Com. v. Santibanez, S.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided April 24, 2026·No. 991 MDA 2025·Unpublished·Ford Elliott

Opinion

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA

:

v. :

:

:

SEBASTIAN D. SANTIBANEZ :

:

Appellant : No. 991 MDA 2025

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered September 15, 2022 In the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-06-CR-0001618-2020

BEFORE: STABILE, J., MURRAY, J., and FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E.* MEMORANDUM BY FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E.: FILED: APRIL 24, 2026 Appellant, Sebastian D. Santibanez, appeals nunc pro tunc from the judgment of sentence imposed by the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County following the entry of his guilty pleas to statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor, aggravated indecent assault, sexual abuse of children – photographing, videotaping, depicting on computer or filming sexual acts, sexual abuse of children – dissemination of photographs, computer depictions and films, sexual abuse of children – child sexual abuse material, endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of a minor, criminal use of a communication facility, indecent

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.

exposure, and indecent assault.1 Appellant challenges the exercise of the sentencing court’s discretion. We affirm.

On May 23, 2022, Appellant entered open guilty pleas to the above-

referenced offenses. The factual basis of the pleas was stated by the prosecutor and agreed to by Appellant only as to acts that occurred after the victim was 13 years of age:2 [The Prosecutor]: By pleading guilty, do you admit the following:

That you have a date of birth [in] 1983, and that you began dating the mother of a juvenile female whose initials are A.T. and whose date of birth is [in] 2001, when A.T. was under the age of ten;

That … you began sexually abusing her by touching A.T.’s breasts with your hands and did touch and penetrate A.T.’s vagina with your fingers. This occurred on multiple occasions when A.T. was … 14 years old and did occur at the residence that you shared []

in Douglasville, Berks County, Pennsylvania;

That during this time you held yourself out to be A.T.’s stepfather and would provide for A.T.’s care and support. When A.T. was 14 years old, you did take A.T. to a hotel room at the Valley Forge Casino in Montgomery County where you did have vaginal intercourse with her for the first time, that these acts of sexual intercourse continued through age 18 and included vaginal intercourse and oral intercourse multiple times at the residence in Berks County as well as other places in Montgomery County including your flower shop.

1 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 3122.1(b), 3123(a)(7), 6318(a)(1), 3125(a)(8), 6312(b), 6312(c), 6312(d), 4304(a)(1), 6301(a)(1)(ii), 7512(a), 3127(a), and 3126(a)(8), respectively.

2 The prosecutor’s recitation of facts included assertions that sexual contact

began when A.T. was as young as 11-years-old. Appellant only admitted that the “acts occurred after the age of 13.” N.T. Guilty Plea, 6/13/22, 8. That limitation was accepted by the court and the Commonwealth. Id. Accordingly, we have excised the allegations prior to A.T. turning 14-years-old.

During many of the instances of sexual abuse, that you did videotape A.T. performing oral intercourse by you placing your penis into her mouth and having vaginal intercourse with her.

These videos you took were taken on multiple cell phones which were recovered by law enforcement and include the victim in states of nudity as well as engaging in sexual intercourse.

Many of these videos were taken prior to A.T. turning 18, that you would use your cell phone and would send the videos to A.T.

including sending them via SnapChat. The photos also show your penis and that you would send pictures of your erect penis to [her];

That the victim … turned 14 in July of 2015.

N.T. Guilty Plea, 5/23/22, 6-7. The court accepted the guilty pleas and deferred sentencing. See id., 8-9.

At the sentencing hearing, the parties and court agreed that based on a Sexual Offender Assessment Board report, Appellant did not meet the criteria for a sexually violent offender. See N.T. Sentencing, 9/15/22, 5-6. The court ruled, over the Commonwealth’s objection, that Count 12, indecent assault, merged into Count 4, aggravated indecent assault. See id., 6-7. The Commonwealth then presented the victim’s testimony, including the presentation of two photographs of her when she was eight years old on a day when Appellant, then the new boyfriend of the victim’s mother, took her to see a movie. See id., 10-11. As described by the sentencing court, “[t]he photographs depicted the victim in the back seat of a vehicle wearing a dress and sunglasses, while Appellant, in one photograph, sits in the driver’s seat in a suit and sunglasses.” Opinion, 12/21/22 (“Sentencing Court Opinion”), 4. The photographs were taken before “the sexual abuse or touching” had

started. N.T. Sentencing, 9/15/22, 11. Appellant objected on relevance grounds to the admission of the two photographs as they were taken before “the abuse occurred.” Id., 12. The court stated, “I don’t know that there is much probative value to them[,] but I will allow them.” Id.

Immediately after the court admitted the photographs, A.T. read a prepared victim impact statement to the court. See N.T. Sentencing, 9/15/22, 13-15. The Commonwealth recommended an aggregate sentence of twenty- three to one hundred and fourteen years’ incarceration, followed by seven years’ probation. Id., 16. The Commonwealth then explained its recommendation, which consisted of individual terms that were at the top of the standard range with statutory maximums. See id., 17-22. Appellant then presented five exhibits and testimony from four people familiar with his character, who described him variously as a hard worker and good role model that helped other people. See id., 22-29. Appellant’s counsel then argued the guilty pleas were limited to conduct committed when the victim was fourteen and fifteen, and contended that Appellant and A.T. were in a functional relationship from when she was sixteen until it ended when she went to police when she was eighteen. See id., 29-20. Counsel recommended an aggregate sentence of five to ten years’ incarceration with the understanding that Appellant would ultimately be deported. See id., 32. In his allocution, Appellant stated that he knew his relationship with A.T. was illegal, but claimed it was otherwise consensual; sought help while imprisoned; he understood that he hurt his family – he was legally married with six children;

and would lose his status as a legal resident and be deported to Chile. See id., 33-37.

The court noted that it had been assigned to the case from the beginning and through the “complicated pre-trial hearing.” N.T. Sentencing, 9/15/22, 38. In determining the sentence, the court stated that it took into account, inter alia, the guilty plea colloquy, the sentencing hearing witnesses and exhibits, and the recommendations by the parties, though noting that some seemingly logical arguments had no evidentiary support in the record, and stated that it would endeavor to separate out those arguments to be fair to Appellant. See id.,38-39. It explicitly noted that it took “into account” the Sentencing Guidelines and the Sentencing Code, including the statutory factors for protection of the community and the rehabilitative needs of Appellant. See id., 39. The court imposed an aggregate term of nineteen to fifty-five years’ imprisonment through the following sentence terms:

Count 2, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, five to ten years’

imprisonment;

Count 3, unlawful contact with a minor, five to ten years’

imprisonment, consecutive to Count 2;

Count 1, statutory sexual assault, two to ten years’ imprisonment, consecutive to Count 3;

Count 4, aggravated indecent assault, two to five years’

imprisonment, consecutive to Count 1;

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Com. v. Santibanez, S., (Pa. Ct. App. 2026).

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