The heir to the du Pont fortune did receive any prison time for sexually assaulting his 3-year-old daughter. 

The judge who sentenced Robert Richards IV in 2009 for raping his three-year-old daughter did not give him any prison time, arguing that six-foot-four Richards would not "fare well" in prison, Vanity Fair reports. 

Richards was convicted in 2009 of raping his daughter seven years after she, then five, told relatives that she didn't want "my daddy touching me anymore."

Judge Jan Jurden ruled that Richards would instead benefit from treatment. Critics of the judgement note that such treatment is usually offered to drug addicts or those who were convicted of possessing child pornography, not those who have been convicted of rape. 

The details of the case went public this month when Richards' ex-wife sued him for damages related to the abuse of their young daughter. Richards also admitted to sexually assaulting his infant son.  

He was initially charged with two counts of second-degree child rape, which would have carried a 20-year prison term if convicted. Richards was released on $60,000 bail, and made a plea deal that involved admitting that he abused his children, but receiving a lesser charge of fourth-degree rape. 

Delaware public defender Brendan O'Neill told The News Journal that prison rarely "serves the inmate well," and that Richards' lack of prison time makes Americans wonder "how a person with great wealth may be treated by the system."

Sex offenders are often targeted by other inmates, so those convicted of sex crimes—especially pedophilia—are placed in protective custody.  

The News Journal describes the convicted rapist as "unemployed and supported by a trust fund." He owns a 5,800-square-foot mansion in Greenville, Del. that he bought for $1.8 million in 2005, and also has a home near Rehoboth Beach. His great grandfather is du Pont family patriarch Irenee du Pont. 

This is not the first time the du Pont family has been the focus of a scandal. 

John du Pont fatally shot olympic wrestler David Schultz in the driveway of his family's mansion in 1996, and a Las Vegas prostitute was killed by hit men who were hired by the du Ponts in 1998.

Lisa Dean, a du Pont, did not approve of her drug-addict son dating a drug-addicted Vegas prostitute, so she and her husband had her killed. Both she and her husband died in prison.