Mar. 1, 2025 10a; Edited at 12:50p for clarity
(WGTD)---The attorney for the former Racine County Sheriff's Deputy accused of various sex crimes with children, adults and animals said the life of his client would be "salvageable" if he would be given the opportunity for eventual release.
But that contention is a mostly moot point as a judge Friday made it possible that Preston Kite won't be released from prison until he's in his 90s. Judge Jon Frederickson sentenced the 39-year-old Kite to 55 years in prison after recounting the damage done to numerous victims, including his former colleagues in the sheriff's department. "You tarnished the department," Frederickson said.
The case against Kite began after a citizen reported that Kite, while in uniform, had exposed himself in a bathroom at a I-94 convenience store. Eventually, child pornography was discovered in Kite's possession, and two separate cases surfaced involving direct inappropriate sexual contact with children. One victim was a co-worker's son while another was the adopted son of a former college buddy. The father--a former Outagamie County human resources director--is facing his own set of charges in federal court.
Defense attorney King Tse tried to tie Kite's problems to the addictions of both of his biological parents. and said Kite's risk of reoffending was low, and would get increasingly lower as he aged.
When it was his turn to speak, Kite apologized profusely, and maintained that otherwise he'd been a good deputy sheriff.
Frederickson didn't buy it. "You did far more harm than any good here," Frederickson said. "I'm not sure why you took the job," he said. "The gravity of your offences couldn't be greater."
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