SIDNEY, Nebraska
- A man found guilty of sexually assaulting a child has been given
10 years of probation by a judge who said the man was too small
to survive prison.
District Judge Kristine Cecava of Cheyenne County sentenced Richard W. Thompson, 50, Tuesday on two counts of sexually assaulting a minor.
“What you have done is absolutely inexcusable,” she said.
His crimes deserved a long sentence, Cecava said, but she expressed concern that the 5-foot-1 Thompson would be especially imperiled by prison dangers.
“Can I make other children safe from you?” the judge said. “You are a sex offender, and you did it to a child.”
But, she said, “That doesn’t make you a hunter. You do not fit in that category.
“I’m going to try to put together some kind of order to keep you out of prison.”
He will be electronically monitored the first four months of his probation, and he was told to never be alone with someone under age 18 or date or live with a woman whose children were under 18. Cecava also ordered Thompson to get rid of his pornography.
He faces 30 days of jail each year of his probation unless he follows its conditions closely.
“I want control of you until I know you have integrated change into your life,” the judge told Thompson. “I truly hope that my bet on you being OK out in society is not misplaced.” |
