chefmike
05-20-2007, 02:58 AM
Ex-lawmaker charged with rape
Klaudt accused of sexual contact with foster kids, pages
Published: May 19, 2007
PIERRE - Former Republican Rep. Ted Klaudt could spend the rest of his life in prison after turning himself in to authorities Friday on felony charges that include eight counts of rape involving foster children and former legislative pages.
Five girls told authorities they were assaulted by Klaudt, court documents state, although charges filed Friday involve only two of the girls.
Four of the girls said they were accosted in Klaudt's hotel room in Pierre, where he stayed while serving in the South Dakota Legislature. Two of the girls were legislative pages when they were attacked, they told investigators.
He's accused of performing "ovary checks" and "breast exams" under the guise that he was helping young women donate their reproductive eggs, according to court records.
House Speaker Thomas Deadrick, R-Platte, accompanied Klaudt in court Friday, saying he was acting as Klaudt's lawyer only for Friday's court hearings.
"I'm here as a friend who happens to be a lawyer," said Deadrick, who served four years with Klaudt in the House.
Terry Pechota of Rapid City, a lawyer who has represented Klaudt, said he would not be able to comment on the case.
Additional charges of stalking, witness tampering and sexual contact with a minor were filed Friday. Charges were filed in Hughes County, which includes Pierre, and in Corson County, where Klaudt, 49, lives near the rural community of Walker.
The Department of Corrections said Friday it is reviewing its foster care program in light of the allegations. The foster children were removed from the Klaudt home Feb. 2 on advice from the Division of Criminal Investigation as its agents investigated possible crimes.
"I am horrified at the allegations made regarding the abuse of children placed in the DOC Foster Care program," Corrections Secretary Tim Reisch said in a statement.
Klaudt was taken to Deadwood for an initial court appearance Friday, according to Attorney General Larry Long.
Klaudt made that court appearance and was released on bond after being formally served with the complaint and arrest warrant. He was being brought to Hughes County to go through the same process, the attorney general's spokeswoman, Sara Rabern, said.
News shocks district
News of the charges spread rapidly in the vast northwestern legislative district that Klaudt served for eight years, said Rep. Betty Olson, R-Prairie City. She was elected to Klaudt's House seat last fall. He was term-limited and lost a bid for the Senate.
"I am floored," Olson said.
She said she saw a brief report of the charges on an online news site and then got a call from a neighbor about the case.
"You could have knocked me over with a feather," she said. "I thought I knew him."
Sen. Ryan Maher, D-Isabel, defeated Klaudt in November. "Everybody in this area will be talking about this," he said.
The eight counts of second-degree rape include four filed in Corson County and four in Hughes County.
Court documents say each of the Corson charges and three of the four Hughes charges involve the same girl, described as Klaudt's foster daughter. The fourth Hughes County charge involves a second girl, also identified as a foster daughter.
The girls are identified only by initials, as are three other girls mentioned in a 26-page affidavit Long filed with the charges.
"It appears there was a common course of conduct, and it got farther in some cases than others," Long said.
That conduct, the affidavit states, involved performing "ovary checks" and "breast exams" by saying he was helping the girl donate eggs. Such exams allegedly happened both at the Klaudt farm in Corson County near the North Dakota border and in the former lawmaker's hotel suite in Pierre during legislative sessions.
Michael Winder of the state Department of Corrections said that Connie Klaudt (listed in the South Dakota Legislative Manual as Ted Klaudt's spouse) had a contract with that agency as a licensed foster care provider. The contract dates back to November 2001, Winder said.
"However, we have not had any children placed there since Feb. 2, 2007," he said in an e-mailed response to a question.
Emily Currey of the state Social Services Department said her agency licensed the Klaudt home for foster care. She said all of the children placed at the home were placed by the Department of Corrections, not her agency.
"None of our children have ever been placed in that home," Currey said.
She also said the Department of Social Services license was suspended Friday.
To be licensed, foster parents must complete 30 hours of training and undergo a series of medical and criminal background checks, she said. The department screens for reports of abuse and neglect, completes a family profile and conducts an on-site home study.
"This is for all prospective foster parents," she said. "Any and all have to go through this."
Asked whether that included a state lawmaker's home, Currey said, "Any and all."
Allegation made in '06
According to a criminal affidavit filed Friday, Klaudt learned that a report of sexual abuse had been made to the Department of Social Services in 2006.
Fearing the allegation would ruin his life, Klaudt made one of the foster girls call the Department of Social Services to recant the report, which she did, according to court documents.
