Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Family's sad story plays out in court

Rodney Rupe, once a respected bailiff, watches as his sons testify against him about abuse and declare they will never be reunited.

By JAMAL THALJI
Published July 20, 2006

	[Times photo: Brendan Fitterer]
	Rodney Rupe, right, seated next to attorney Pete Proly, listens Wednesday as Rupe's son Kaleb tells the court about years of abuse that he says his father inflicted on their family. Rupe was a veteran bailiff at the West Pasco Judicial Center until his arrest in November. He was sentenced to four years of probation.

The patriarch, Rodney Rupe, was a respected bailiff at the West Pasco Judicial Center until his arrest in November. He returned Wednesday as a defendant to accept punishment for beating a son he can no longer see.

The victim, Kaleb, is 17. He and Benjamin, 15, were there to testify that their father spent years abusing them, their two older brothers and their mother, who died of cancer in February. They live with their grandparents now. They see their father only in court.

His family can never be put back together. But Rodney Rupe hopes that one day, he and his boys will be.

They don't.

"Whatever his punishment today," Kaleb Rupe told the court, "he'll have to go on living the rest of his life without his sons.

"We forgive him. But we'll never forget."

Michelle Rupe spent her last days battling multiple sclerosis and lung cancer. Her husband, a 15-year Pasco Sheriff's Office veteran, was bailiff to the county's chief jurist, Circuit Judge W. Lowell Bray Jr.

Rupe's wife was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis five years ago. Three years later, the doctors found cancer. He helped care for her and raised their sons as her condition worsened.

"That family was under a lot of stress ... the whole family was in crisis," said judicial assistant Mary Bray, wife of the chief judge. "Rodney didn't know how to reach out for help, and he was doing what he thought was best at the time."

Authorities say it all unraveled Nov. 29. Kaleb had been on the phone too late and disobeyed his father.

Rupe pushed the boy, threw a phone at him and beat and choked him, the arrest report said. Rupe said he "lost control." But he said all he did was get on top of the boy and shake him.

It was the beginning of the end for Rupe.

He was arrested and suspended with pay from the Sheriff's Office.

He lost his children. He was barred from contact with Kaleb and Benjamin. Eventually, they and another brother, Zachary, 19, went to live with their mother's parents, Don and Carol Venedam.

He lost his wife. Michelle Rupe, 39, died on Feb. 13. Father and sons attended separate funerals.

Defendants strike deals all the time in the courthouse where Rupe once worked, but there was no deal for him. The charge would remain felony child abuse, the punishment up to five years of probation.

On one side of the courtroom, caseworkers surrounded Kaleb and Benjamin and their grandparents in the pews. Zachary didn't want to be there. Joshua, 20, is a Marine preparing for his second stint in Iraq.

On the other side stood Rupe's supporters and former colleagues, courthouse bailiffs.

A family's private pain was about to become public. Kaleb Rupe was first, describing to Circuit Judge Joe Bulone the abuse he says they all suffered.

"All I'm saying is that my father put his own wife, the woman he's supposed to love, my mother, through 20 years of mental and physical abuse," he said. "Then he ends up putting his kids through the same thing."

The father clutched his eyes shut.

Benjamin Rupe called his father "a criminal" for years spent yelling, screaming and punching his boys.

"I do not hate my father," the son said, his voice wavering. "That would be wrong and should not be said about anyone.

"But I do not like ... him."

But longtime friend Evette Behmer said Rupe is a disciplinarian and a good parent, too.

"If you want to see the character of a man who has been labeled a child abuser, then look at these children," she said. "Their character is mirrored in him."

Kaleb, a Ridgewood High School junior, wore his Navy Junior ROTC uniform and medals to court. Benjamin, a sophomore, is in the unit, too. Both stand ramrod straight, look people in the eye when they shake hands and always say "Yes, sir" or "No, sir."

After listening to his sons' words, Rupe gave a brief statement apologizing for the arrest.

"I brought a lot of shame to my position, my Sheriff's Office, to my family, and to my God, ... and for that I am sorry," he said, his jaw trembling. "I am proud of my sons. They are good men."

Rupe pays child support and for his boys' counseling. He undergoes counseling and anger management classes. His lawyer says he is a changed man. The youngest will be 18 in two years. That's how long his probation should be, defense attorney Pete Proly said.

That's not enough time to monitor Rupe's anger problems, Assistant State Attorney Mike Halkitis said.

Bulone sentenced Rupe, 42, to four years of probation. He is still barred from contact with the boys. He must continue counseling and financial support of the boys. Rupe is doing construction work.

The judge withheld a finding of guilt. Rupe is not a convicted felon, but the suspended deputy cannot have a gun. The Sheriff's Office will now launch its own investigation of Rupe, but Halkitis said he expects the deputy will lose his job.

The dad just wants his sons back.

"He's told me if it takes the rest of his life ... he's willing to wait for however long it takes," Proly said.

[Last modified July 20, 2006, 08:15:38]