A former landscaper gets that sentence as the parents of children he is accused of molesting seek to spare their children the ordeal of a trial.
By CHRIS TISCH
Published August 5, 2004
LARGO - A man accused of sexually abusing five youngsters whom he hired at his Largo-area landscaping business has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Ronald Rhue, 41, pleaded guilty last month to five counts of child molestation.
Though Rhue could have faced up to 75 years in prison if convicted, the parents of the children agreed to the deal to spare the youngsters from depositions and trial, said prosecutor Dave Tobiassen.
Rhue's prison term will be followed by 10 years of probation. Judge Phil Federico also deemed Rhue a sexual predator, meaning authorities will notify neighbors of his presence wherever he should settle after his prison term.
Tobiassen said Rhue also will be evaluated under the Jimmy Ryce Act, in which sexual predators who have served their sentences can be detained if a jury decides they are likely to offend again.
Under the law - named for a 9-year-old boy who was kidnapped, raped and murdered by a sexual predator in 1995 - predators can be committed to a treatment facility until officials determine they can be released safely.
"I can't imagine him making it through that," Tobiassen said.
The sex abuse allegations against Rhue surfaced in August 2002. Because the youngsters said the abuse occurred in Seminole and Largo, detectives from both the Pinellas Sheriff's Office and Largo Police Department investigated him.
After the investigation began, Rhue left the area. Police in Paris, Texas, arrested him more than a year later after receiving a tip that he was living there.
Detectives said the victims were boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 14 when the abuse occurred. Rhue had hired them at his landscaping business, where they helped mow lawns. He also befriended the children and their families, police said.
The children told investigators that they were abused over a year's time. They also accused Rhue of taking nude photos of them, police said.
Unbeknownst to the families, Rhue had a history of child sex abuse. He had been arrested in 1986 on a capital sexual battery charge on suspicion he abused a 5-year-old boy. He pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of attempted sexual battery and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was released from prison in 1997.
One of the youngsters revealed the abuse after a parent saw Rhue's photo on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's sexual offender Web site, investigators said.
Tobiassen said the victims came from three different families, all of which wanted to avoid depositions and a trial.
"It's traumatic enough for them to go through what they did," he said.
