Military Career Over, Ex-Palm Coast Airman Isaac Becker Is Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison Over Rape of Minor

Becker has been at the Flagler County jail since his arrest last March, so he’s accrued more than nine months’ credit to his sentence (327 days). Between that and “gain time,” giving him the chance to be released after serving 85 percent of his sentence, he could be out in 72 months (not the 96-month of his sentence), or in six years.

The prosecution in June had made a plea offer of 10 years in prison. “We just want to put pressure on the State and see if we can get him down to a youthful offender sentence (capped at 6 years DOC),” his attorney, Carlos Ivanor of Orlando, wrote Greg DeClue, a Sarasota-based forensic psychologist. (DOC is the acronym for the Department of Corrections.) Ivanor was seeking to hire DeClue as an expert witness, to conduct a psychosexual evaluation of Becker “and also to see if you could help me in exploring a false confessions,” Ivanor wrote the psychologist in a June 7 email.

DeClue agreed to take up the case for $200 an hour. By then Becker’s father had filed for indigency, arguing that he had depleted his funds to secure representation for his son. The court approved the indigency status, enabling Ivanor to hire the expert witness for up to 25 hours of service and 10 hours’ travel time. Ivanor continued as the attorney of record, paid by Becker’s father.




Becker, who who grew up in Palm Coast but had been in the U.S. Navy, stationed in Norfolk, Va., when Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies arrested him, agreed to a plea deal several weeks ago, its leniency a reflection of the victim’s family’s agreement, Becker being no stranger to them. (See: “Palm Coast’s Isaac J. Becker, 21, Navy Seaman, Is Arrested on Two Counts of Forcible Rape of a Minor.”)

“I had many conversations with Miss [], the victim’s mom, she’s well aware of what the plea offer is, is an agreement with it,” Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark, who prosecuted the case, said. “I just wasn’t sure if she was definitely going to attend today or not. Like I said they were on the fence about it. But they were well aware of it.”

The sentencing this afternoon was pro forma: most of the details had been covered in a plea hearing a few weeks ago, when Perkins agreed to the defense’s request to defer the formality of the sentencing to yesterday afternoon, so Becker could remain at the jail over the holidays, enabling his family to see him. Becker’s father had told the attorney he would not appear by zoom or in the courtroom. But some people related to the case were were on zoom.

The investigation had begun in November 2020, when the victim was by then 16. She reported Becker restraining her arms and forcing her head-first into a pillow so she could not be heard making sounds as proceeded to assault her. The state’s information, however–the prosecution’s charging document–stated he “did not use physical force and violence likely to cause serious personal injury,” even though the two counts of rape were the result of the forcible element: it was not a statutory offense, which would have been the case had there been consent (under Florida law, minors are considered incapable of consenting to sex, though, paradoxically, when the act is found to be consensual the charge is usually a second degree felony, not a first degree, or a life felony.)




Becker, according to his arrest report, confessed–a confession his attorney had attempted to contest. He did not address the court today, as defendants often do at sentencings.

Once released from prison Becker will have to abide by rigorous sex-offender probation conditions, including a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew (or an adjusted eight-hour curfew, depending on the kind of work shifts he lands), with one additional proviso: “If the court determines that imposing a curfew would endanger the victim, the court may consider additional sanctions.”

As with any sex offender or predator, he will be barred from living within 1,000 feet of a church, a school, a park or any other place where children gather. He’ll also be prohibited from working anywhere children gather, including pet stores, schools, libraries and malls, even as a volunteer. He’ll be barred from any contact with the victim. He’ll have to follow treatment regimens, and stay off the Internet except for work purposes, at least until his treatment and risk assessments are completed. He’ll have to submit to warrantless searches, including blood or urine analyses, and to polygraph tests, and maintain a driving log.