2 Amish brothers who gang-raped sister and avoided jail accused of violating orders to stay away from her
SEYMOUR, MISSOURI: Two Amish brothers — Aaron Schwartz, 22, and Petie Schwartz, 18 — pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree child molestation of a girl under the age of 14. The two brothers who had gang-raped their sister and managed to avoid jail time allegedly broke court orders that ask them to stay away from the victim. At the time of the incident, the victim was around 13, as per the Webster County Citizen. Aaron and Petie, along with two younger brothers, had raped their sister but managed to walk free from jail.
The brothers' plea deal included a 10-year suspended prison sentence with five years of probation. Webster County prosecutor Ben Berkstresser said, "These two young men would’ve been eaten alive in the state prison system." As reported by the Springfield News-Leader, a motion had been filed on Friday, September 25, to revoke the brothers' probation after they were accused of "having contact with the victim of the crime, after signing the sex offender supervision agreement that prohibited contact with the victim".
The brothers have been summoned to appear in court on Wednesday, September 30, records show. The brothers had allegedly filed almost identical letters that read, "I confess to having had several sexual intercourses with a [female relative] under 14 years of age. I do regret and am sorry for having done any such sins." Prosecutor Berkstresser said that he had been previously been "very harsh" with crimes of a similar nature but "in this instance, these two boys are very immature relative to their respective ages. Maturity wise, they are much younger than their age".
Two younger brothers who were also involved and have not been named due to their age did not face any charges. Berkstresser said, "There were four brothers, two of them minors, while the other two legally are adults. All of them had sexual relations with their sister. There is no question this occurred." We had earlier reported that Berkstresser said, "There were four brothers, two of them minors, while the other two legally are adults. All of them had sexual relations with their sister. There is no question this occurred." As a result of the rapes, the victim ended up becoming pregnant and even gave birth to a baby at 13.
He shared how "within the Amish community that primarily lives in the Seymour area, (the Amish) don’t see the authority we have to do anything to them. This was a tough case to prosecute. The Amish community was cooperative yet upset. They made it clear to me that they had punished all four of the boys for their actions, and they made it clear that this punishment was very severe." It has been reported that the alleged crime came to light when it was found that the victim was pregnant. Berkstresser shared, "The only reason we knew of this was because the sister got pregnant, and a doctor found out and hotlined it." "They will go to prison if the Missouri Sex Offender Treatment Program isn’t completed in a year. This won’t be easy for either of them to do, but I’ll assure you they will face the consequences if the program isn’t completed. And that consequence will be prison," Berkstresser revealed.