I was tapped to serve on a jury here very recently. The case
was a result of the task force ICAC ( Internet Crimes Against Children ). This
task force operated very close to my home in October of 2011. This was a multi
agency cooperation to snare pedophiles and other deviants who prey on minor
children through the internet.
The set up was done through chat rooms. The perp would
engage a supposed minor via a chat room and then drive to their home to engage
in sexual activity with them. Meeting them at the door was a big, burly cop.
They would be arrested and charges brought against them on two or three counts.
One was using a computer to solicit sex from an underage minor child. Two was
traveling to meet a minor for the purpose of sexual activity. Three was
conveying images via a computer to a minor child.
That is absolutely unbelievable that someone would be
mentally challenged enough to not sniff out a sting like this. Yet almost 40
people in our home town were snared and arrested. I think that speaks to the
extent that these kinds of people are strung out in their prurious addiction.
It is like asking the junkie why he sticks that needle into his arm. They are
just hopelessly lost in this world of sickness and evil.
The fellow who was the subject of my particular case was a
teaching assistant, grad student at one of the universities here in our town.
He is in his mid thirties, unmarried but into a continuous relationship with a
very pretty woman. She sat in the back and cried along with his Mother when the
verdict was read that he was guilty on all three counts that the state of Florida
was bringing against him. He even cried when the verdict was read.
His life is forevermore changed. He will go to prison for
4-5 years. He will remain on probation for that same period of time and he will
be listed in the FDLE database that maintains a location of and a qualification
as habitual, sexual offenders for the rest of his life.
Some of my peers on the jury felt compassion for him and
wanted to soften our verdict. Unfortunately for him there was just no way to
discount the weight of evidence brought against him.
You question me as to whether I felt that we were too hard
on this fellow my clear and concise response is absolutely not. I use as my
barometer to that effect the 18th Chapter of Matthew, verse six, “
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were
better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned
in the depth of the sea.”
Great work ICAC. Go
haul in some more of them. Bad choices beget bad outcomes.
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