Former Grand Rapids police officer Ryan James Bruggink tearfully apologized for sexually assaulting his former girlfriend, asking the sentencing judge Tuesday to “please have mercy on me.’’
Kent County Circuit Court Judge Donald Johnston acknowledged Bruggink’s otherwise crime-free past, but said public servants like police officers need to be held to a higher standard.
“I think society has a right to expect a higher moral, ethical and legal conduct of its public officials,’’ Johnston said. “You clearly violated these standards and your behavior falls below an acceptable level of a person entrusted with the office which you then held.’’
He ordered Bruggink to serve between 2 and 15 years in prison.
A visibly shaken Bruggink had trouble addressing the court between sobs and at one point referred to the judge as “father’’ before correcting himself.
“I want to apologize to everyone who has gone through this,’’ Bruggink said through sobs. “My intentions that night were never to hurt anybody or do anything illegal. And I just ask that you please have mercy on me.’’
Family members openly wept and called out “we love you’’ as Bruggink was led from court.
A Kent County jury found him guilty of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, which involves sexual penetration by force or coercion. It carries a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in prison. Sentencing guidelines recommended a minimum term of between 15 and 25 months.
Bruggink, 25, was acquitted of the most serious charges -- home invasion and first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony that carries a maximum term of life in prison.
The March 29 verdict capped a two-week trial that included graphic detail of the sexual encounters between Bruggink and his accuser during the course of their 11-month relationship.
Bruggink took the stand in his own defense, telling jurors he and his accuser “pushed the boundaries’’ in their sexual relationship.
He referred to the single, 29-year-old mother of three as “mommy’’ and gave lurid testimony about sharing “rough sex’’ during myriad “booty calls’’ at the woman’s home in Wyoming.
“It was a very sexual relationship, that’s mainly what we did the whole entire time,’’ he testified on the fifth day of his jury trial for home invasion and first-degree criminal sexual conduct. “We were always pushing the boundaries.’’
Bruggink estimates they had sex “99 percent of the time’’ they got together. Boundaries were few; their sexual exploits included spanking, spitting, choking and handcuffs.
But Bruggink denied the prosecution’s assertion he forced his way into the woman’s house on Nov. 25, 2014 and raped her.
Days after his conviction, the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office authorized three felony warrants against Bruggink for pornographic images sent to his phone by a 17-year-old girl.
The teen sent the images to Bruggink over a three-month period in 2014, which authorities say he shared with others.
He waived a probable cause hearing last week on charges of possession of child sexually abusive material, a four-year felony, along with using a computer to commit a crime and child sexually abusive activity, both 20-year felonies.
The case will likely be assigned to Johnston, who presided over the sexual assault trial.