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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Friday, August 7, 2009 9:56 PM CDT
Man pleads guilty to sexual abuse of three young girls

By DAVE FOPAY, Staff Writer
dfopay@jg-tc.com

CHARLESTON — A man already serving prison time for convictions for child sexual assault and child pornography admitted to molesting three other girls.

Thomas S. Rinehart pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse that accused him of engaging in sex acts with girls when they were younger than 13 between November 2005 and September 2006.

With the agreement reached in his cases, Rinehart received a 10-year prison term to cover all the offenses. However, that sentence was added to the 28-year prison term he’s serving for the sexual assault conviction.

Earlier, Rinehart received a 10-year sentence for his child pornography conviction and that was also added to the 28-year term. He’s appealing his convictions, so the structure of the prison sentences could come into play if any of his convictions were to be overturned.

Technically, Rinehart won’t begin serving the 10-year sentences until he finishes the longer sentence. If the sexual assault conviction alone were overturned on appeal, for example, he’d still have to finish serving the other sentence, no matter how long he’d been in prison up to that time.

In December 2007, a jury convicted Rinehart of the sexual assault charge, which accused him of engaging in intercourse with a girl in August of the previous year. He pleaded guilty to the child pornography charge in March, admitting to a charge that alleged that he had a nude picture of a teenage girl in late 2006.

Other child pornography charges accusing Rinehart of actually photographing the same girl and others were dismissed when he pleaded guilty. Evidence at his sentencing hearing in that case indicated that the pictures were found on Rinehart’s camera, and the girls, all developmentally disabled, were either posed or photographed without their knowing it.

In the sexual abuse case, Circuit Judge Teresa Righter imposed the sentence based on recommendations from Assistant State’s Attorney Kerri Davis and Public Defender Lonnie Lutz.

Contact Dave Fopay at dfopay@jg-tc.com or 238-6858.

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Rohn Gordon wrote on Aug 6, 2009 9:19 PM:

" One sicko mutha. What a waste of flesh. I think we have found a poster child for why abortions should stay legal. "

Texas T wrote on Aug 6, 2009 10:31 PM:

" sickening. "

barb dwyer wrote on Aug 7, 2009 12:15 AM:

" just simply amazing...this person has a lengthy record that goes back to 1989 for felonies......he got a lengthy sentence..got out within a year committed new felonies ...sent again for a long sentence...got out committed new felonies...(while on parole)...plea bargained down to a misdemeanor got time served..(less than a year)...then went to trial on new felonies ..convicted sentenced to 28 years...now gets a plea bargain for 10 more years...all i can say is COLES COUNTY BETTER HOPE THAT THE JURY TRIAL CONVICTION STICKS AND ISNT OVERTURNED COZ THIS GUY WILL DO 8.5 YEARS OF THIS NEW PLEA BARGAIN AND COME BACK TO COMMITT NEW FELONIES AGAINST YOUR CHILDREN good luck to coles county...ps go get those meth criminals...but the child molestors...? "

kamfong wrote on Aug 7, 2009 1:14 PM:

" What Rohn & T.T. said. "

harlin14 wrote on Aug 7, 2009 1:28 PM:

" How is it that penalties for drug offenses keep getting tougher and tougher and child molesting laws seem to stay the same. I mean how can we allow men like this to live in our society?

How can he only get 10 years for molesting 3 girls? He has already been convicted of 2 other similar crimes, shouldn't he be getting the maximum penalty?

Scum like this should be facing some sort of 3 strike penalty? They should lock this guy up and throw away the key. He is a habitual offender and is never going to change.

I don't think this guy is a poster child for abortions being legal. He is a poster child for imposing tougher laws against monsters like this that are convicted of child molestation! "

harlin14 wrote on Aug 7, 2009 1:40 PM:

" I don't understand how men like this continue to walk the streets of our community. It seems that our penalties for drug convictions continue to get tougher and tougher but the laws for child molestation aren't.

This guy should be facing a three strikes law. He is a sick, habitual offender who is never going to change.

I don't think this scum is a poster child for abortion, he is a poster child for imposing tougher laws against child molesters!

I pray for the numerous children whose lives this man has certainly ruined that we don't even know about. "

Raider65 wrote on Aug 7, 2009 2:48 PM:

" If I were the father of one of these girls, Rienhart might survive, but he wouldn't have any desire to be a pornographic pedephile.
The courts need to quit with all the plea barganing and give him the maximum sentence. Stop wasting time and money in court. "

Rohn Gordon wrote on Aug 7, 2009 6:36 PM:

" A law must be passed soon that deals with these men. Court ordered castration such as the following.
IQ of victim {developmentally disabled} automatic.
Age of victim lets face it most 16 year olds are "not" kids. There would be a fine line here.
Number of victims or times convicted.
Violence and so on.
There would have to be a magic number that sets the castration into effect.
Of course not everyone would agree with the numbers associated to the crime. There would always say that the number is too low or too high.
We have got to do something to stop these freaks. This crap of just probation on some of these men is not even close. I would rather have someone who does dope live next to me than a pedophile. "

kamfong wrote on Aug 8, 2009 7:55 AM:

" I would like to use a Ron White clip on this one if I may."here in Texas we have the death penalty,and we USE it,matter of fact they just put in an express lane for people like this"unquote.He also has some good ones about the US just buying all the drug infested countries and owning them instead of occupying them.Ron White for Pres.yeah. "

pj1983 wrote on Aug 8, 2009 8:17 AM:

" court ordered castration? really, rohn? while i agree that something needs done, that particular avenue is (unfortunately in some cases) a violation of the 8th admendment. "

pj1983 wrote on Aug 8, 2009 8:18 AM:

" *that would be amendment, not aDmendment "

theproletariat87 wrote on Aug 9, 2009 1:02 AM:

" Sick, see shouldn't the police be more involved in this than busting kids for joints or going on power trips? "

Someone Else wrote on Aug 9, 2009 10:09 AM:

" Really hope this sicko gets put away and not back in my neighborhood. We have 2 girls ages 9 & 12, so if he gets out I will probably be the one in prison! "