ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) - A former Pineville resident who was charged in Rapides Parish with more than 500 sex crimes related to children has pleaded guilty to a dozen of those offenses in a plea bargain.
The Town Talk reports (https://townta.lk/1sVbMcu ) Kyle Hauenstein, 39, pleaded guilty last week to three counts of aggravated rape, three counts of attempted sexual battery with a victim under age 13, three counts of aggravated incest and three counts of possession of pornography with juveniles.
He was sentenced to nine concurrent 35-year prison terms and three concurrent 20-year prison terms.
Hauenstein originally was charged with 355 counts of child pornography, 40 counts of sexual battery, 52 counts of indecent behavior, 25 counts of aggravated incest and 60 counts of attempted aggravated rape.
He will be 72 before he is eligible for parole, officials said.
Sheriff William Earl Hilton has referred to the sex-abuse investigation as “one of the biggest cases in Rapides Parish history.”
The abuse came to the attention of law enforcement agents when a family member of 32-year-old Elmer resident Dorothy Jean Vanasselberg discovered a photo of young, unclothed girl on Vanasselberg’s computer.
The investigation revealed that Hauenstein, then living in Pineville, and Vanasselberg shared photographs of children in a sexual context, authorities said.
Vanasselberg currently is awaiting trial. She has been indicted by a parish grand jury on 53 counts of aggravated rape, 42 counts of sexual battery, 79 counts of aggravated incest, 48 counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile and 25 counts of pornography with juveniles, officials reported.
Hauenstein fled Rapides Parish after Vanasselberg’s arrest in July 2013. He was arrested on a fugitive warrant Aug. 7 in Washington County, Oregon.
Rapides Parish First Assistant District Attorney Harold Van Dyke III prosecuted the case.
Vansasselberg’s next court date is scheduled for May 20.
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Information from: Alexandria Daily Town Talk, https://www.thetowntalk.com
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