BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. (NEWSnet/AP) — A man was sentenced Wednesday to 47 years to life in prison for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl who went missing from a state park in upstate New York.
Craig N. Ross Jr., 47, pleaded guilty in February to taking the girl from a campground at Moreau Lake State Park, about 35 miles north of Albany.
“Because of you, I can't sleep at night," the girl, who was not present, said in a statement read in court by Saratoga County Assistant District Attorney Jennifer L. Buckley. “I was imprisoned for two and a half days, and now you will be imprisoned for 47 years."
Judge James A. Murphy III also issued a protective order for the girl, so Ross cannot contact her in person or through mail.
The girl had been riding on a bike path with friends Sept. 30 at the campground near her home, but did not return. Her disappearance sparked a 48-hour-search that ended when she was found alive at a camper where Ross was staying.
A break in the case came when law enforcement guarding the girl's home saw someone place a ransom note in the mailbox.
Police eventually matched fingerprints on the note to Ross, who was in the database because of a 1999 drunken-driving case. State police and an FBI SWAT team descended on the camper, where the girl was found in a cabinet.
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