Amish Brothers Rape 12-Year-Old Sister, Get Probation
By: Jean Campbell
Tags: Rape, Prison, True Crime, Missouri, Incest

Amish Brothers Rape 12-Year-Old Sister, Get Probation

Photo source: Missouri Department of Corrections.

Two men who raped their 12-year-old sister, leading to her pregnancy, first faced a long prison sentence only to have it reversed to probation. Then, they violated their probation. Aaron Schwartz, 22, and his young brother Petie, 18, are now in the last place two young Amish men want to be: a maximum security prison.

Initially, the brothers received a lenient sentence because according to the judge they would be “eaten alive” in state prison.

The family includes five children total: Aaron and Petie, two younger sons, and a daughter who was the victim of both incest and rape when she was 12 and 13-years-old.

Protesters have been following this case since the brothers were first prosecuted in June. The twists and turns include a conviction of 15 years, a plea deal to probation, and a reversal of the plea deal a few months later.

The setting

Webster County, Missouri, has just under 40,000 with the largest Amish population in Missouri: 1,500 men, women, and children living as Americans did 200 years ago.

Seymour, where the Schwartz family lives, is not far from big-city Springfield but is also surrounded by Ozark mountain wilderness. It is a rural community ideal for farming or ranching, one reason the Amish have chosen to move here.

The big annual event in town, during the second weekend of September, is the Seymour Apple Festival, which draws up to 30,000 from the region.

The Amish community here is ultra-conservative, following the Swiss rather than German religious traditions. Families ride in traditional, open-top buggies and eschew modern conveniences.

Webster county, where Aaron and Petie Schwarz went to trial, is like much of Missouri — deep within “bible belt” country and overwhelmingly conservative.

Webster County is home to the largest Amish population in the state. Photo source.

The crime

Had it not been for a phone call from doctor who helped deliver a baby, this crime would still be happening.

The doctor phoned a Missouri Children’s Division official on June 6th to report that “Daisy” (her pseudonym) Schwartz was 13 and had recently given birth. She’d told the doctor she’d had sex a half dozen times with both Aaron and Petie.

Both men, in their court-ordered apology letters, made the same statement: “I confess to having had several sexual intercourses with a female under 14 years of age.”

The two other Schwartz brothers, who are both minors, also had sex with Daisy. Due to their ages, they’ve faced no legal consequences.

The first sentence and the plea deal

In June 2020, both men first appeared in court to hear the charges against them: six counts of statutory rape and one count of incest.

The brothers pleaded guilty to third-degree child molestation with a child under the age of 14 in September 2020. The judge handed down 10 years in prison for the first count and five years for the second count.

Then the Webster County prosecuting attorney, Ben Berkstresser, stepped in and offered them a much sweeter deal. He reduced the sentence to five years of probation, 100 hours of community service, a small fine ($250) to be paid to the police restitution fund, and completion of a class.

They were also required to write a letter of apology to the Amish community in their hometown of Seymour.

Both men would be added to the Missouri Sex Offender Registry as Level 3 sex offenders.

The second sentence

After being given the light sentence of 5-years probation, both men went home and promptly violated their agreement. Despite clear instructions, they had contact with Daisy and resided with her, against court orders.

According to Berkstresser, they “[had] contact with [Daisy], after signing the sex offender supervision agreement that prohibited contact with the victim.”

The two brothers attended a second hearing in mid October 2020 in which the prosecutor and judge revoked the plea deal.

Schwartz family leaving the Webster County courthouse. Photo source.

Aftermath

Aaron and Petie Schwartz are currently incarcerated at the Fulton Reception and Diagnostic Center, a maximum security facility in Fulton, MO.

After the first trial, Seymour residents Tiffany Hill and Mel Pleasant started a group called Child Advocacy Against Pedophilia. Hill and Pleasant asked for resignations from Berkstresser and the presiding judge, Michael O. Hendrickson. They have asserted that by allowing Aaron and Petie to return to their home (where Daisy still lived) they made it impossible for the two men to avoid contact with her.

Aaron allegedly told Investigators during his interview, when asked if he would do it again, “not to a little one like that.”

Neither man will ever be removed from the sex offender registry.