Felon Michael Boland gets 30 years for crimes against Volusia runaway girls

DAYTONA BEACH — A South Daytona man who had sex with a teenage girl and harbored three teenagers who had run away from foster care was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in state prison.

The sentence means longtime Volusia County felon Michael Boland will be in his late 90s when he is eligible for release. He is now a designated sex offender.

Circuit Judge Leah Case’s courtroom audience, which included family members of victims and the parents of a 19-year-old woman who died in Boland’s bed last June, clapped in approval as Case announced Boland will serve the sentences on his five convictions consecutively.

Though Boland will be nearly 100 if he survives to see his release from prison, "I'll still be waiting on him," said James Cole, father of the deceased young woman, after the hearing.

Boland will serve 15 years for unlawful sexual activity with a minor, five years for each of three counts of depriving custody of a minor and a year in county jail for contributing to the delinquency of a child, with credit for 372 days served.

"Mr. Boland used his position in society to manipulate the most vulnerable people because of their economic or addiction issues," said Case. "It was a calculated decision on his part. He did it over and over again (during the week the crimes occurred) by keeping the girls."

Though consecutive sentences are unusual, they were warranted in this case, the judge said, because there were three different victims. 

Jane Park, Boland’s attorney, said she “wasn’t surprised” by the lengthy sentence. Though she was “hoping it wouldn’t happen,” she said, “I actually expected it.” 

Park added Boland plans to appeal the decision.

On Oct. 13, a jury of six found Boland guilty of picking up three girls — two 17-year-olds and a 14-year-old — who had run away from their Winter Haven group home and shuffling them among several motels in the Daytona area in August 2015.

While sheltering the girls, Boland provided them with liquor and engaged in sexual intercourse with one of the older girls. The now 19-year-old woman testified that Boland coerced her into an ongoing sexual relationship with him when she was 16, prior to the Department of Children and Families taking her into state custody.

Cuffed and clad in a jail-issued orange jumpsuit Thursday, Boland — who never admitted to any of the crimes — said he wanted to "apologize" to the three victims, especially the one with whom he had sex, for "getting involved in their lives. And I'd like them to forgive me for my poor judgment," he said. 

He was forced to go to trial, he said, because "I'm not going to plead to anything I didn't do." 

Citing Boland's health conditions, service in the Marines and advanced education, Park asked that Boland be granted a downward departure from the minimum penalty of about 6½ years.  

Assistant State Attorney Erica Kane requested the maximum sentence, noting Boland's reckless pursuit of an underage girl.

"He wanted (her) and he was willing to abandon everything to get to her," she said. "He was never concerned with her well-being. He really just wanted his sex life back," Kane said, referencing a text message Boland sent the girl two days after her 18th birthday. 

Boland's criminal past also came to bear Thursday. He served five years in Massachusetts in the 1990s on an arson conviction, and was jailed briefly in 2006 for battering the mother of his adopted daughter. 

Boland still faces charges across four cases of lewd and lascivious sexual battery on a 15-year-old, unlawful sex with a 16-year-old, video voyeurism of an 18-year-old and three counts of depriving custody of a minor. 

Stephanie Looney, the mother of Hailey Cole, the 19-year-old who died of a drug overdose in Boland's bed last year, was in court Thursday for the sentencing. She remains frustrated it took so long for Boland to be brought to justice.

"No one listened," Looney said of police reports filed for years accusing Boland of similar crimes. "But I am happy with the 30 years."