Girl's Rapist Gets Almost 42 Years

EVERETT - A 55-year-old man who raped a girl over seven years and blamed it on his son, sending him to jail, has been sentenced to nearly 42 years in prison.

Ernest "Pinky" Ripoli II of Granite Falls was sentenced yesterday in Snohomish County Superior Court by Judge Kathryn Trumbull.

Trumbull, following a recommendation by Deputy Prosecutor Michael Held, sentenced Ripoli to an exceptionally long sentence, about double the standard maximum. Held argued the sentence was appropriate because the assaults took place over an extended period and the victim was young and extremely vulnerable.

A jury convicted Ripoli last month of three counts of rape of a child as well as two counts of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes for paying the girl and a friend to dance nude.

Formerly an equipment operator for the Snohomish County Public Utility District, Ripoli was represented by John Crowley, who urged the judge to sentence his client to a 15-plus year sentence. Crowley argued the victim was not credible.

The girl came to authorities' attention several years ago when she was treated for genital herpes. She now says the elder Ripoli ordered her to say the son had infected her.

The son, who also molested the girl, got the high end of the standard range, partly because his father told the court that he had knowingly passed on herpes. When the charges against the father were filed, the son's sentence was reduced to about four years, and he was released in December.