The court papers do not indicate how the social services agency responded when the girl called them to recant the sexual abuse report.
Currey said the department launched an investigation after receiving a complaint. But that investigation was dropped after the girl recanted.
"She came back to us and said she lied to us," Currey said. "Who knows what was happening behind the scenes."
What was happening, according to court records, is that Ted Klaudt was telling the girl she would be sent to juvenile prison, would not graduate and would not be able to come home if she didn't recant the story.
Long's affidavit said when one of the girls cried during the examinations, he would give her beer or alcohol to relax her.
The girl said Klaudt had done exams twice during the 2005 legislative session and once during the 2006 session, when she was a page and 17 years old, staying in Klaudt's hotel suite. The exams were performed "numerous times in both Pierre and at Klaudt's house in Walker" from late 2004 or early 2005 through August 2006, the affidavit states.
Division of Criminal Investigation agents interviewed Klaudt on Feb. 2, the document says. That's the same date that DOC says it stopped placing juveniles in the foster home in Walker.
Klaudt initially denied performing any exams, the records say. Confronted with contents of e-mails he's accused of sending the girls, he changed the story, the documents say. The affidavit says he said "maybe I did some things I shouldn't have."
Besides serving on the Appropriations Committee, Klaudt became chairman of the Government Operations and Audit Committee during his final two years in the Legislature. That committee has become active in recent years in reviewing budgets, audits and programs of many state agencies. During summer 2005, the panel held extensive hearings involving the state's child protection services.
Two of the second-degree rape charges in Corson County carry possible 50-year sentences, Long said. They stem from alleged incidents that happened after legislators changed provisions of the state criminal code.
Other second-degree rape charges in that county, and the charges in Hughes County, carry a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, Long said.
Total time that could be served is about 265 years.
"The investigation is ongoing," Long said. "We don't believe that we're at the bottom of it yet."
Meanwhile, South Dakota Juvenile Corrections Monitor John Ellis is conducting a review of the Department of Corrections' foster care program. It will include personal interviews of all juveniles now assigned to the program as well as juveniles who were formerly assigned to the program.
There are 32 youths in the program, including 23 boys and nine girls.
It was created in 1998 to serve children committed to the Department of Corrections who are unable to return to live with their family after completing their treatment programs.
Klaudt accused of sexual contact with foster kids, pages
Published: May 19, 2007
PIERRE - Former Republican Rep. Ted Klaudt could spend the rest of his life in prison after turning himself in to authorities Friday on felony charges that include eight counts of rape involving foster children and former legislative pages.
Five girls told authorities they were assaulted by Klaudt, court documents state, although charges filed Friday involve only two of the girls.
Four of the girls said they were accosted in Klaudt's hotel room in Pierre, where he stayed while serving in the South Dakota Legislature. Two of the girls were legislative pages when they were attacked, they told investigators.
He's accused of performing "ovary checks" and "breast exams" under the guise that he was helping young women donate their reproductive eggs, according to court records.
House Speaker Thomas Deadrick, R-Platte, accompanied Klaudt in court Friday, saying he was acting as Klaudt's lawyer only for Friday's court hearings.
"I'm here as a friend who happens to be a lawyer," said Deadrick, who served four years with Klaudt in the House.
Terry Pechota of Rapid City, a lawyer who has represented Klaudt, said he would not be able to comment on the case.
Additional charges of stalking, witness tampering and sexual contact with a minor were filed Friday. Charges were filed in Hughes County, which includes Pierre, and in Corson County, where Klaudt, 49, lives near the rural community of Walker.
The Department of Corrections said Friday it is reviewing its foster care program in light of the allegations. The foster children were removed from the Klaudt home Feb. 2 on advice from the Division of Criminal Investigation as its agents investigated possible crimes.
"I am horrified at the allegations made regarding the abuse of children placed in the DOC Foster Care program," Corrections Secretary Tim Reisch said in a statement.
Klaudt was taken to Deadwood for an initial court appearance Friday, according to Attorney General Larry Long.
Klaudt made that court appearance and was released on bond after being formally served with the complaint and arrest warrant. He was being brought to Hughes County to go through the same process, the attorney general's spokeswoman, Sara Rabern, said.
News shocks district
News of the charges spread rapidly in the vast northwestern legislative district that Klaudt served for eight years, said Rep. Betty Olson, R-Prairie City. She was elected to Klaudt's House seat last fall. He was term-limited and lost a bid for the Senate.
"I am floored," Olson said.
