Posted on 08/24/2002 5:47:01 AM PDT by GailA
Rapist admits stalking boy, gets probation
By Randy Kenner and Jamie Satterfield, News-Sentinel staff writers August 24, 2002
A convicted child rapist who told deputies he can't control his urges pleaded guilty Friday to stalking an 11-year-old Knoxville boy and was sentenced to a year on probation.
Robert Charles Druckemiller's plea agreement had a judge questioning whether it was appropriate, a prosecutor saying it was all he could get and the child's mother saying Druckemiller belongs in jail.
"I don't like it," the boy's mother said after the hearing. "I think he should be put away. Why should we sit out here and have to worry about our kids."
Druckemiller, 36, served 12 years in Pennsylvania for multiple incidents of child rape there and moved here a little more than two years ago.
He was charged with stalking the child this month after befriending the boy's family. When the boy's mother learned of Druckemiller's past she ordered him to stay away from her and her son.
But according to Knox County sheriff's deputies, Druckemiller continued to frequent a soccer field in Halls where the boy was playing and drove by the child's house.
"How do you plead to the offense of stalking?" Sessions Judge Geoff Emery asked Druckemiller during the hearing.
He replied quietly, "Guilty."
The plea agreement was worked out by Leland L. Price, an assistant district attorney, and Assistant Public Defender Scott Carpenter. It was reached 10 days after Druckemiller was arrested.
Druckemiller faces a hearing Monday for violating the terms of his probation for contributing to the delinquency of a minor by giving beer to a 13-year-old boy earlier this year, according to Sheriff Tim Hutchison.
As part of Friday's agreement Druckemiller was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days at 70 percent service with all the jail time suspended, and he will serve the time on supervised probation.
Stalking is a misdemeanor on the first offense.
Emery appeared surprised at the terms of the plea.
"I'm concerned about this disposition from the standpoint of his prior conduct," Emery said, adding that he was worried about Druckemiller's "potential" conduct in the future.
Emery ordered Druckemiller not to have any contact with the child or his family.
Druckemiller did not leave the jail, though, on Friday.
Instead, Sheriff's Detective Robbie Lawson served him with a warrant charging Druckemiller with violating the state's Sex Offender Registry Act.
He is accused of failing to notify the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that he had moved, something the law requires.
If convicted he could be sentenced to as much as six months in jail.
Price said the terms of the plea agreement were basically the same prosecutors could have gotten if they had taken the stalking case to trial.
He said that for a conviction on this type of misdemeanor a person is presumed eligible for probation.
"My estimate of the case was if we had gone to trial the end result would be exactly what happened here," Price said. "So that's why we did it."
He added, "The family wishes stalking was a more serious offense than a misdemeanor."
The boy's mother said what's happened has her wary - even more than normally - about her son's safety.
"I just don't feel that I should have to live like this," she said.
Asked if she thought this would keep Druckemiller away she replied, "It might for 11 months and 29 days. I can't say it will or it won't."
Hutchison said he was dismayed at the resolution of the stalking charge.
"It's unfortunate, but this is apparently the judicial system's way of managing jail population," he said. "This is a prime example that some people can't be educated out of their behavior. They just need to be locked up."
Druckemiller is listed on the TBI's Sex Offender Registry but not on the part of the list that is available to the public.
TBI Spokeswoman Jeanne Broadwell said the public only has access to a list of offenders convicted after July 1, 1997, when the registry was created. Offenders, like Druckemiller, whose convictions came before that date still must register, but that information is only given to law enforcement agencies.
"That's just the way the law was set up," Broadwell said. Hutchison said there are several sex offenders living in Knox County who are not listed on the public part of the registry.
Randy Kenner may be reached at 865-342-6305 or kenner@knews.com Jamie Satterfield may be reached at 865-342-6308 or satterfield@knews.com.
Until a prominent Nashville judge's daughter got killed by a repeat DUI offender our DUI laws were as week as a 1 hour old kitten. They are a little better today. BUT it took a JUDGE's daughter getting killed to get the problem half a$$ addressed. It will take a politicians child getting raped to get the child rape and child molestation laws half a$$ fixed.
Um. Do you mean in Tennessee? I don't know if your state has their laws online the way Washington state does. I took a look at the state government's website (http://www.state.tn.us/gov.html) but in the limited time I have before I have to leave for church I couldn't find a link.
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