The 61-year-old Kreis -- who lost both legs to diabetes and is now wheel-chair bound -- was sentenced Thursday to 50 years in prison after being found guilty by a jury in Lexington, S.C., of one count of criminal sexual conduct involving a child and two counts of committing lewd acts on a child.
Before Circuit Court Judge Douet “Jack” Earley handed down the lengthy sentence, one of Kreis’ victims, now in her 20s, stared him down in the courtroom and read a poem, calling him a “monster,”
The State newspaper reported.
Child rapists such as Kreis “shatter the emotional lives of the young, leaving them scarred and living with lies,” the victim told the courtroom. “Days turn into months, and months into years, and every night is full of this child’s worst fears,” she said.
“Go through life watching behind me, and hold onto my heart with one hand … My soul cries at the mention of your name,” the victim said, reading the poem she had written, the Columbia, S.C., newspaper reported.
The victim said she is now a strong adult, willing to confront her abuser face-to-face. “Your disgusting little secret is out,” she told Kreis. “I hope you are haunted till the day you die for the things you’ve done.”
The judge asked the woman for a copy of her poem, calling her a “brave young lady,” the newspaper reported.
During the three-day trial, Kreis held up a sign to the jury, “Vote for Donald Trump.” That prompted his defense attorney to ask for a mistrial, but the judge rejected the attempt to derail the trial.
At sentencing Thursday afternoon, Kreis was back with an anti-Semitic rant and another plug for the Republican presidential candidate who is leading most current polls.
“I will always hate the Jew,” Kreis said in the courtroom. “This government is run by an evil group of people, and, please, ‘Vote for Trump!’”