She said she saw a brief report of the charges on an online news site and then got a call from a neighbor about the case.
"You could have knocked me over with a feather," she said. "I thought I knew him."
Sen. Ryan Maher, D-Isabel, defeated Klaudt in November. "Everybody in this area will be talking about this," he said.
The eight counts of second-degree rape include four filed in Corson County and four in Hughes County.
Court documents say each of the Corson charges and three of the four Hughes charges involve the same girl, described as Klaudt's foster daughter. The fourth Hughes County charge involves a second girl, also identified as a foster daughter.
The girls are identified only by initials, as are three other girls mentioned in a 26-page affidavit Long filed with the charges.
"It appears there was a common course of conduct, and it got farther in some cases than others," Long said.
That conduct, the affidavit states, involved performing "ovary checks" and "breast exams" by saying he was helping the girl donate eggs. Such exams allegedly happened both at the Klaudt farm in Corson County near the North Dakota border and in the former lawmaker's hotel suite in Pierre during legislative sessions.
Michael Winder of the state Department of Corrections said that Connie Klaudt (listed in the South Dakota Legislative Manual as Ted Klaudt's spouse) had a contract with that agency as a licensed foster care provider. The contract dates back to November 2001, Winder said.
"However, we have not had any children placed there since Feb. 2, 2007," he said in an e-mailed response to a question.
Emily Currey of the state Social Services Department said her agency licensed the Klaudt home for foster care. She said all of the children placed at the home were placed by the Department of Corrections, not her agency.
"None of our children have ever been placed in that home," Currey said.
She also said the Department of Social Services license was suspended Friday.
To be licensed, foster parents must complete 30 hours of training and undergo a series of medical and criminal background checks, she said. The department screens for reports of abuse and neglect, completes a family profile and conducts an on-site home study.
"This is for all prospective foster parents," she said. "Any and all have to go through this."
Asked whether that included a state lawmaker's home, Currey said, "Any and all."
Allegation made in '06
According to a criminal affidavit filed Friday, Klaudt learned that a report of sexual abuse had been made to the Department of Social Services in 2006.
Fearing the allegation would ruin his life, Klaudt made one of the foster girls call the Department of Social Services to recant the report, which she did, according to court documents.
The court papers do not indicate how the social services agency responded when the girl called them to recant the sexual abuse report.
Currey said the department launched an investigation after receiving a complaint. But that investigation was dropped after the girl recanted.
"She came back to us and said she lied to us," Currey said. "Who knows what was happening behind the scenes."
What was happening, according to court records, is that Ted Klaudt was telling the girl she would be sent to juvenile prison, would not graduate and would not be able to come home if she didn't recant the story.
Long's affidavit said when one of the girls cried during the examinations, he would give her beer or alcohol to relax her.
The girl said Klaudt had done exams twice during the 2005 legislative session and once during the 2006 session, when she was a page and 17 years old, staying in Klaudt's hotel suite. The exams were performed "numerous times in both Pierre and at Klaudt's house in Walker" from late 2004 or early 2005 through August 2006, the affidavit states.
Division of Criminal Investigation agents interviewed Klaudt on Feb. 2, the document says. That's the same date that DOC says it stopped placing juveniles in the foster home in Walker.
Klaudt initially denied performing any exams, the records say. Confronted with contents of e-mails he's accused of sending the girls, he changed the story, the documents say. The affidavit says he said "maybe I did some things I shouldn't have."
Besides serving on the Appropriations Committee, Klaudt became chairman of the Government Operations and Audit Committee during his final two years in the Legislature. That committee has become active in recent years in reviewing budgets, audits and programs of many state agencies. During summer 2005, the panel held extensive hearings involving the state's child protection services.
Two of the second-degree rape charges in Corson County carry possible 50-year sentences, Long said. They stem from alleged incidents that happened after legislators changed provisions of the state criminal code.
Other second-degree rape charges in that county, and the charges in Hughes County, carry a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, Long said.
Total time that could be served is about 265 years.
"The investigation is ongoing," Long said. "We don't believe that we're at the bottom of it yet."
Meanwhile, South Dakota Juvenile Corrections Monitor John Ellis is conducting a review of the Department of Corrections' foster care program. It will include personal interviews of all juveniles now assigned to the program as well as juveniles who were formerly assigned to the program.
There are 32 youths in the program, including 23 boys and nine girls.
It was created in 1998 to serve children committed to the Department of Corrections who are unable to return to live with their family after completing their treatment programs.