Advertisement
Eldridge, 21, was sentenced in January 2007 to 15 years of probation in lieu of a prison sentence for his role in the gang rape of an unconscious 16-year-old girl in 2004. A beer can was used to assault the victim during the rape.
Eldridge was given credit for 365 days served in jail and will be eligible for parole in May 2010. He must complete a sex offender treatment program before he can be released, Judge Jeff Thompson said.
Assistant Winona County Tom Gort insisted Friday that Eldridge be sent to prison. He recalled Eldridge’s claims of remorse when he was sentenced in 2007 but called that a “calculated display” to get probation instead of prison.
Since he has been on probation, Gort said Eldridge has been in a constant “violation status” that has disqualified him from beginning sex offender treatment programs. The only way for Eldridge to get the treatment he needs is through confinement in prison, not probation, Gort said.
To illustrate his point, Gort spoke of relationships Eldridge has had with underage girls, including a current sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, who was afraid Eldridge would leave her when she turned 18.
Eldridge had recorded telephone conversations with the girl while he was in jail awaiting the outcome of his probation violation cases, even after being specifically told not
to have contact with her, according to evidence from the county attorney’s office.
“He has demonstrated he cannot stay away from minor females,” Gort said.
Eldridge’s public defender, Dennis Rutgers, did not disagree with Gort about his client’s need for treatment but suggested an alternative way for Eldridge to receive that treatment. He said Eldridge should serve six months in the Winona County Jail and enter treatment programs during that time. If Eldridge couldn’t complete the treatment in six months, then he should go to prison, Rutgers said.
Rutgers also argued Eldridge shouldn’t go to prison because his violations weren’t new criminal offenses and don’t pose a risk to public safety.
Judge Jeff Thompson saw it another way. He said Eldridge has “shown a total lack of awareness” regarding the rules of his probation and didn’t seem to understand that when told not to do something, he wasn’t supposed to do it.
“The most disturbing thing to this judge is, even while (in jail) for having contact with minors, he still had phone contact with a minor,” Thompson said.
He said confinement was the only way public safety could be protected while offering a way for Eldridge to get treatment. Ultimately, not executing Eldridge’s prison sentence would depreciate the seriousness of his probation violations, Thompson said.
Eldridge was convicted in December 2006 of third-degree criminal sexual conduct on a physically helpless person. He was sentenced in January 2007 to 15 years of probation and served a nine-month probationary jail sentence.
On July 14, 2007, just six days after his release from custody, police found him riding in a car with his brother and two 14-year-old girls. He admitted violating his probation, and Thompson “sternly advised” him that the next violation could land him in prison.
The Department of Corrections reported three more violations after that. On April 15, Eldridge was accused of failing to register as a sex offender and failing to report he had lost his job. That charge was later withdrawn. According to police, he was then seen in the company of two girls, ages 14 and 16, on April 22. On May 30, Eldridge was at his mother’s house and had contact with a 17-year-old girl and her infant.
Eldridge was found to have violated his probation on the April 22 and May 30 incidents.
Contact Kevin Behr at (507) 453-3524 or at kbehr@winonadailynews.com.
