John Andrew Welden, center, is escorted from the U.S. District Courthouse after being sentenced to 13 years and eight months in prison on Monday.
A twisted Florida man was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison for tricking his ex-girlfriend into taking an abortion pill last year and killing their 6-week old fetus.
John Andrew Welden, 29, apologized Monday for his actions as a federal judge in Tampa handed down the 13 year, 8 month sentence. But his victim, former girlfriend Remee Jo Lee, demanded the judge show the calculating fiend “the same amount of mercy that he showed me during my pregnancy,” the Tampa Tribune reported.
“This wasn’t just a case to me,” Lee told the judge. “This was the death of my child.”
Welden and Lee, 27, had been romantically involved for nearly seven months when they learned last February that Lee was pregnant. The news, however, did not unite them.
Lee was ecstatic about becoming a mother, but Welden, who was working on a degree in sports medicine, wanted her to terminate the pregnancy.
"I was never going to do anything but go full term with it, and he didn't want me to," Lee told WPTV News last year.
Welden’s father, an obstetrician in the town of Lutz whom his son worked for, examined Lee and confirmed the pregnancy. During that visit, Lee had her blood drawn.
Remee Jo Lee, 27, walks into court to see former boyfriend John Andrew Welden sentenced for tricking her into taking a pill that caused her to have a miscarriage.
The following day, Good Friday, Welden informed Lee that her blood work had turned up a bacterial infection and gave her what he claimed was the antibiotic Amoxicillin.
The bottle actually contained Cytotec pills, which induce labor and result in abortion.
Trusting Welden, Lee ingested one of the pills and went to work.
“He came to my house with the pills, his weapon of choice," Lee told WPTV.
On Easter Sunday, Lee fell ill and experienced vaginal bleeding. Doctors at a hospital told her she had suffered a miscarriage caused by Cytotec.
When he joined her at the hospital, Welden admitted that he had given her the abortion drug.
Welden, after his arrest last spring.
"He used this pregnancy as my Achilles heel,” Lee said. “He knew I wanted to do what is best, so that is why I took (the pills).”
Welden admitted scratching off lettering on the Cytotec pills that would have identified them as a drug other than Amoxicillin.
On Monday, Welden was remorseful as he addressed the court.
“I’ve caused everyone a huge amount of emotional pain,” he said. “What I’ve done will stay with me every day for the rest of my life.”
The judge ordered Welden to serve out his sentence at a low-security, federal prison camp and to pay nearly $30,000 in restitution to Lee, who told the court she bled for nearly a month after the forced abortion.
Welden will spend three years on probation after his release.
“I don’t believe Mr. Welden’s an evil person, but he committed an evil act,” Judge Richard Al Lazzara said, “and he’s going to pay the consequences.”
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