Today, Judge William T. Tully sentenced Kamau Crankfield, age 47, to serve at least five years and up to ten years in a state correctional institution for the crime of endangering the welfare of children.  In October, a jury found the defendant guilty of physically abusing an 8-year old girl in 2018.

According to Detective Ryan Fetzer of the Harrisburg Bureau of Police, the child ran away from Melrose Elementary School after being told that Crankfield was on his way to pick her up.  This was after she had gotten in trouble for bringing extra clothes to school.  She later admitted that she brought the clothes as part of a plan to run away from home.  Authorities located the girl at about 4 a.m. the following day after she had been in the rain and cold for over eighteen hours.  When she was taken to the hospital to be treated for hypothermia, police found that the girl had severe bruising from head to toe, whip-like marks, and multiple open wounds. 

During trial, the girl disclosed that Crankfield had repeatedly beaten her over a period of months.  At sentencing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gettle requested the maximum sentence permitted under the law for the charge.  Judge Tully called the defendant’s actions a horrible pattern of abuse that resulted in the “torture” of a young child which warranted the maximum sentence under the law.

Crankfield had prior convictions for robbery and burglary as well as several other misdemeanor convictions.  After the sentencing, Gettle stated that she hopes the Parole Board will consider the prior violent history of the defendant whenever his case is reviewed and “examine the pictures of what he did to this child.  He should sit in prison for every minute of that ten years.”