True Stories: Consensual Sexual Conduct with a Minor and ...



3098800314960Josh and JennahJosh was a 19 year old high school senior when he met Jennah, a high school freshman, in church. The two were set up by a mutual friend. Both sets of parents knew about the relationship, and the age difference between Josh and Jennah. The first time they had sex, she became pregnant. She was just shy of her 15th birthday, so a counselor was required to inform law enforcement. “We just thought it would end up being nothing,” Jennah said. “We would go through court and the judge would see that we were both young kids and we had made a mistake.” 00Josh and JennahJosh was a 19 year old high school senior when he met Jennah, a high school freshman, in church. The two were set up by a mutual friend. Both sets of parents knew about the relationship, and the age difference between Josh and Jennah. The first time they had sex, she became pregnant. She was just shy of her 15th birthday, so a counselor was required to inform law enforcement. “We just thought it would end up being nothing,” Jennah said. “We would go through court and the judge would see that we were both young kids and we had made a mistake.” Note 2: True StoriesBut Josh was convicted of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor in 2008. His jail sentence was suspended, and he was not required by the court to register as a sex offender. But upon moving to a new county, he was told by the sheriff that he was required to register for 25 years. Now the couple is married and have three children. They participated in marriage counseling as part of Josh’s sentence, and Josh has completed all community control sanctions. By all measures, he is fully rehabilitated, as attested by his probation officer, the court, and even the county sheriff, where he registers every 180 days.Josh and Jennah are both concerned how the registration will affect their kids; will they be ridiculed or even subject to violence because of their dad’s status as a registered sex offender? Jennah says people make false assumptions about Josh because of the “sex offender” label, and brand him “child molester” or “rapist.” “Being on the registry affects getting jobs, housing… it affects our entire lives.” Jennah says. Josh is not permitted to attend parent teacher conferences, volunteer at school or coach a sports team. Most recently, Josh and Jennah were forced to move because the house they were renting, the only house they could find that would accept registered sex offenders, was infested with rats. They had to re-locate to an area that was not within 1,000 feet of any school, preschool or daycare. And Josh was unable to attend the father-daughter dance at school because of his registered status. Jennah says the restrictions will prevent Josh from ever becoming a productive member of society. But Jennah says she has no regrets about the relationship, other than how it has affected Josh and her family. “His grandparents actually were the same age as us when they got married and had children and they’ve been married for almost 50 years now.” Unlike Josh’s grandparents, though, Josh will be forced to spend half of the next 50 years as a registered sex offender.left19621500Four Years and Four MonthsPaul was 18 when he entered an online dating site for teens and young adults. He was lonely and wanted companionship, and because he looked young, he had trouble meeting girls his own age at school. He met KP and began a mutual relationship. When he discovered she was 14, he decided it was harmless, since she lived in another county and thought he would never meet her. But they did meet, and had oral sex. Paul was charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. He was four years and a few months older than KP, making his offense a felony. Paul was a model student before he met KP. He was a member of National Honor Society with a 3.9 GPA in high school. He played baseball, football, and ran track. He attended Young Life and volunteered at the local food pantry. He came from a stable, upper middle class home. His entire family was active in the community. Paul now attends Ohio State, and has trouble meeting people because they shun him and call him names. His fear that he would be kicked out of college recently came true. After an article in the Dayton newspaper about sex offenders on college campuses, Paul was called in to the office of student conduct. Ohio State spoke with his probation officer, sex offender therapist, and teachers, who all gave Paul glowing marks. The university decided to put him on supervision, or probation, until he graduates. Paul recently received early release from a four year sentence of community supervision. Paul has completed two years of sex offender therapy, ninety days electronic monitoring and 160 hours of community service. Paul has volunteered for a non-profit which supplies clothing for battered women for interviews and work. He tried to volunteer for the Salvation Army, a place he and his family had supported in the past, but was told “we don’t allow sex offenders to volunteer.” He fears a similar response from employers.Although his offense requires registration twice a year, on his anniversary date, Paul is forced to register as many as eight additional times, depending how often he returns home from school for three days or more. Paul cannot join his family on vacations out of state. His passport is marked with an identifier as a child molester, and he is required to file his travel plans in advance of any international travel. And the stigma of his registration follows him each time he moves or meets someone new.The proliferation of information on unregulated sites on the Internet means he is easily the target of harassment or ridicule. He is afraid he will be unable to find a school to accept him into its graduate program to get his Master’s degree. And any dreams he had of a career have been crushed; hundreds of licenses and professional designations are no longer available to him. Instead, he is faced with a lifetime of menial jobs, housing discrimination, and being branded a “sexual predator” and a “child molester,” all for a relationship he thought was consensual. “I know I made a mistake, and I’m willing to pay for it. But I never meant to hurt anybody” said Paul. “But now my life is over. Nothing will ever be the same again.” Nathan K. was 18 when he met a girl at a local hangout and a mutual friend introduced them. He thought she was his age, so they started dating. The relationship turned serious, and they had consensual sex, once when he was 18 and again shortly after his 19th birthday. They broke up and a few months went by. But then he received a call from the prosecutor, and found out she was only 14. He pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual conduct in 2009 and served five years’ probation, including 2 ? years of sex offender therapy. Upon completion of the therapy, his doctor certified that he had completed the program, and should be considered a low risk to re-offend.Nathan was forced to move out of his parents’ house due to residency restrictions. At one point, his 8 year old brother had cancer, but Nathan was not permitted to visit him in children’s hospital. Nathan “crashed” with friends and even lived out of a hotel for a year because he could not find an apartment that would rent to him. He found it difficult to find a job, but eventually found a job at a machine shop. He now owns his own house, where he has joint custody of his son. But he is still afraid he could lose everything as a result of his registered status. He says people are very judgmental and tend to “judge a book by its cover.”Nathan has been on the register since 2009 and by most people’s estimation, is fully rehabilitated. But he faces 18 more years on the register, as he says “living one day at a time.”Joe H. has been on the register since 2010 for a crime he committed when he was 19. He received 3 years probation, including sex offender therapy, and was released early for good behavior. But he has had difficulty with housing, employment, and most recently, travel outside the United States due to the new International Megan’s law. By all accounts, he has contributed to society, maintaining a job and volunteering at his church.When he first began to register, he was kicked out of his apartment and moved in with a friend; but when his friend’s girlfriend moved in with her kids, he was forced to move again. He is lucky enough to have a job, but Medicare prohibits moving him into management, even though he says his boss would like him to advance into management.Most recently, he scheduled a mission trip to Haiti with his church. His passport was checked, and he was allowed to board the flight. But upon arrival at customs in Haiti, he was turned back and told he had to re-board the plane and return to the U.S. He was told that the U.S. Embassy, not the Haiti government, was requiring his return. So he boarded the plane and went home.Soon after he arrived home, he received a letter stating that his passport had been revoked. He needed to return his passport and request a new one with a special notation that he was a registered sex offender.And there are others, all with a story like Josh’s, Paul’s, Nathan’s and Joe’s. People like Ashlie K. and Christopher B., who cannot attend nursing school due to their convictions; people like Michael C., who was 18 and only 2 years older than his minor partner, and shouldn’t be registered at all under Ohio law. But with no one to fight for them, these young people have given up on any kind of a life, all for a mistake they made before they were old enough to buy a beer. ................
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