Court briefs 8/30/06

Cape man sentenced in molestation case

A judge handed down a 15-year prison sentence this week for a Cape Girardeau man who admitted to fondling a young relative. Daniel R. Kreiter, 43, of 137 S. Spanish St., pleaded guilty in July to felony child molestation. He is accused of molesting a 10-year-old girl, who was a relative, on or about Dec. 1 in Cape Girardeau. On Monday, Circuit Judge Benjamin Lewis sentenced Kreiter to 15 years in prison. Although the sentencing ventured away from a 10-year prison deal agreed upon between the defendant and prosecutors, Kreiter opted not to withdraw his guilty plea.

Judge orders prison for man with child porn

A Cape Girardeau man was sentenced this week to more than six years in federal prison for child pornography. U.S. District Judge Jean C. Hamilton handed down the 78-month sentence Monday to Joshua J. Rideout, 26. Rideout was arrested April 2, 2005, by Cape Girardeau police acting on a tip that Rideout had child pornography on his computer. During a search, officers found more than 600 images of child pornography on CDs and on Rideout's computer hard drive, a release from federal prosecutor Catherine Hanaway said. Some of the images contained sadistic and masochistic conduct, including prepubescent children engaged in sexual acts with adult men. Rideout admitted he saved the images on to his computer and CDs, the press release stated. After his release, Rideout will be placed on supervised release for 10 years.

-- From staff reports