Delaware Judge Jan Jurden gave DuPont heir Robert H. Richards IV probation for raping his 3-year-old daughter six years ago and the court documents were not made public until this month, according to The Washington Post.
For suspending Richards' eight-year prison sentence, Jurden gave one justification: Richards "will not fare well" in prison, the Post reported.
The du Pont family heir who pleaded guilty nearly six years ago to raping his 3-year-old daughter was never put behind bars because a Delaware judge ruled he "would not fare well" in prison, court records show, according to the Post.
Richards, is part of the family who built the chemical empire and kin to the co-founders of a prestigious law firm, Richards Layton & Finger, the Post reported.
He was initially given jail time but his sentenced was reduced to eight years probation and he was ordered to seek treatment after being convicted of fourth-degree rape in 2008, the records show, according to the Post.
Officials managed to keep the case away from the public spotlight until this month until his ex-wife, Tracy Richards, filed a lawsuit seeking compensatory and punitive damages for abusing their daughter and son, the Post reported. Richards has never been criminally charged for crimes against his son.
The recently filed litigation claims that Richard, who lives in a $1.8 million mansion near Winterthur Museum, raped his daughter, now 11, several times beginning in 2005 and told her it was "our little secret," according to the Post.
Richards allegedly told investigators "he was ill and that he needed medical treatment," the lawsuit said, the Post reported.
Richard's ex-wife is seeking justice by suing him for assault, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress on his two children, according to the Post.
The lawsuit claims that while taking another lie detector test in 2010, Richards allegedly told the examiner he began to sexually abuse his son in 2005, when the boy was 19 months old, the Post reported. The father allegedly confessed that he "was very concerned something happened with his son, but that he has repressed the memories," according to the lawsuit.
