Robert H. Richards IV is a scion of two prominent Delaware families – the du Pont family, who built the worldwide chemical empire, and the Richards family, who co-founded the prestigious corporate law firm Richards Layton & Finger. Du Pont family patriarch Irenee du Pont is his great-grandfather. His father, Robert H. Richards III, was a partner in the law firm until his 2008 retirement. He is currently unemployed and living off of his sizable trust fund, in his $1.8 million mansion.

The rape of his daughter first came to light in December of 2007, when the girl, then 5, told her grandmother that Richards sexually abused her.

The grandmother, Donna Burg, said that the girl reported that her father told her it was “our little secret” but said she didn’t want “my daddy touching me anymore.”

The girl said her father molested her in the bedrooms of both her mother and brother in their home, according to the arrest warrant.

His wife, Tracy Richards told police he admitted abusing his daughter, when she confronted her then-husband, and that he explained , “it was an accident and he would never do it again.”

Richards admitted to sexually assaulting his infant son in addition to his young daughter between 2005 and 2007. Richards was initially indicted on two counts of second-degree child rape, felonies that translate to a 10-year mandatory jail sentence per count. He was released on $60,000 bail while awaiting his charges.

Richards hired one of the state's top law firms and was offered a plea deal of one count of fourth-degree rape charges -- which carries no mandatory minimum prison sentencing. He accepted, and admitted to the assault.

Superior Court judge Jan Jurden only sentenced Richards to probation for raping his 3-year-old daughter. Jurden wrote in her order that he “will not fare well” in prison and suggested that he needed treatment instead of time behind bars.

Court records show that in Judge Jan Jurden’s sentencing order for Robert H. Richards IV she considered unique circumstances when deciding his punishment for fourth-degree rape. Her observation that prison life would adversely affect Richards confused several criminal justice authorities in Delaware, who said that her view that treatment was a better idea than prison is typically used when sentencing drug addicts, not child rapists.

Jurden gave Richards, who had no previous criminal record, an eight-year prison term, but suspended all the prison time for probation.

“Defendant will not fare well in Level 5 [prison] setting,” she wrote in her order.

According to court records Richards is listed at 6 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing between 250 and 276 pounds. Saying that he would not fare well in a prison setting is ludicrous, child molesters deserve to be punished for their unspeakable crimes against young, innocent children.

Wealthy people are not above the law. Being a member of the upper 1% of wealth in the country should not mean that you will not be held accountable for your crimes. Robert H. Richards IV has admitted to comitting these heinous crimes and he should serve time in prison. Please, Superior Judge Jan Jurden, and senators of Delaware, reopen this case and sentence Richards fairly, in accordance with Delaware state law. If he is not jailed he will likely harm children again in the future.