In what authorities call the biggest sex crime case in Grand Forks history, former UND student Paul Sambursky was sentenced Tuesday to 80 years in prison, with all but 30 years suspended, for attacks on six women in 14 months.

Sambursky, 29, pleaded guilty to five counts of felony gross sexual imposition and one case of misdemeanor disorderly conduct for an aborted attack.

All but one which happened in 2001 were committed in 2002. Three were on UND's campus on the same bike path, two in Grand Forks off-campus and one just outside Grand Forks.

During plea bargaining, Sambursky admitted to committing a seventh previously unsolved sexual assault in Grand Forks in return for not getting charged with it.

"This guy was a serial rapist," said the prosecutor, Rick Brown, the veteran assistant Grand Forks County state's attorney who has never seen such a case with so many victims or long a sentence.

Grand Forks District Judge Debbie Kleven a former prosecutor herself agreed. "I have been in this business for 19 years and this is probably the most difficult case I've been involved with."

In her sentencing hearing Tuesday, Kleven said, "It was extremely complicated, not only because of the amount of time (over which the assaults occurred) and the number of victims and that this is not the typical offender."

Sambursky grew up in Grand Forks, is an ex-Marine who was majoring in criminal justice at UND, living on campus with his wife and four young children. He was active in a local Catholic parish, an officer in the student criminal justice club and a lab assistant at UND.

But Kleven told Sambursky he used his image to get away with his crimes. "(Y)ou still are a danger to the community," Kleven said. "You said that you are a feminist. To state that is an insult to women."

His statement to a doctor "that you are a charmer and can talk women into having sex with you," bothered her and showed how he tried "to manipulate the system," Kleven told Sambursky.

Charged in March

For months, Sambursky denied the crimes, fighting to clear his name. Arrested in March, he quickly collected affidavits of support from neighbors, UND officials and church leaders. He unsuccessfully fought UND's move to expel him from campus.

But clear descriptions from his victims, similar methods and DNA evidence pointed to Sambursky, investigators said.

Tuesday, Sambursky apologized to his victims two of whom were in court and to his family and friends, saying "There is no excuse and no justification," for what he did.

"I am so very sorry," he said in a prepared statement. "I know what I've taken from you, you can never get back. I ask for your forgiveness, knowing it may be difficult or impossible to give."

His attorney, Lee Finstad, asked Kleven sentence Sambursky to two to five years. He is a good candidate for rehabilitation and has a loving family and children who need him, Finstad said. Sambursky's sentencing "could not come at a worse time," because of publicity over Dru Sjodin's disappearance, Finstad said. His client is nothing like the man charged with kidnapping Sjodin, Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., called one of the most dangerous of sexual offenders, Finstad said.

A Fargo forensic psychiatrist, Edward Kelly, testified that Sambursky posed a low risk to offend again and would respond well to treatment.

Even prosecutor Brown agreed Sambursky grew up in a bad home in Grand Forks, in which his mother took drugs, worked as prostitute and physically and mentally abused Sambursky and his half-brother.

"Paul is not an evil man, he's a dysfunctional person," Finstad told Kleven. "Give him a chance to redeem himself."

Sambursky's wife, Toni, also testified for her husband.

"In spite of everything, I still see a good man," she said. "He's loving and tender to me and the children."

Two of Sambursky's victims spoke less glowingly.

One, who asked not to be identified, said Sambursky was deceptive and should not be trusted. Another victim, Chandra Livingood, said she still lived in fear after the night Sambursky attacked her. "He was willing to take my life," she said.

Kleven imposed what prosecutor Brown said is the longest sentence for sexual assaults he's heard of in the county.

The sentences, to be served consecutively, add up to 80 years, with 50 years suspended, for the five gross sexual imposition charges. He will get credit for the 10 months he's been in the Grand Forks jail.

Kleven had rejected an earlier plea agreement of suspending 59 years from the 80 years of sentences, saying it wasn't enough.

Brown said the plea agreement saved the court time, but that Sambursky might have gotten more time from juries hearing each case separately.

The individual sentences show Kleven's approach to the unusual case:

• 10 years, seven suspended, for a Class B felony gross sexual imposition for an attack Oct. 16, 2001, on a woman on the bike path along English Coulee behind the Ralph Engelstad Arena on UND's campus. After the assault, the woman who appeared in court Tuesday sought help, reported the crime and during a medical exam, suggested that DNA from her attacker's saliva might be obtained from her chest. It became a linchpin of evidence in the case.

• 30 days (already served) for a Class B misdemeanor for disorderly conduct, March 26, 2002, on the same bike path, for accosting a woman in what appears to have been an aborted assault.

• 20 years, 14 suspended, for a Class A felony GSI on a woman in the 100 block of Cherry Street downtown, July 28, 2002. Semen samples taken from the woman's body later were matched to DNA samples obtained from the first victim.

• 10 years, six suspended for a Class B felony GSI in the attack on Livingood on Oct. 4, 2002, near University Park.

• 20 years, 13 suspended for a Class A felony GSI in attack of woman whom he took to a frontage road south of Grand Forks Oct. 18, 2002. After the assault, she escaped from the car and gave accurate descriptions of him and his car to investigators.

• 20 years, 10 suspended for a Class A felony GSI for an attack on a woman on the same UND bike path Dec. 27, 2002. About a month later, the woman encountered Sambursky in Witmer Hall, recognized him as her attacker and contacted UND police. Her statement and description was a spark that helped investigators in UND police, Grand Forks police and the Grand Forks County Sheriff's Department put the case together as a serial rapist's work. He was arrested within weeks.

While being sentenced Tuesday, Sambursky seemed visibly upset, trying to interrupt Kleven at several points.

Finally, asked by Kleven if he had any questions, Sambursky paused, then shook his head. "I will be 60 years old. I don't think there's any need for any questions."

Sambursky's 30 years could be reduced by state prison officials, but he then will serve 15 years supervised probation. He must register for life as a sex offender and pay still-undetermined restitution.

Investigators and prosecutors praised Sambursky's victims for cool heads and brave hearts that in protecting themselves and helping nab him.

His first victim, also a criminal justice major, said she says she knows of another woman who was assaulted by Sambursky, but never reported it, choosing to simply "move out of town," the woman said.

That's why she spoke at his sentencing, the woman said: to make sure justice was done. However, she asked not to be identified because of the scandal of being a sexual assault victim.

Another victim took a bolder approach.

"I'm very satisfied," Livingood said afterward. "This does send a message to the entire community that this is not something that is going to be tolerated."

She said the attack has made her much more careful of her own safety and of her children's.

More than two years ago, in his car, Sambursky followed her as she drove home near University Park and parked. He approached her car and made small talk and then grabbed her around the neck, trying to drag her out of her car.

"I was sure that he was going to kill me. I thought I was at the end of my life. And I said, if he's going to kill me, I'm going to fight," Livingood said.

She fought him off and finally pressed down on the horn until he ran away.

She sought help at her neighbor's house.

"I started thinking, I bet this guy was a UND student that just knew he was going to get away with it. I was not done fighting."

She reported the assault and later identified Sambursky as her attacker.

She was not afraid to appear at his sentencing and talk to reporters Tuesday.

"I felt I needed to get my opinion heard," Livingood said. "More women should not be ashamed. If more women said something, it would make a difference."