Editor’s note: This article contains descriptions of sexual assault.

A Salem area man was sentenced to nearly 23 years in prison for raping a woman after breaking into her West Salem house and stealing from her in 2024.

James L. Kleinschmit, 55, will head to state prison on charges of rape, sexual abuse, sodomy and unlawful sexual penetration for the attack.

Polk County Circuit Court Judge Monte Campbell sentenced Kleinschmit on Thursday, Oct. 9 to just under 23 years in prison after describing the attack as “the most violent rape he has ever seen in his 33 years as a lawyer and a judge,” according to a statement by the Polk County District Attorney’s Office.

During a bench trial held Sept. 23 and 24, Campbell convicted Kleinschmit of first-degree rape, sodomy, sexual abuse, unlawful

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