February 28, 2007
Matthews gets three years

Rightwing former radio talkshow host Jon Matthews was sentenced to three years in prison for probation violations that he was arrested for in August.


Matthews, 61, left the courtroom of state District Judge Brady Elliott after agreeing to a three-year sentence on a charge of indecency with a child.

The state claimed Matthews violated several terms of the probation he received two and half years ago after he pleaded guilty to exposing himself to an 11-year-old girl. Matthews did not dispute the claims made in court this morning.

[...]

Court records show Matthews violated several probation conditions the court set in 2004 when he entered his plea on the charge that stemmed from the October 2003 incident.

The violations included testing positive for alcohol, being terminated from a sex offenders counseling program and engaging in sexual fantasy activity over the Internet, court records said.

The conservative talk-show host resigned from his position on KSEV-AM (700), where he sat behind the microphone 6-9 a.m. each weekday. He also stopped writing a column for the weekly newspaper Fort Bend Star.

According to a July 5 report prepared by the Community Supervision and Corrections Department of Fort Bend County, Matthews tested positive for alcohol in June of 2005 and again in July of that same year.

"He admitted to abusing alcohol for approximately three weeks before testing positive," the report said.

Matthews also was terminated from a sex offenders counseling program because he had been engaging in inappropriate online sexual conduct, according to court documents.


As noted before, the details of Matthews' activities are pretty lurid, so caveat lector. Not much else to say here except that the sentence is well earned and deserved. And may this be the last time we see his name in the news.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on February 28, 2007 to Crime and Punishment
Comments

I was not surprised to hear that Jon did not make it through his probation period.

I knew him over 30 years ago...and his sexual proclivities were a problem then....although they are much worse now.

I do not understand how someone could expouse the Ultra Conservative mantra on the air, and yet live such a lurid and perverse life in private.

I do not think he will survive in prison....yet I do not believe he needs to be out on the streets.

He has proven time and time again that his sexual urges can not be controlled, and can not be corrected.

I think this case proves that the recidivism rate of sexual criminals is too high to consider long term treatments, and release back into society.

The financial cost to the tax payers, and the risk to the community is too high indeed.

Posted by: AnnePage on February 28, 2007 9:13 AM