INSIDE

Dyde given six month sentence

Steven Dyde will serve six months in county custody after pleading guilty to felony child molestation following allegations he had sexual contact with a teenage girl last summer.

Dyde, 40, had been charged with rape of a child and pleaded not guilty, requesting a jury trial. By his June 28 statement on the plea of guilty to third degree child molestation Dyde acknowledged sexual contact with a girl between 14 and 16 years of age. The statement also recognizes a plea agreement under which the state made a sentencing recommendation in exchange for the guilty plea to the lesser charge.

State law describes rape of a child in the third degree as “when the person has sexual intercourse with another who is at least fourteen years old but less than sixteen years old and not married to the perpetrator and the perpetrator is at least forty-eight months older than the victim.” In the description of third degree child molestation “sexual intercourse” is replaced with “sexual contact,” and the standard sentence is less for that offense.

The court record includes letters from 13 family and community members asking for leniency at sentencing in light of Dyde’s lack of a criminal record, and reputation as a devoted father and longtime business owner and member of the community.

On July 11, Superior Court Judge Ira Uhrig sentenced Dyde to six months of confinement to begin August 22. The sentence may be served in the county jail or in partial confinement alternatives through county work release and work crew programs. Dyde will also be required to serve nine months under community supervision and to register as a sex offender.