This story by Jordan Cuddemi was published by the Valley News on Dec. 12.
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A 49-year-old White River Junction man pleaded guilty this week to repeatedly sexually assaulting two juveniles several years ago.
Richard Dinsmore hasn’t yet been sentenced but a plea agreement outlined on Tuesday in Windsor Superior Court would have him serve 10 years to life in prison.
The sentence length is not contested, so if a judge accepts the plea deal at a sentencing hearing early next year, Dinsmore would serve 10 years in prison. He has more than two years of pretrial credit, though, as he has been incarcerated since the charges came forward in November 2016.
Dinsmore, who was the husband of a home-based day care owner in White River Junction, entered his pleas on Tuesday to four felonies: aggravated sexual assault on a victim under the age of 13, two counts of repeated aggravated sexual assault and child pornography possession.
Under the agreement, two other felonies would be dismissed.
The charges Dinsmore faced were not connected to children at the day care.
Dinsmore repeatedly engaged in sexual acts with two juveniles in Hartford, one between 1993 and 1999 and the other between 2010 and 2011, according to court documents.
Dinsmore also stored child pornography on his computer, according to information read aloud in court on Tuesday.
Dinsmore’s case started in September 2016, after an investigator received a call from one of the victim’s relatives, who made the abuse allegations.
Police in November questioned him in his office at Prime Subaru of Vermont in Norwich, and Dinsmore acknowledged sexually assaulting both victims, according to an affidavit in the case.
He also said at the time that he had sexually explicit videos of one of the victims in his possession that he would threaten to use as “blackmail.”
After the charges surfaced, the Department for Children and Families started an investigation in part to determine if any children of the day care had been victimized.
No allegations of that nature surfaced, Remick said this week.
Attempts to reach an individual with DCF’s child care licensing unit was unsuccessful. But according to online records, Linda Dinsmore doesn’t have a registered home-based child care center in Hartford. Attempts to reach Linda Dinsmore also were unsuccessful.
Richard Dinsmore’s sentencing hearing hasn’t yet been set.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Man awaits sentence after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting 2 children.