EX-MINISTER SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS FOR SEX CRIME

BENTON -- A former Dunklin County minister was sentenced to 25 years in prison Thursday.

James Niederstadt of Malden was sentenced by Judge David Dolan for forcible sodomy, a non-classed felony in Missouri punishable by five years to life in prison.

The trial took place in Scott County on a change of venue.

Niederstadt, who had been pastor of Vinson General Baptist Church, had confessed to investigators in over three and a half hours of tape-recorded interviews that he had sexually abused a then 17-year-old girl one or two times a week over a five-week period around March 1992. He was found guilty by Dolan on Feb. 24.

The girl had been left in Niederstadt's care by her missionary parents, who wanted their daughter to finish school in the United States.

In pronouncing the sentence, Dolan said he took into consideration recommendations by the state Division of Probation and Parole from a pre-sentence investigation. In the case of aggravated circumstances, the investigation suggested a term of punishment from 10 to 30 years, Dolan said.

Sentencing took over an hour, as a statement by the victim detailing the impact of the incident on her life was read, Dolan said. The victim impact statement was read by a law enforcement officer, since the woman was not in a condition to read it herself, the judge said.

Dolan also took into consideration several letters filed with the court expressing opinions regarding Niederstadt's sentencing.

One letter recalled Niederstadt making a public confession about the sexual abuse at church, expressing his guilt and sorrow, and stating that there had been two victims.

The letters cannot be used to determine guilt or innocence, since Niederstadt was found guilty, Dolan said. But the letters were enough evidence for the former minister to be considered a danger to the community, the judge said.

"I know of only one victim," Dolan said. "I don't know how many more there are."

Niederstadt's attorney, Daniel Moore of Poplar Bluff, had said he plans to appeal the sentence.

Niederstadt was taken into custody with an appeal bond set at $100,000.