Dad sentenced for sexually abusing 7- and 9-year-old daughters during court-ordered visitation and creating child porn (Columbus, Nebraska)

Of course we are not told whether UNNAMED DAD had a previous history of abuse that was ignored when a judge gave him his weekend visitation rights with two young girls. Nor are we told the judge's name. But then, that almost never happens.

http://columbustelegram.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/city-man-gets-years-for-assaulting-daughters/article_29d0a8e3-a668-5014-a8b6-f10a3ad68594.html

City man gets 60 years for assaulting daughters

July 18, 2014 8:00 am • By Jim Osborn

COLUMBUS — A 38-year-old Columbus man who admitted to sexually assaulting his two preteen daughters last fall during visits to his home and creating and possessing child pornography will spend the next few decades in prison.

Platte County District Court Judge Robert Steinke sentenced the city man, who is not being identified to protect the victims, to up to 60 years behind bars on charges in connection with two separate cases.

The defendant pleaded no contest to first-degree sexual assault and incest in one case and to manufacturing and possessing child porn in the other case. In exchange, the prosecution dismissed similar charges in both cases.

Steinke gave the city man 30 to 50 years for sex assault and 10 to 15 years for incest. The defendant was sentenced to seven to 10 years on the porn charges to run consecutive to the assault and incest sentences.

The sexual assault charge is a Class IB felony and carried a maximum penalty of up to life imprisonment. Manufacturing child porn is a Class ID felony with a maximum sentence of 50 years behind bars.

The incest and possession of child porn charges are Class III felonies, each punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Steinke gave the defendant credit for 255 days already served in the county jail since his arrest last fall.

The county attorney’s office dismissed two counts of sexual assault and three counts of possession of child porn.

The defendant was charged last fall with three counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child in connection with the assaults of his daughters, then aged 9 and 7, last October during visits to his rural Columbus mobile home.

Meanwhile, the porn charges arose this spring and involved four separate female victims ranging from ages 7 to 11. The manufacturing charge accused the defendant of creating the visual images between early August and late October.

Court documents in the sexual assault case describe an investigation that got underway last fall after the Platte County Sheriff’s Office received information from a state agency alleging child abuse and neglect involving the defendant and his children.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services report included allegations of sexual abuse involving the defendant taking baths with his minor biological daughters, said Sheriff’s Investigator Dane Jensen in his statement supporting an arrest warrant.

Jensen said one of the daughters disclosed to her mother that their father had been taking baths with her and her sister.

The defendant was not the custodial parent of the children and has been divorced from their mother for more than five years. The defendant had visitation rights with the children every other weekend.

During recorded forensic interviews at the Child Advocacy Center in Norfolk, Jensen said the girls described explicit sexual acts their father committed during their visitations to his home. The investigator said one of the victims said her father told her not to tell anyone about the sexual activity.

Jensen said the defendant denied all allegations of sexual activity with his daughters.