corporation, a Laramie manufacturing business that makes parts for gun makers, aerospace firms, and medical equipment companies.
After the incident, Barlow apparently quickly confessed to his family about what he did that night.
However, the man was not charged until August 2018, when the incident was finally reported to police.
Albany County district court judge Tori Kricken said a prison term might be appropriate, but there were other factors at play that led her to believe incarceration isn’t necessary.
“What it gets down to, Mr. Barlow, is that you’ve taken responsibility for your conduct,” she said. “I’m appreciative … of your ability and willingness to make things right.”
According to Kricken, Barlow has “zero criminal history.” He vowed Wednesday that “this has never happened before and this will never happen again.”
“I do know the impact. I do know the hurt and I’m very sorry for that,” Barlow said. “I’m am very, very ashamed of this.”
The victim told Albany County sheriff’s deputy William Yates that she went to bed between 10-11 p.m. on Jun. 22, 2018.
Barlow told police that he went into the victim’s bedroom after drinking “a couple glasses of wine.”
She awoke “to her pajama top being opened up and she felt hands all over,” according to Yates’s affidavit.
Barlow was “standing over her and she felt him groping her breasts, sucking on her ear, and sucking on her breasts.”
“The victim stated she froze and did not know how to react,” according to the affidavit.
She said Barlow stuck his hands own her pants and “rubbed the outside of the victim’s vagina with his fingers for a few moments before he stopped and exited the room.”
Barlow told police that he only stopped after the victim “sat up and put her hands up and stated that’s enough,” according to the affidavit.
He then returned with a flashlight and buttoned up her pajamas before leaving again, the victim reported.
She then went into the bathroom, locked the door and slept there for the remainder of the night.
After the incident, Barlow moved out of the home he shared with the victim and other family members.
Two months later, Barlow and Avvid Corporation were profiled in the Wyoming Business Report.
Avvid was started in 1994, but Barlow moved the business to Laramie in 2016, according to the Wyoming Business Report.
Court proceedings began against Barlow in September, and he was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to third-degree sexual assault, a felony that requires Barlow to register as a sex offender.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to argue for probation at sentencing.
“The only reason that the state agreed to this is that the victim is in agreement,” said Becky Farley, a prosecutor for the Albany County Attorney’s Office. “She did not want Mr. Barlow’s children and family to be negatively impacted by something he did.”
Farley said Barlow had “forever impacted this victim’s life and it’s something she continues to struggle with.”
Farley argued Wednesday for Barlow to have five years of supervised probation.
“The most important thing to the state is that Mr. Barlow never does this again,” she said.
Barlow’s own attorney, Alan Harding, had asked for unsupervised probation, saying that the rules accompanying supervised probation could put an undue burden on Barlow’s business and hurt his employees.
“There’s a lot of people relying on him,” Harding said. “Compared to most people, he has a high need to travel.”
Barlow’s been out on bond the entire duration of his prosecution, and Harding said his client’s track record since the incident has “proven that he doesn’t need supervision.”
“In the 20 months that have passed, he’s had no contact with the victim,” Harding noted. “He’s had no other run-ins with law enforcement. Mr. Barlow never denied doing this. He took responsibility long before law enforcement was involved.”
Kricken said she was sympathetic to those arguments, but that it was important to have Barlow be supervised, in part, to “send a message to society as a whole.”
The convict will be required to, as part of his probation, receive a psycho-sexual evaluation and comply with any findings.
If Barlow is unsuccessful on probation, he could face up to 12 years in prison.
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