Two Sex Offenders in Jail Thanks to Loophole in Law
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Posted: 10:20 PM Jul 15, 2008
Two Sex Offenders in Jail Thanks to Loophole in Law
Wisconsin Child Victims Act would eliminate statute of limitation on child sex abuse cases
Reporter: Mary Rinzel
Email Address: mary.rinzel@weau.com
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Two men were sent to jail in Barron County for sexually assaulting children decades ago. Victims say a loophole in state law brought them to justice.

Tuesday, Angel Toro, a former pastor in Rice Lake was sentenced to 18 months in jail for raping a 17-year-old in 1987. (Click here for full Angel Toro story)

Immediately following Angel Toro's sentencing, another man told his story of childhood abuse in the same courtroom.

Richard Hinde says back in 1969, Dale Soppe sexually assaulted him in Barron County when he was 13. Tuesday, Soppe was also sent to jail to serve 60 days, followed by two years of probation.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, says Soppe is a former Catholic seminarian.

Hinde says the only reason Soppe and Angel Toro were sent to jail Tuesday is because they both left Wisconsin. He says that stopped the six year statute of limitation on their crimes. He says a new bill in Wisconsin could eliminate that time limit.

"This is a tragedy that people can stay in a community and possibility still abuse and the only way we have to prosecute is to put some little child in the court room and testify about what he did to him," Hinde says.

According to SNAP, lawmakers will look into the "Wisconsin Child Victims Act" this fall. The Act would not only get rid of the statute of limitations on child sex abuse, it would "open a window for past claims."


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