an inch from murder - weblog

« More abuse allegations stir search for answers: How to prevent this? | Main | Sex Offender May Have Trail of Victims »

August 27, 2005

Convicted child molester serves four years of 10-year sentence

Linda Dingler, 49, was a teacher at Lincoln High School in 1999 and had at that time been carrying on a sexual relationship with a student who was 13 or 14 years old.

In November of that year, she was arrested and indicted on three counts of sodomy in the second degree and one count each of soliciting the student over the Internet and transmission of obscene material to a minor, all of which are class B felonies. In June 2001, she accepted a plea agreement and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

She will be released next month, not on parole or probation, but what the state Department of Corrections refers to as EOS, for end of sentence.

Dingler will go free based on an incentive program used by the DOC for several years now. Essentially, after serving the first 10 months of a sentence, a model prisoner can earn up to 75 days of credit for every 30 days served, or two and a half days per each day.

Under the incentive system, prisoners earn straight time, one day for one day, for the first four months of their sentence. For the next two months, a prisoner with no record of misconduct can earn 40 days per 30 days served. After the sixth month, the prisoner would earn 75 days per 30 days served.

Convicted child molesters are not supposed to be able to take advantage of those provisions, but according to Talladega County District Attorney Steve Giddens, this is rarely the case.

The incentive program does not apply to anyone sentenced to more than 15 years in prison or convicted of a class A felony, or prisoners sentenced to life or death.

Category one status (earning two and a half days credit per day served) is not supposed to be available to anyone convicted of an assault resulting in permanent loss of use or use of any bodily organ or appendage — or any person "convicted of a crime involving the perpetration of sexual abuse on the person of a child under 17 years of age," the law states.

"We were told a few years ago that sex offenders and other violent felons would be required to serve at least 80 percent of their sentence before they could get out, but I don’t think I’ve actually seen that happen yet.

"I’ve spoken with the victim’s family, and they are very frustrated and upset. Frankly, so am I."

The victim’s mother said the family had agreed to accept a guilty plea with a 10-year sentence based on the understanding that Dingler would be required to serve at least eight years. She said it was worth the tradeoff to protect her daughter from the further trauma of having to testify in open court.

"I understood that she was coming up for her first parole hearing, and we had planned on going down there to protest it.

"I got a call Monday telling me not to come. They said she had accumulated good behavior, and besides the state was having to spend extra money to house her in Louisiana because there was no room for her here. The person I spoke with at the Attorney General’s Office said it was out of his hands, there was nothing he could do about it.

"I never even got the opportunity to protest her release, and that’s not fair. I just don’t think it’s right that was not allowed," she said.

Dingler actually waived her right to the hearing before the parole board and will not be expected to report to anyone once she is released. She is already listed on the state’s sex offender registry, but other than the restrictions imposed on convicted sex offenders regarding places of residence and employment, Dingler will be a free woman.

According to the registry, Dingler will reside at 174 Eva Lane, Jacksonville, after she is released Sept. 24. Although most of the information on the Web site is correct, her victim is identified incorrectly as a 15-year-old male.

One of the people involved with the original case is bitter about the early release and said she plans to begin printing fliers, which she hopes to distribute all over Talladega and Calhoun counties.

The impact of Dingler’s pending release has been devastating on the victim, according to her mother.

"I had asked for a victim impact form but never got one," she said. "But the fact of the matter is, she’s still impacted by what happened, even after going through three years of counseling.

"… As it is, she’s terrified that she’s going to run into her somewhere in town, and she said she will probably never go shopping in Anniston again to avoid running into her."

This was a teacher," the victim’s mother continued. "This was someone we trusted, someone we thought would be a good mentor for her.

"… I’m angry with the state about this. I know there are people trying to change things, like the AG’s office said, but for this victim, it’s just too late."

Giddens agreed: "The Attorney General’s Office has done a lot of posturing lately about tougher registration requirements for sex offenders when they get out. And that’s fine, but there is a lot more change needed. I believe that’s coming.

"But when someone who pleaded guilty to a horrible crime gets released six years early without even applying for parole, it shows we’ve still got a long way to go."

Posted by Nealus at August 27, 2005 01:33 PM

Comments

Post a comment