Ex-Krishna Child Abuser Gets 50 Years

A former Hare Krishna member was given a maximum 50-year sentence Thursday for molesting four children at a West Los Angeles child-care center run by the sect.

Kenneth T. Capoferri, 39, who was a caretaker at the center between 1982 and 1984, showed little emotion during the sentencing by San Fernando Superior Court Judge Ronald S. W. Lew. The judge said he imposed the maximum sentence because of the “heinous nature of the crimes.”

A jury in March found Capoferri guilty of seven sex charges involving two boys and two girls, who were from 2 to 5 years old when they were molested.

The parent of one victim, in requesting the maximum sentence, testified that Capoferri’s attacks turned his 7-year-old son into “a tormented, anguished child.” The man said his son has been diagnosed as severely emotionally disturbed, and suffers from sleeping disorders and hyperactivity.

Group Not Blamed

The man said he has since left the Hare Krishna community but that he does not blame the religious group for the molestations.

David Liberman, an attorney representing members of the West Los Angeles Hare Krishna religious group, urged Lew to impose the maximum sentence on Capoferri to “purge our community of the feelings of outrage, pain, anxiety, anger and confusion” caused by the molestations.

Capoferri and his wife, Delia Capoferri, 39, fled to Ohio in August, 1984, after other members of the Hare Krishna group confronted them with the child-abuse allegations. Police investigators believe that the abuse began in November, 1982, shortly after the couple took over operation of the child-care center.

Delia Capoferri was acquitted of child endangerment charges during the couple’s joint trial.

Capoferri will be eligible for parole in about 16 years, Deputy Dist. Atty. Steven Morgan said.