What the...
Child molester sentenced to 320 hours of needlework
July 02,2005
Brittney Booth
The Monitor
EDINBURG - Knitting lap blankets for the wheelchair-bound is part of a plea agreement for a man who pleaded no contest to charges of molesting a 7-year-old girl.
On Wednesday in Judge Rose Guerra Reyna’s 206th state District Court Robert Wayne Thompson, 46, pleaded no contest to aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child by contact.
Because Thompson has a history of heart problems, the judge allowed him to knit afghans for 320 hours of community service. Each 40-by-40-inch afghan will count as six hours of community service. Thompson told the judge he could make two afghans a day.
Hidalgo County Assistant District Attorney Juan Villescas said Thompson had been collecting Social Security for disability. He said the judge did not require Thompson to work at any of the community service programs because the county could be held liable if he got hurt or suffered a heart attack while doing community service.
"The victim’s mother was in agreement of how the case was disposed of," Villescas said.
Thompson will also serve five years’ parole and has to register as a sex offender for life. He also cannot come within 1,000 feet of any place where children commonly play and has to take sex offender counseling.
Thompson served five years in Virginia for a sexual assault in the 1980s, according to court records.
In December 2004, a grand jury indicted Thompson on six counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and eight counts of indecency with a child. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed 12 counts of the indictment.
Some punishment...
"Oh noes! I'm being forced to knit! Whatever will I do! I'd rather go to jail!"
Wow...just...wow...