Robert H. Richards IV: He Raped His 3-Year-Old Daughter. He Served No Time in Prison.

 

Robert H. Richards IV: He Raped His 3-Year-Old Daughter. He Served No Time in Prison.

Robert H. Richards IV, an heir to the du Pont family fortune, pleaded guilty to fourth-degree rape after sexually abusing his 3-year-old daughter. She had disclosed the abuse to her grandmother.

In 2009, Delaware Superior Court Judge Jan Jurden imposed an eight-year prison sentence and then suspended the entire prison term, placing Richards on probation instead. His sentencing paperwork included the statement that he would “not fare well” in prison. Later-released transcripts showed that wording had originated in an argument made by Richards’ defense attorney.

He served no prison time for the rape.

The case became national news in 2014 after Richards’ former wife filed a civil lawsuit on behalf of their children. That lawsuit also alleged that Richards had sexually abused their son when the boy was 19 months old. Authorities investigated allegations involving the son, but Richards was never criminally charged over them.

The distinction matters: the abuse of his daughter resulted in a guilty plea and conviction. The accusations concerning his son were allegations made in the later civil case.

But the fact at the center of this story remains staggering:

A man pleaded guilty to raping his 3-year-old daughter, received an eight-year sentence, and spent zero days of that sentence in prison.