Friday, April 11, 2008

Judge Scolds Rapist Dinkel, then Goes Easy

This from the Enquirer:

COVINGTON - The revelation that child rapist Jeni Lee Dinkel told probation officials that she felt like the one "raped, threatened and blackmailed into having sex" with the 15-year-old she molested drew the ire of a judge Friday.

"This statement ... that she was a victim in the case is outrageous," Kenton Circuit Judge Gregory Bartlett said during Dinkel's probation revocation hearing. "It is outrageous and unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
Dinkel, 52, told probation officials she didn't feel that she "raped anyone," according to their transcripts.

It was this and similar statements, in addition to her refusal to take a polygraph as required in her sex-offender treatment program, that led officials to ask Bartlett to revoke her probation.

The wife of former Bengals linebacker Tom Dinkel pleaded guilty in May to one count of third-degree rape for having sex with the 15-year-old friend of her son. She was ordered to 60 days in jail, given probation for five years and ordered to register as a sex offender for 20 years.

Bartlett found that Dinkel violated her probation by not complying with the requirements of sex-offender treatment programs. But the judge didn't follow Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders' recommendation of sending Dinkel to prison.

Acknowledging she had followed the other terms of her probation, including paying for her victim's therapy, Bartlett tacked on another 40 hours to the 200 hours of community service she must serve.

Bartlett said if he hears even a whisper that Dinkel continued to blame the victim he would not hesitate to send her to prison.

Department of Corrections official Debbie Hoyt took the stand during the hearing and testified that she recalled Dinkel saying she deserved "to be punished for giving the kids alcohol but nothing else."

During Dinkel's August sentencing, the victim's mother told Bartlett that Dinkel's Villa Hills home was a "sexual smorgasbord for a very hungry, sick woman" who plied her son with alcohol before raping him. She said Dinkel manipulated her son by telling him she might be pregnant with his child.

The mother has filed a lawsuit in Kenton Circuit Court that accuses several people
and agencies with failing to take proper actions to stop the abuse.

Sanders told Bartlett that Dinkel is "preoccupied with this civil case and not with
complying with her probation."Dinkel's attorney, Robert Lotz, said his client tried to turn the probation-revocation hearing into a condemnation of the state-run sex offender treatment program Dinkel must attend.

Lotz called Dinkel's personal therapist to the stand to question why the state-run program required Dinkel to attend group therapy with male rapists. Dr. Peter Ganshirt said to be with male sex offenders, in his clinical opinion, was the equivalent
of attending chemical dependency meetings at a bar.

Backstory from the Enquirer

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