Man sentenced to 60 days in jail for abuse of wife, pets

WARTBURG, Tenn. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. — A man who pleaded guilty to assaulting his estranged wife by trying to set her on fire and to neglect of 18 pets was sentenced Monday to 60 days in jail.

Paul Riehl, 38, will spend the rest of a three-year sentence on supervised release. During that time he is barred from owning animals and must undergo counseling.

Riehl’s now ex-wife and their teenage daughter had asked Criminal Court Judge Eugene Eblen to send him to prison for three years.

“The man of my dreams gradually turned into my worst nightmare,” Kristin Riehl said of her ex-husband.

Paul Riehl was accused of dousing his wife and himself with gasoline and attempting to set it ablaze during a Father’s Day celebration on June 20, 2004.

Kristin Riehl did not report the assault for several days. Authorities also began a neglect investigation when 12 dogs and six cats were discovered in the family home in Wartburg, where the floors were covered in animal waste.

One dog was dead and three other animals later died.

Kristin Riehl testified she did not return to the house to care for the animals because she was afraid of her husband.

“He shouldn’t have did what he did,” Paul Riehl’s lawyer Walter Johnson said. “He left that house and didn’t come back but she left, too. Those were her animals, too.”

“She told us why she didn’t go back,” Assistant District Attorney Frank Harvey said. “She was afraid this man would kill her.”

Wartburg is about 35 miles northwest of Knoxville.