Looking haggard and drawn in jailhouse blues, Sommerer received a 4½-year prison sentence after pleading no contest to charges he molested a 5-year-old girl.
Upon his release, Sommerer, 60, must also serve 30 years of sexual-offender probation.
From April 1, 2006, to Oct. 31, 2007, Sommerer inappropriately touched the child, forced her to skinny dip with him, had her spray his exposed genitalia with a water hose and made her ride a motor scooter while wearing a skirt without underwear, records show.
Sommerer’s attorney, Gerald Cunningham, emphasized that his client’s no-contest plea meant he chose not to fight the charges but did not mean he admitted guilt.
“He has chosen to accept this plea so that he doesn’t harm his loved ones and his family,” Cunningham said. “He wants to put this behind him and move forward.”
Statements to police from three of Sommerer’s four sons portray the former mayor as a heavy drinker with a taste for Internet pornography, court records show.
When police asked the child, whom the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is not identifying, how many times Sommerer touched her, she estimated “about 50.”
After Tuesday’s hearing, the victim’s father said his daughter, now 7, was doing OK and attending counseling every other week.
“What drove our decision for a plea was really to keep her out of trial or depositions,” he said. “We just wanted to make it as easy as possible for her.”
Sommerer, who faced a maximum life sentence if convicted at trial, pleaded no contest to nine counts, ranging from lewd and lascivious molestation to exhibition. He will receive credit for 168 days.
A self-employed, certified public accountant, Sommerer served as mayor for 10 years and had a reputation for dignified, non-divisive leadership. Term limits forced him from office in 2004. He tried to make a political comeback in March 2006, but was defeated.
Word of Sommerer’s sentencing rattled Coral Springs’ officials, past and present.
City activist Dave Hulett, who first met Sommerer in 1980, said the news was sad.
“I think it’s a personal family tragedy,” said Hulett. “I think most people would say John had done a lot of outstanding things in the city. But you have a situation where these charges have been brought and you can’t ignore that.”
City Manager Michael Levinson, who worked with Sommerer for 15 years, also expressed sorrow.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Sommerer family,” he said.
Former Mayor Jeanne Mills did not strike a conciliatory tone.
“It is the most horrific thing,” she said. “And to have it occur by a former elected person, by a person who had the trust of the community. It’s horrific, it’s atrocious, it is beyond appalling.”
Sommerer’s wife, Diane, and the couple’s two youngest sons, ages 19 and 23, sat in the front row of the courtroom Tuesday. With bowed heads, the sons listened to Circuit Judge Mily Rodriguez-Powell impose the sentence.
State law requires registered sex offenders to live at least 1,000 feet from schools, parks, bus stops and places where children congregate.
Prosecutor Dennis Siegel said it was premature to discuss whether Sommerer, when he leaves prison, would be able to continue living in the Coral Springs home he has occupied since 1980.
Staff Writers Lisa J. Huriash and Sallie James contributed to this report.
Tonya Alanez can be reached at tealanez@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4542.
Photo by Lou Toman, for the Sun-Sentinel
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Former Coral Springs Mayor John P. Sommerer, who was arrested and charged with nine counts of Lewd and Lascivious conduct on a minor, is still sitting in a jail cell six months after he was arrested.
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