In a case Judge Lynn Davis said was unlike any in his 32 years with the gavel, Douglas Bee of Santaquin was handed three, three-years-to-life sentences after being charged for sexually assaulting three young girls.

With family supporting the girls watching, Davis said that he found Bee’s case to be “unusual,” expressing his disgust that Bee said that he was “unsure” what one of the girls wanted when speaking about his crime against her.

It’s a reason why Bee is “a potential risk … to children,” Davis added in remarks that ended the sentencing late Wednesday afternoon in the Provo 4th Circuit courtroom.

“I don’t want him back in society,” Davis said. “Little children are innocent and they have trust … That trust has been breached greatly in this family and I don’t want that to broaden in any form or fashion.”

Lauren Hunt, the Utah County deputy attorney who prosecuted Bee, said that one of the young girls suffered from one of the crimes on her baptism day, when Bee had an objective to stimulate her breasts.

The girls were between 7 and 10 years old at the time of the assaults.

Bee’s defense attorney, Dustin Parmley, argued that Bee should not go to prison since Bee did not “comprehend” that his age relative to his young girls’ was an issue, having said that Bee would already be a sex offender and supervised by his wife.

“It’s clear that he does not have the same level of comprehension of the severity of these crimes,” Parmley said.

Davis said that Bee’s wife has “severe health challenges” and said when outlining reasons for his decision that Bee had been found competent to proceed.

“He’s elderly,” Parmley also said of Bee, who is 73.

“I’m 71; let’s not call him elderly,” Davis replied.

Parmley showed a video of Bee admitting as he had when he was arrested in September that he placed his hands on at least one of young girls’ breasts. Bee also made remarks about his crime in the video that Parmley argued showed that Bee did not understand the gravity of the crime, as most people do.

“(Bee) is sorry for any harm he might have caused to the children,” Parmley said.

“He did say that at the end,” Davis remarked on the video timeline.

But Davis, noting that Bee goes to a pool with children “daily,” wondered why Bee said that he would go to jail if an assaulted girl told her mom, though Hunt was not sure what to say to that.

But then Parmley reported that Bee had said that “maybe jail is the best place for him because of of the marital problems (Bee and his wife) had.”

“He does demonstrate a lack of remorse,” Hunt said of Bee earlier in the hearing.

And Davis said he was confused that Bee had a master’s degree but spent 32 years as a gardener and custodian. Prior to the three sex-assault charges, Bee had a clean record, according to a Santaquin Police Department report.

Parmley had also pointed out that sex-offender treatment is available in the community, though he directly followed that by acknowledging that such assistance would also be available in prison.