HOLLIDAYSBURG — An Altoona man convicted in June of three violations of the state’s sexual offenders registration law was sentenced Wednesday to four to eight years’ incarceration.
Robert Edward Walter, 33, currently an inmate at the Blair County Prison, attempted to convince Judge Jackie Bernard that he had been a victim of law enforcement officers who see him as a pedophile and a Megan’s Law violator because of what he called the biggest mistake of his life.
Bernard, however, told Walter that he was missing the fact that his latest convictions reflect three separate violations of Megan’s Law — for failing to live at the address that he registered with police and for twice failing to engage in monthly counseling for sex offenders.
“Those collateral consequences (of the earlier crime) are following you,” Bernard told Walter.
Altoona Mirror records show Walter, in 2011, entered no contest pleas to charges of rape by forcible compulsion and aggravated assault from an incident in April 2010.
At that time, Walter was 18 years old and according to police, he used an object to strike a 16-year-old girl while walking with her through the East End Ballfield. After she fell to the ground, police said he held a knife to her throat and raped her.
The state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, in a subsequent evaluation required by Megan’s Law, recommended Walter be classified as a sexually violent predator because of factors that included the predatory nature of the offense.
The assessment indicated that Walter called the girl “out of the blue” and arranged to meet at 1:30 a.m.
Walter said in court on Wednesday that he was incarcerated eight years on those charges before release. In 2018, he said he met and started building a life with Kristin Ebersberger of Altoona. He said they share a child and he has become “Dad” to her three children.
“My life is literally work and kids,” Walter said in asking Bernard for leniency and the chance to go home. “I’m really 100 percent about the kids.”
Bernard later told Walter that he may be the greatest dad in the world, but as the jury concluded, he failed to meet his Megan’s Law obligations despite opportunities and time to do so.
“What more does it take for you to comply?” the judge asked.
Assistant District Attorney Derek Elensky proposed sentences adding up to five to 10 years’ incarceration.
“I see this case as an open defiance of the rules and Megan’s Law,” Elensky told the judge.
During trial, Walter’s probation officer said he repeatedly failed to find Walter at the Bell Avenue address he was registering with police. And when Altoona Police Sgt. Eric Heuston went to the Bell Avenue residence, Heuston said Walter’s mother admitted that her son didn’t live there, something she later recanted.
Elensky said Walter knew his parole officer wouldn’t want him living on Third Avenue with Ebersberger because multiple children were living there.
The failure to comply with counseling requirements initially developed in September 2022 when Walter was supposed to be attending monthly sessions. Trial testimony indicated that he was expelled from previous counseling and didn’t seek new arrangements.
The second failure to comply with counseling requirements developed in April 2023, after efforts were made for his admission into a Pittsburgh-based remote counseling program. But Walter didn’t follow through and never participated.
“All he had to do was make a phone call … This was clearly a defiance,” Elensky said.
Defense attorney Tyler Rowles asked Bernard to consider a mitigated sentence in light of Walter’s family support, his obligations and a desire to return to work. The defense attorney also asked the judge to recognize how much time has passed since Walter’s 2010 offense.
Bernard, however, spoke of the time that passed while Walter failed to comply. In response to Walter’s complaints about law enforcement, Bernard told him the officers were doing their jobs.
In handing down the sentence, the judge assigned two to four years’ incarceration on the felony charge of failure to comply with registration requirements, then added consecutive sentences of one to two years’ incarceration for each of the misdemeanor convictions for failure to comply with counseling requirements.
When Megan’s Law was adopted in 1995, it was viewed as a way to protect children by creating a public registry of sex offenders and obligating those convicted of specific crimes to comply with registration and counseling requirements.
Walter’s sentence is warranted, Bernard said, as protection for the community’s most vulnerable citizens.
Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.
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