Yet More “Affluenza”?

(Robert Richards IV)

A du Pont family heir who pleaded guilty nearly six years ago to raping his 3 year-old daughter never spent a day behind bars because a Delaware judge ruled he “would not fare well” in prison, court records show.

Robert Richards IV, an heir to the du Pont fortune, admitted to performing sex acts on his 3-year-old daughter for two years.

After failing a polygraph test, he later admitted to abusing the little girl. Richards allegedly also told investigators “he was ill and that he needed medical treatment,” the lawsuit said.

He was subsequently sentenced to eight years of probation and community service because a Delaware judge said he “would not fare well” in prison.

Richards was first charged with two counts of second-degree rape, which would have come with a mandatory 20-year jail sentence. However, he pled down to fourth-degree rape, which does not carry a mandatory sentence.

Officials have managed to keep the case away from the public spotlight until this month — when his ex-wife, Tracy Richards, filed a lawsuit seeking compensatory and punitive damages for abusing their daughter and son.

Brendan J. O’Neill, a Delaware public defender, said that the ruling may prompt the public to be skeptical of “how a person with great wealth may be treated by the system.” (No kidding).

But he defended the judge’s decision (of course...he IS a defense attorney), saying sometimes people need help more than they deserve to be punished. Apparently they tend to “need HELP,” rather than punishment, especially when they’re rich!

“It’s an extremely rare circumstance that prison serves the inmate well. Prison is to punish, to segregate the offender from society, and the notion that prison serves people well hasn’t proven to be true in most circumstances.” Actually, quite the reverse, given that the ONLY thing that removes the predilection toward violence and sexual abuse is “aging out” (the offender getting too old to be a predator) prison warehousing is actually very effective in that regard.

But now Richard’s ex-wife is seeking justice by suing him for assault, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress on his two children, the lawsuit claims that while taking another lie detector test in 2010, Richards allegedly told the examiner he began to sexually abuse his son in 2005 — when the boy was 19 months old.

Better living through chemistry...my ass.