Dad who raped own daughter gets 20 years (St. Louis, Missouri)

Words fail in even trying to describe a dad like RONALD LITTLE....

 http://www.kansascity.com/2012/03/24/3510455/child-abuser-who-raped-own-daughter.html

Child abuser who raped own daughter gets 20 years


By JENNIFER MANN

St. Louis Post-Dispatch


ST. LOUIS | When the sex crimes detectives arrived at the young woman's house, she knew the secret she had buried for years was finally out.

“You found the pictures, didn't you?” she asked. Then she told them the whole story.

It's a sordid tale involving her father, Ronald Little, who was convicted of raping her mother at age 13, and who then turned his attention to the daughter. He molested her repeatedly as she was growing up and, through her teenage years, took pictures of the encounters so he could remember them. She was in her early 20s by the time police came to her door in 2010.

Little, 65, admitted to those allegations and was sentenced Friday in federal court to 20 years in prison for producing child pornography. But that's just the start of what he stands accused of.

Police and court records paint a picture of a man who continued to sexually assault little girls, including his own children, from 1969 until two years ago, when he was finally caught.

In St. Louis Circuit Court, Little is accused of repeated sexual assaults of the daughter at the center of the federal pornography case, along with another daughter and a grandchild. The Post-Dispatch does not identify sexual assault victims.

Little apparently documented the abuse, according to prosecutors, who say his meticulous notes on each encounter provided authorities with the evidence they needed to charge Little in 2010 with 107 counts of sexual assault, ranging from incest to sodomy.


It was the granddaughter who finally broke the silence. And when police went to where Little lived, in the basement of his 82-year-old mother's St. Louis home, they found the notes: on stacks of bundled and bound paper, several inches thick, and in journals. They also found 156 illicit photos, an 11-inch knife with knuckle grips, and a Smith & Wesson revolver with ammunition, according to court records. At the time, according to court records, Little had fathered 20 children and owed more than $100,000 in unpaid support.

Since those charges were brought, four other women have come forward to say they were also sexually assaulted by Little when they were young, according to police and court records. In all four cases, there was a point shortly after the abuse when the alleged victim told someone she trusted, but nothing came of the allegations.

In three of those cases, prosecutors have since been unable to issue charges because the statute of limitations had expired. The other case is pending in circuit court.

Mary Fox, head of the public defender's office in St. Louis and Little's attorney on the state case, declined comment, citing a gag order issued by the judge.

ALLEGATIONS OVER DECADES

In 1983, the family of a 13-year-old confronted the girl about her growing belly. She told them she had been raped and impregnated by Little, her aunt's boyfriend. The girl's mother called St. Louis police.

The girl later told authorities the sex was consensual, and Little, who lived in St. Louis, was convicted the next year of first-degree sexual abuse and received a one-year suspended sentence and five years' probation.

It was one of the few times a child's allegations regarding Little would be acted upon, police reports reveal.

Nonetheless, Little and the girl maintained a relationship, and within a few more years, after she reached the age of consent, they had two daughters — the ones Little is now accused of raping.

In 1992, the St. Louis County Division of Family Services, which is under what is now called the Missouri Department of Social Services, learned that one of the girls had contracted chlamydia, according to St. Louis police detectives. Testing also showed her younger sister had gonorrhea.

Both girls, ages 4 and 5, told caseworkers that “Butch” had touched them inappropriately. It does not appear that he lived with them, but that he visited their mother's Pine Lawn home.

The girls were removed from the home and placed in emergency foster care. But detectives have learned that within a couple of years, they were back at their mother's house, where the abuse by Little allegedly continued.

It's unclear why authorities didn't take action against Little then.

Seth Bundy, communications director for the Missouri Department of Social Services, said state law prohibits the department from confirming, denying or commenting on specific cases or allegations it receives. He did say, however, that all allegations of possible criminal behavior are investigated with police.

St. Louis and St. Louis County police have no records of investigations or sexual abuse complaints related to Little during that time. Pine Lawn police did not respond to inquiries.

MORE WOMEN COME FORWARD

Four women have come forward since Little's 2010 arrest to allege a host of sexual abuse.

The women told police similar tales of being abused at a very young age — as young as 4 — and telling relatives or others of the abuse, but it's unclear if law enforcement authorities learned of the allegations until the women came forward as adults.

One told police she was raped repeatedly in 1969 and 1970 after she was plied with candy, teddy bears and promises of ice cream. She told her sister, but they didn't tell anyone else. The girl eventually became a police officer to help other victims.

Another woman told police that “Butch” repeatedly raped her in the bathroom at her day care at the Hyde Park Community Center in 1972, when she was 4. Police reports indicate Little had worked at the day care for several years, though it is unclear whether he was employed there at the time of the alleged attack.

Little has been charged with abusing one of the girls from 1996 to 1999. For the three other women who came forward recently, the statute of limitations has passed for the alleged crimes.

It wasn't until September 2010 that police went knocking on Little's door, on the 2200 block of University Street, in St. Louis. One of his grandchildren had reported years of sexual abuse by Little through her preteen years. That's when they found the evidence of the alleged rapes of the daughters, and after those charges were issued, publicity about the case brought the other women forward.

A MOSTLY EMPTY COURTROOM

Little's sentencing Friday in federal court was quick and quiet, before a mostly empty courtroom. He shuffled in, ankles shackled and head down. His lawyer, Kevin Curran, had already agreed with prosecutors on a stipulated sentence of 20 years. Speaking to the judge, Curran called it “a severe and harsh punishment” given the single count of producing child pornography he was being sentenced on. A firearms charge was dropped as part of his guilty plea agreement.

Curran also pointed to Little's age, and the pending state charges, as reasons the 20 years was sufficient. If Little were to be released eventually, he'd be on lifelong supervised release and would have to abide by an array of restrictions on where he could live and work, and whom he could associate with. If he is convicted of the 107 charges in state court, it's unlikely he would ever be released.

Little spoke only once during the federal court hearing — a quick “no” when the judge asked him if he had anything to say.

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