2 years after arrest, father finds some redemption

His probation over, he is making a new start.

By JAMAL THALJI, Times Staff Writer
Published November 8, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Brendan Fitterer | Times (2006)] Rodney Rupe, 43, right, was granted an early end to his probation on the child abuse charge.

NEW PORT RICHEY - Rare is the day defense lawyer Pete Proly is treated to such a sight outside a courtroom: hugs and smiles, handshakes and kisses.

Rarer still is the day when a client has regained as much as Rodney Rupe and his family has.

"As happy as they are," Proly said, "they've still gone through a lot."

Two years ago Rupe was a respected bailiff for Pasco County's chief judge. Then he was arrested in November 2005 on a charge of beating one of his teen sons. The pressure of a family in crisis - wife Michelle Rupe was dying of cancer - got to him, friends say.

So began a painful spiral: The state said there was a pattern of abuse. Three of Rupe's sons moved out. His wife died. There were separate funerals - then separation by the courts.

In court Wednesday, Rupe, 43, asked a judge for an early end to his probation on the child abuse charge.

Watching were sons Kaleb Rupe, 18, and Zachary Rupe, 20.

The judge agreed.

"I'm just happy it's over," Rupe said.

But then it was Rupe, his attorney said, who made it all possible. "He did everything he needed to do," Proly said, "but he did it for the right reasons."

Rupe completed court-ordered counseling - and still goes. He paid all fees and fines.

In May, a judge allowed Rupe to move back home. He previously had to leave because he was ordered to stay away from the boys, who had moved in with their grandparents across the street.

Zachary, an adult, went home first. In September, Kaleb asked a judge to let him go back, too.

"After coming of age I have seen great change in the defendant," he wrote to the court. "I recognize that he has gone to great lengths to fix his problem and has accepted his mistake."

Once he told his father that he could never forgive him. But he has, Kaleb wrote to the judge.

The oldest son, Joshua Rupe, is a 22-year-old Marine who has done two Iraq tours. The youngest is Benjamin, 17, a Ridgewood High School junior and the only son still living across the street.

The grandparents say the dad and that son have not spoken.

Jamal Thalji can be reached at thalji@sptimes.com or 727 869-6236.

[Last modified November 7, 2007, 21:10:52]