A 33-year-old man who held a teenage girl captive for more than a year avoided any additional prison time, ending up serving only eight months in prison.
Michael Wysolovski was sentenced to 10 years with eight months to serve in jail after agreeing to a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to first-degree cruelty to children and interstate interference with custody, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Charges of rape, aggravated sodomy, and false imprisonment were dropped.
The eight months he spent in the Gwinnett County Detention Center before receiving bond in February 2018 was counted as his time in prison and he will not need to spend any more time in jail.
The rest of the time will be spent on probation. Wysolovski must also register as a sex offender.
HAPPENING NOW: 31 y/o Michael Wysolovski makes first court appearance since being arrested for allegedly holding teen captive for a year pic.twitter.com/DDkX3kSyjU
— Natalie Fultz FOX 5 (@NatalieFFOX5) June 26, 2017
The Duluth resident was arrested in June 2017 after FBI agents found a North Carolina girl, 17, who had been missing for more than a year at his house. She was malnourished and suffered other medical problems after Wysolovski held her in a dog cage.
The girl met Wysolovski on an online forum for people with anorexia and he convinced her to travel to his house. The girl walked away from her house in Charlotte when she was 16 and met him on the side of a road and he drove her to his house. The victim eventually tried to leave but Wysolovski wouldn’t let her, prompting her to contact another person on an anorexia forum who contacted the FBI.
The teenager, Hailey Burns, read an emotional statement in court at the sentencing, telling the court, “The second I left my home my life was ruined.”
She said she was held captive for an entire year, during which time her captor tormented her by focusing on her psychological issues, reported WSB-TV.
“He lowered my self-esteem greatly and left me to believe I would never be loved or have a proper life if I gained weight,” Burns said. “I severely mutilated myself hoping I would become unlovable so no one would hurt me like he did. I am deformed.”
Her father and mother also spoke in court, lashing out at Wysolovski.
“You are a coward. A silver-tongued abuser who preys on young women and girls. You rape them. You torture them. You control them. You’re sick and sadistic,” mother Shauna Burns said, reported WSOC-TV.
The lead prosecutor in the case told WSB that Burns and her parents weren’t satisfied with the plea agreement. They wanted Wysolovski to be sentenced to prison time.
But Michael DeTardo, the prosecutor, said during the plea hearing that the nature of the relationship between Wysolovski and the victim was in a “gray area” of consent that would be risky if put to a jury, reported the Journal-Constitution. He said that Wysolovski’s attorney wasn’t going to accept a plea deal that would have included prison time and that Burns’ family didn’t want to go through a trial.
FOUND SAFE: Hailey Burns’ mom tells me the 17-year-old who disappeared over a year ago was found safe overnight in Georgia. @WCCBCharlotte pic.twitter.com/o3gXpuQI8T
— Marvin Beach (@MBeach14) June 25, 2017
“She would be attacked again by you and your attorney,” the victim’s father said in his victim impact statement.
Wysolovski requested first offender status, which would remove the plea from his criminal record if the sentence was completed, but Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Timothy Hamil refused.
“I can’t see even the most twisted definition of what you did as help … I don’t see any emotion from you. I don’t see any remorse from you,” Hamil said.
“I am not moved to give you first offender status … In my time on the bench I can count on both hands the time I’ve refused to give someone first offender status—but there’s something inside me that says this is one of those times.”
