Crime & Safety

Former Good Shepherd Director Heading to Prison

The man was sentenced Thursday for sodomizing a boy at his home in Hazelwood.

Kevin Thompson, a former director of Good Shepherd Children and Family Services in University City, has been sent to prison for 15 years for sodomizing a foster child who lived with him in Hazelwood.

Thompson, 45, was sentenced by St. Louis County Circuit Judge Thomas J. Prebil.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thompson was convicted of 11 counts of second-degree statutory sodomy. Some of the sentences run concurrently, giving him a sentence of 15 years in a state prison. 

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The victim was a 16-year-old boy who was sodomized in 2009. Prosecutors say Thompson had met the boy through Thompson's work at Good Shepherd. Authorities verified that none of the sex acts took place at Good Shepherd.

According to its web site, Good Shepherd provides foster care, adoption, residential care and expectant parent support, along with youth and family mentoring

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Good Shepherd provides adoption services for older children in foster care and conducts home studies and background checks of potential foster parents and families looking to adopt. It is a Catholic Charities agency of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

The victim is now 19 years old, according to the Post-Dispatch and testified at the trial this summer. He and his sister were placed in foster care when he was 14 after his parents lost custody of their children.

Quoting from the Post story:

When the boy was 16, Thompson went through the process of having the boy placed in Thompson's home. Thompson had been established in his job and was well-respected in his field, authorities said. He lived alone in Hazelwood.

Once the teenage boy began living with Thompson, Thompson would give him favors in return for sex, according to testimony. For example, the boy would get video games and certain foods he liked from Thompson.

The boy eventually told counselors, who called the child-abuse hotline. He lost his job when he was interviewed by police.

Charges were filed in late 2010. Thompson was held on $200,000 bail. His trial was held in August 2012. 


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