A former Eau Claire County Lutheran pastor will not be re-tried on prostitution charges, but he says the case has already ruined his life.
Augusta pastor Richard Kittlestad was convicted in 2001 of offering money to foreign exchange students, so that he could watch them have sex with women. An appeals court ruled in october that the 60-year-old man should get a new trial, because some evidence in his defense was never properly presented. Now Eau Claire County District Attorney Rich White says he's dropped the charges. D.A. White said he did not believe Kittlestad was innocent, but the case is now ten years old, and the former pastor had already served most of his sentence.
Kittlestad released a statement Thursday saying he was very angry he had served six years in prison for a crime he did not commit, and that his career and name are ruined.