<bt>After Chantilly's George Paul Bishop was sentenced Friday on three child-pornography charges, the parents of one of his victims said they were happy he was finally off the streets, but wished he'd received a stiffer sentence.
"Our son was described as Victim One in the search warrant," said the father. "And he was the one quoted by the detective [who wrote the warrant] as saying there were parties at Bishop's house numerous times with drugs and alcohol."
Centre View is not identifying these parents since doing so would identify their son, but they both testified in court before Bishop was sentenced to three years in prison. And although their son was not the one on the videotape, it was clear that he, too, had been victimized.
"I don't know if there were other photos or not," said the father. "But I thought Det. Charles' statement was very revealing when he said he could have brought charges against Bishop regarding my son."
The mother said she wrote a letter to Circuit Court Judge Leslie Alden before the sentencing, saying, "I didn't want this man involved with my 11-year-old someday or being loosed on other children." Afterward, she said, "I'm very glad he's going to jail and not getting probation. He underestimated our commitment to our child."
Nonetheless, said the father, "I'm still not sure that justice has been served. He got off too light. Our son will be involved in counseling for way more years than he'll serve in prison. We'll never know what he'd have been had Bishop not been involved in his life. He's robbed us of that."
<tgl> — Bonnie Hobbs