Two North Dakota Pedophiles: One Sentenced, Other Awaits Trial

It is gut wrenching to learn about stories of sexual assault - especially when a child is violated. The sad reality is that there are sexual offenders all around the world - including North Dakota. KFYR-TV has the stories of two North Dakota men who are being imprisoned for their unspeakable crimes.

According to KFYR-TV, 74-year-old Vincy Smith of Mandan has pleaded guilty (and not guilty) to "continuous sexual abuse of a child and gross sexual imposition." The report says that Smith is accused of raping minors in both Morton County and Emmons County. While he affirms the charges for Morton County, he denies the charges for Emmons County. Get the full story from KFYR-TV here.

KFYR-TV is reporting that 41-year-old Robert Zeller, of Carson, was sentenced today (January 12) for having child pornography and impersonating a federal officer. Zeller "pleaded guilty to possession of images depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor and impersonating a federal officer." Zeller, a previously convicted sex offender, was sentenced to 14 years in prison and six years of probation. Get the full story from KFYR-TV here.

While we have to wait to find out the sentencing for Smith's crimes, we learned that Zeller will spend over a decade in prison. He will be not even be 60 when he is released from prison - did you catch that he was ALREADY A CONVICTED SEX OFFENDER WHEN HE WAS APPREHENDED FOR HIS CURRENT CHARGES? It may only be speculation, statistically, there is about a 50% chance that he will reoffend. And f he outlives his prison sentence, Smith will also be likely to reoffend.

Why are the sentences for sexual predators so light?