S. Berwick man gets at least 4 years for exposing penis to 2 young girls at Walmart

Staff reports 9:28 a.m.


S. Berwick man gets at least 4 years for exposing penis to 2 young girls at Walmart

Christopher Dastrup looks back toward the gallery during closing arguments of his lewdness trial at Strafford County Superior Court in Dover. (Rochester Voice file photo).

DOVER - A Maine man and convicted sex offender was sentenced to at least four years in state prison on Thursday at Strafford County Superior Court.

It took a jury just a couple of hours of deliberation to find Christopher T. Dastrup, 34, of South Berwick, guilty of exposing himself in front of two young girls at the Somersworth Walmart in 2017 following his weeklong trial in May.

Dastrup could've faced up to 60 years in prison in the Sept. 28, 2017, incident after he was found guilty on four felony lewdness/indecent exposure counts that each carry a maximum 15 year prison sentence: two for exposing his genitals to the two girls, ages 11 and 5 at the time of the incident; and two for touching his genitals in front of them.

Instead he received a concurrent 5- to 10-year sentence on two of the charges, and a consecutive five- to 10-year suspended sentence on the other two. Upon successful completion of a sex offender program, he can shave one year off the five year minimum.

During closing arguments in May, defense counsel Sven Wiberg characterized the FBI-prepared compilation tape of the incident as "prejudiced against his client" and said prosecutors edited the evidence to "get their man."

But Deputy Strafford County Attorney Tim Sullivan in his closing countered that assumption, saying the older girl ran by him without saying anything, "because she'd just seen an adult male's penis and was looking for her dad to tell him what happened and who did it."

Moments later the dad identified Dastrup to Walmart personnel.

Dastrup, a registered sex offender in the state of Maine, was previously convicted of two or more similar offenses in Oregon.