Scott Grant
The DA’s Office wins an important appeal which provides clarity throughout the state of the level of evidence needed to declare an offender a sexually violent predator when the victim is a family member. Commonwealth vs Scott Grant Conviction and Sentence Affirmed.
In February 2022 the defendant was found guilty following a jury trial prosecuted by First Assistant District Attorney Mike Rakaczewski. Grant was found guilty of Indecent Assault, Unlawful Contact with a Minor, corruption of Minors and related offenses, for multiple crimes committed against a child beginning at age 5 and continuing to age 10 years.
Before he was sentenced a hearing was held under the Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) to determine if the defendant was a sexually violent predator. During the hearing Rakaczewski questioned the psychiatrist who examined the defendant. Following the SORNA hearing the court agreed with ‘RAK’ and declared the defendant to be a sexually violent predator subject to lifetime registration. The defendant was then sentenced to serve 78 to 234 months (6 ½ to 19 ½ years) in state prison.
An appeal was filed by the defense. The case was taken up by Brian Germano, the Chief of the District Attorney’s Appellate Division, to handle the appeal. On appeal the defendant claimed the evidence was insufficient to find he was a sexually violent predator subject to lifetime registration.
Germano appeared before the Superior Court in Philadelphia to argue the case. On April 2, 2025, the Court issued its decision. Grant’s appeal was denied. The court noted that the defense claim that the abuse of the victim was merely the ‘opportunistic exploitation of a family member’ and not sufficient to declare him a sexual predator overlooked the legal definition of ‘predatory.’ The term does not require the relationship between the defendant and the victim to exist solely to support or facilitate victimization. The term ‘predatory’ is defined as ‘an act directed . . . at a person with whom a relationship has been . . . promoted, in whole or in part, to facilitate or support victimization’. The existence of a family relationship with the victim does not preclude a finding that an offender’s behavior was predatory in nature. In this case the defendant was the victim’s stepfather.
The evidence showed the defendant has the mental abnormality/personality disorder, pedophilia, that makes him likely to commit predatory sexually violent offenses and he demonstrated predatory behavior by his course of conduct in abusing the victim over a period of years in a “grooming” pattern that altered the existing family relationship with the child and instead promoted a different relationship, that of victimization.
This decision provides clear guidance throughout the state for prosecutors and courts for the level of evidence needed to declare an offender a sexually violent predator when the victim is a family member. Both First Assistant Mike Rakaczewski and Chief Appellate Prosecutor Brian Germano are commended for securing justice for the victim and protecting the community.