Another GOP perv…shocker

A former GOP lackey from South Dakota (he left office due to term limits and was defeated when running for Senate) is facing charges for molesting two of his foster children and legislative pages. According to Keloland News:

Ted Klaudt, 49, a Republican rancher from Walker, faces a long list of charges: eight counts of rape, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of witness tampering, sexual contact with a person under 16, and stalking.

Court documents mention five possible victims. Three were foster children between the ages of 15 and 19 who lived with Klaudt’s family. One is a cousin of one of those girls, and the fifth is a friend of Klaudt’s daughter.

[...]The first victim to come forward told investigators Klaudt offered to earn her enough money to pay for college by helping her donate her eggs to a fertility clinic. She says Klaudt used a fake email address from the supposed clinic agent to trick her into letting him perform what’s supposed to be a surgical procedure.

The victims say Klaudt touched them while they were foster children at his home here in Walker. But the girls say the molestation also happened in Pierre during legislative sessions while some of them also served as pages.

According to the PDF of the arrest warrant [here] Klaudt convinced these girls to donate their eggs to pay for college and that he was the only one who could test for egg viability. A.M. was a foster child in Klaupt’s care when the incidents began and she was the one who initiated the investigation. The report also states that another girl (J.S.)reported the same abuse to DCS, but then was forced by Klaudt to recant. DCS didn’t follow through with the investigation after J.S. recanted. The affidavit says that Klaudt opened email accounts pretending to be “Terry Linee”, the agent responsible for collecting the eggs. “Terry” emailed the first young lady repeatedly, telling her to allow Ted to do examinations, which included using a dildo to “stimulate” her vagina, a speculum as well as breast exams (Klaupt informed the girls that he was checking for “milk glands” and that “round bumps can show when you last ovulated”.

Klaupt initially denied the charges and said that A.M. was lying and out to get him. However, when he was confronted with the emails from “Terry” and proof that he’d actually set up and accessed those emails he admitted that “maybe I did some thing I shouldn’t have”. Search warrants turned up a vibrator, disposable speculums, rubber gloves, lubricant, and applications for egg donation filled out by J.S.

So, what kind of legislature is Ted Klaupt? Luckily, Tristero, at Digby, did all the work here:

A little googling turns up this list of bills sponsored and you could predict that among them would be things like:

• establish certain legislative findings pertaining to the health and rights of women, to revise the physician disclosure requirements to be made to a woman contemplating submitting to an abortion, and to provide for certain causes of action for professional negligence if an abortion is performed without informed consent.
• clarify the application of certain provisions pertaining to the sale of pistols.
• provide for recognition of certain valid nonresident permits to carry a concealed pistol.
• provide for limited confidentiality of certain firearms information.
• establish a task force to study abortion and to provide for its composition, scope, and administration.
• prohibit the performance of abortions, except to save the life of the mother, and to provide a penalty therefor and to provide for a delayed effective date.
• In support of free religious expression in public schools.
• Proposing and submitting to the electors at the next general election an amendment to Article XXI of the Constitution of the State of South Dakota, relating to the definition of marriage. [The proposed amendment:: "Only marriage between a man and a woman shall be valid or recognized in South Dakota. The uniting of two or more persons in a civil union, domestic partnership, or other quasi-marital relationship shall not be valid or recognized in South Dakota."]
• revise certain provisions regarding the performance of abortions on unemancipated minors and those found to be incompetent. [The bill required a 48 hour delay after notification of a parent befor an abortion could be performed, with certain exceptions noted.]
• prohibit the performance of abortions, except to save the life of the mother, and to provide a penalty therefor and to provide for a delayed effective date.

And according to DownWithTyranny:

Klaudt fancied himself a radical right Republican (and an evangelical) and in 2005 was a leader against the formation of the South Dakota Mainstream Coalition, meant to turn Republicans back towards mainstream conservatism.

Of course. But then Teddy didn’t actually use his penis to penetrate the girls in his care. So he didn’t have to worry about any unwanted pregnancies which kept his conscience clean as he voted to eliminate women’s reproductive health rights and deny homosexuals the right to marry. He’s just another disgusting piece of shit that helped himself to young girls’ bodies because he was “entitled” no doubt. Being a member of the King’s army affords you comforts such as that.

Funny thing, though, when I did a Google News search I failed to turn up anything on the first page from the national news outlets. Nor did I see any of the rightwing blogs (the ones denouncing Jimmy Carter and Michael Moore) in my scan of the first four pages of Google Blogsearch.

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