May 14, 2007

Mother sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison for obstructing investigation into the sexual abuse of her disabled daughter

Contact: Charles B. Pelkie
(815) 727-8789
cpelkie@willcountyillinois.com

JOLIET – Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow announced Monday that a Wilmington woman has been sentenced to 5-1/2 years in prison for taking $10,000 from the man who sexually abused her disabled daughter in exchange for her silence about the crime.

Circuit Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak sentenced Kimberly A. Riordan, 33, to 65 months in prison for obstructing justice and concealing a fugitive during the course of the 2005 investigation into the sexual abuse of the girl.

Riordan, of the 300 block of North First Street, Wilmington, entered a blind plea to both charges in March. The maximum sentence she could have received was six years in prison.

Lawrence Southwood, the man who molested the girl, was sentenced to 104 years in prison in October. The girl, who was 14 at the time she was abused, lives with cerebral palsy and has minimal control of her body. She spends much of her time in a wheelchair equipped with a harness for support.

“This brave young girl was the victim of the most depraved act of sexual abuse imaginable,” Glasgow said. “Her mother was the one person who could have helped her by reaching out to police. Kimberly Riordan violated the unconditional love and trust that should forever bind mother and daughter.  Her decision to take $10,000 to look the other way was an act of unconscionable greed and betrayal like I have never seen during my 28 years in the criminal justice system.”

The case was investigated by Dave Margliano, a detective who works for the state’s attorney’s office. Southwood’s own adult daughter contacted Margliano in December 2005 to report that her father had sexually abused the girl.

Margliano investigated allegations that Southwood had sexually abused his own daughter more than a decade earlier. Southwood was subsequently convicted in that case.

In the Southwood/Riordan case, Mary Jane Pluth, a skilled forensic interviewer from the Will County Children’s Advocacy Center, took the victim’s statement regarding the sexual abuse in late December 2005. Glasgow established the Children’s Advocacy Center to assist law enforcement in obtaining statements from sexually abused children that will hold up in court against sexual predators.

Assistant State’s Attorneys Lea Norbut, chief of the criminal division, and Tina Brault, who heads the juvenile division, prosecuted the case against Riordan. Norbut also was one of two assistant state’s attorneys who successfully prosecuted the case against Southwood.

“The investigation and prosecution of these cases required the highest degree of professionalism and sensitivity,” Glasgow said. “Everyone involved proved they were up to the task. As a result of their dedication and hard work, a dangerous sexual predator and a mother who betrayed her daughter are now behind bars.”

Southwood, 69, was found guilty of sexually abusing the girl following a trial in August 2006. He had confessed the sexual abuse to Margliano shortly after his arrest. Southwood cared for the girl while her mother was away. He sexually abused the victim on at least three occasions between August and December of 2005.

Riordan gave false information to Margliano during the investigation after taking $10,000 from Southwood not to report the sexual abuse.

“Remarkably, Margliano was able to recover the $10,000 in cash, which was the lynchpin in the case against Riordan,” said Glasgow.

The girl is under the care and supervision of The Department of Children and Family Services, Catholic Charities and a Court-Appointed Special Advocate.