A Manhattan judge spared a convicted Tinder date rapist prison and chose probation instead, and the victim is now hauling him into federal court.

Pamela Adelgren is taking William Knapp Hathaway IV back to court after a Manhattan jury convicted him of rape in the third degree and a judge still kept him out of a cell. The Post reported that she is pursuing a federal civil case for battery, assault, and emotional distress, and that she wants a restraining order.

Adelgren, 29, told the paper she still does not feel safe. She called the criminal sentence a slap in the face and said the system failed to match the crime.

Hathaway, 34, met her on Tinder in February 2020. They went on a date at SoHo House, then to his West Village apartment. Manhattan prosecutors said the encounter started consensually, then she told him to stop at least five times. They said he pushed her into his bed and raped her.

A Manhattan jury found him guilty in April 2025. Prosecutors asked for the maximum: four years behind bars. In August 2025, Supreme Court Justice Josh Hanshaft gave him 10 years of probation and sex-offender registration instead. No prison time.

Judge called probation the “better alternative”

At sentencing, Hanshaft did not sound sure of his own call. He still chose probation over jail.

Hanshaft said:

“I’m not sure if this sentence is what’s the right answer or should you be sitting in a jail cell for a while to get a sense of what incarceration is about”

He landed on probation and the registry as the “better alternative” to prison. Prosecutors had already told the court the victim said stop again and again. The jury had already convicted. The judge still declined to lock Hathaway up.

Hathaway, described as being from Connecticut and living in Florida at sentencing, could not be reached for comment.

Victim says the sentence left her looking over her shoulder

Adelgren had come to New York City hoping for a fashion career. She later moved to North Carolina, worked in furniture upholstery, and was about to start a job making dancewear. She told The Post the assault wrecked the life she was building.

She said:

“I still live in fear”

And:

“Walking outside and day-to-day activities, I’m always looking over my shoulder.”

On the sentence itself, she did not mince words. She said Hathaway “got off pretty easy” and that “the system needs to change.” She also said it was “a slap in the face,” that she “wasn’t taken very seriously,” and that this kind of case “isn’t taken very seriously.” She added she was glad he was convicted, but called the penalty light for what he did.

She put the damage in plain terms:

“he ruined my life there”

She said her life would have been very different if those things had not happened. The civil case, she said, is about closure, speaking up, fighting back, and gaining control after it was taken away.

Conviction without custody leaves a hole in accountability

Rape in the third degree is a serious felony conviction. A jury heard the evidence and returned a guilty verdict. Prosecutors asked for prison. The court instead put a convicted sex offender on probation and a registry list.

That is the core failure Adelgren is answering with a civil suit. Criminal court found the crime. Criminal court refused the cell. She is now asking a federal court for damages and a restraining order because the sentence did not end her fear.

Law-and-order justice is supposed to mean a verdict that carries real consequences. Probation and paperwork are not the same as time served. When a judge openly wonders whether jail might have been the right answer, then still withholds jail, victims hear the message loud and clear.

Adelgren’s move into federal court is what people do when the criminal penalty feels hollow. She wants money damages for battery, assault, and emotional distress. She wants a restraining order. She wants the man already convicted of raping her kept at a distance by court order, not by hope.

The timeline is blunt. February 2020: Tinder match, SoHo House date, West Village apartment, and a prosecutor’s account of a woman saying stop at least five times. April 2025: guilty verdict. August 2025: probation, no prison. This week, in her interview with The Post: a civil case, and a victim who says she still cannot trust the justice system.

Hathaway walks free of a cell under a 10-year probation term and sex-offender registration. Adelgren lives in another state, still scanning the street. That gap is why she is dragging him into court again.

A guilty verdict means little if the sentence teaches no fear of the law, and victims should not have to file a second case just to be taken seriously.