When he was arrested last September, Joseph Thomas Horovsky, who turned 22 last week, faced life in prison if convicted on two charges of molesting a family member younger than 12 for several years. He pleaded last month, and this afternoon, walking into court a free man one last time, he was sentenced to five years in prison, followed by 10 years on probation. He will be designated a sex offender for life.
The designation aside, the leniency was approved by the child victim’s mother. Horovsky, known as J.T., benefited from some leniency since early in his arrest, when he had been booked at the Flagler County jail on no bond.
Weeks later, Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark, who prosecuted the case, agreed to a joint stipulation with defense attorney Josh Alexander to set his bond at $200,000 ($100,000 for each count), which a family member from the same W-Section household where the offenses had taken place posted, backing the $20,000 down with a promissory note and the mortgage on the property.
The leniency is also reflected in the limited charges. He was arrested following reports that he had molested more than one victim over several years, according to his arrest report. But the charges resulted from assaults against just one, which substantially limited his legal exposure.
The victim described to Flagler County Sheriff’s detective Adam Gossett, who was in court today, and to a forensic interviewer in a Child Protection Team interview, the nature and frequency of the incidents, all of which she said had taken place at the W-Section house, where everyone lived as a family, and where Horovsky had a bedroom. The incidents took place when she was around 9, 10 and 11.
Horovsky essentially built his own case against himself. He told a childhood friend of his last June that he was being investigated, and that he had molested his younger niece for years. The friend cut off all contact with him after that. The sheriff’s investigation arranged for a confidential informant to have a conversation with Horovsky, who “made several additional admissions of guilt,” his arrest report states. He claimed that it had happened during his middle-teen years, not when he was 18 or older.
Today, the victim’s mother addressed the court by zoom. She has known Horovsky, whom she referred to as JT, since he was 6 months old. “I’ve watched JT grow up and thought he was a good, responsible, respectable young adult, until I was told he did something to two of my son’s cousins and my son,” the mother said, reading a statement. When she went to speak to her own daughter to see whether she’d heard any of it, her daughter was in tears–not from what she’d overheard, but “because she was too a victim of JT.”
The child has since been in therapy. “She has had dreams, sleep-walking, has withdrawn at times and many other things, but she has started to finally heal and show others what she can, what can happen if you try,” the mother read. She then addressed Horovsky directly as he stood at the lectern before the judge, not yet in handcuffs or fingerprinted. That would happen immediately after the mother stopped speaking. “I just hope with this, JT, you can learn that your actions have consequences, and learn how to be a good, respectable, grown adult again. You are family, JT.”
The judge commended the mother for having her child in therapy and for appearing in court. “Trust me, I’m trying to get all the kids in therapy,” she said. She had prefaced her remarks by saying they were all for her daughter, who had approved of her speaking them.
Horovsky will have 46 days’ credit for the time he has served at the county jail, but unlike sentences for most crimes, he will have to serve the five years day for day, without the chance for gain time, or time off for good behavior. Upon his release, sex-offender probation terms will apply for 10 years, including a curfew, prohibition on living in proximity of schools, day care centers, churches, parks and the like, prohibition on contact with anyone under 18, no contact with the victims or several other family members, and other restrictions.
