Rolf Rathmann Sentenced To 10 Years -- “Castration Too Kind” Says Boy’s Mom
by Colin Murphy
01-01-2005

Former Pride St. Louis President Rolf E. Rathmann, 38, was sentenced Nov. 21 in St. Louis County Circuit Court by Judge Emmett M. O’Brien to 10 years in prison for eight counts of statutory sodomy in the second degree. O’Brien also fined Rathmann $5,000 total for all of the eight counts.

On Aug. 20, a St. Louis County jury found Rathmann guilty of having sexual contact with a 14-year old boy. In a separate phase of the trial, the same jury recommended three years in prison each on four of the counts and two years each on the other four counts, plus fines to be meted out by O’Brien. In imposing the sentencing, O'Brien made some of the sentences concurrent and some consecutive for a total of 10 years in prison.

Following sentencing, Rathmann was moved to a state processing facility where he will be put into the state correctional system. The process takes anywhere from eight weeks to six months, after which he will be placed in a permanent facility, which, according to sources, will be in Farmington, Mo. an hour outside of St. Louis. Within 22 months, Rathmann will be eligible to attend a mandatory Missouri Sex Offenders Program (MSOP) after which there is a possibility of early parole. But under Missouri law, statutory sodomy in the second degree is a class "C" felony and requires Rathmann to serve a minimum of 15 percent of the sentence.

"I think it’s unfair," said Ellen Schachtel, a Rathmann friend and supporter. "I don’t think it [the sentence] took into consideration Rolf’s prior background or the fact that this was his first offense. I’m pretty repulsed. The judge obviously has a political bias."

The charges against Rathmann stemmed from an investigation into a teen’s claim that he had sexual encounters with four men, including then 37-year-old Rathmann of St. Louis. The trysts with Rathmann took place from June 1 to Oct. 30, 2002 at Blue Bird Park in Ellisville and at Rathmann’s residence.

In dueling testimony, Rathmann admitted to meeting the teen on the Internet but maintained he thought the youth of age and a high school graduate; the youth testified that the sex was consensual but that he’d told Rathmann he was initially 15 and then 14. He also admitted to having been sexually active with several older men since age 11 and previously lying about his age to procure sex. The youth, now 15, is currently 6’4" tall and 225 pounds and testified to being 6’1" last year when the relationship with Rathmann occurred.

In an angry pre-sentencing statement, the teen’s mother spoke of a "moral family" in crisis — of a son who no longer smiles, makes good grades, or gets along with his family and now says, he “hates God.” She laid the blame squarely on Rathmann and the three other men. "[Our son] has lost his innocence … he was accosted at such a young age by men who used his friendship and his body," she said. "And because of this he now has questions about his sexual orientation and sexual addiction."

She went on to lament the fact that she’d failed as a parent to protect her child; could no longer trust her son or let him baby-sit his younger siblings and fears that he, too, might become a child molester. She also stated that the teen has been in weekly therapy for over a year "to be healed" and has had to leave his old grade school and high school because "they couldn’t help him."

"My husband and I have tried to figure out a fitting punishment for these men and pray that each will be healed," she said. "But we cannot help but feel that life in prison is too short and castration too kind. Therefore we defer to the wisdom of Judge O’Brien."

Her statement angered many Rathmann friends and supporters in the courtroom.

"That woman's statement demonstrated an ingrained homophobia that was probably learned from her church," decried entertainer Jade Esteban Estrada, a friend of Rathmann’s who was performing here and attended the sentencing. "It was clear to any thinking person that she was blaming her lack of supervision on Rolf when in fact her son had been involved in smarmy street sex since, according to her statement, age 11. Where was she when the little guy was 11? I was enraged, but to paraphrase her Nazi philosophy, strangulation would have been too kind.”

According to friends of Rathmann, he was prepared for the ten-year sentence and seems to be in remarkably good spirits. Rathmann plans to finish his college degree while incarcerated and is appealing the convictions. Reportedly he will be given a public defender.

In related news, William T. Sandefur, who was charged with statutory sodomy for having sexual encounters in a restroom near a track at Lafayette High School with the same teen pled guilty to the charges following Rathmann’s Nov. 21 sentencing.

Sandefur, 51, a former executive news producer for KSDK News Channel 5 is charged with three counts of first-degree statutory sodomy. Judge O’Brien will sentence him on Jan. 9.

A third suspect who had illegal sex with the teen-ager pleaded guilty in July of five counts of first-degree statutory sodomy. Richard Bentrup, 56, of St. Charles, will also be sentenced Jan. 9. A fourth suspect, Andrew Buhr, 31, an accountant, is scheduled for trial on Jan. 5.

The teen was 14 when he had contact with Rathmann, but only 13 when he met the other men; the age difference determines whether the charges are first- or second-degree statutory sodomy.

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