Seems kind of unusual to go after someone for a 10 year old crime committed when you were 12.
How can he be charged as an adult, if he was 12 years old at the time of the alleged abuse? Unless he’s had a string of similar crimes since then.
I’m not an apologist for sexual offenders by any definition, but this doesn’t seem right to me. Locally,a state representative is being accused quite publically of sexually molesting a child but no action has been taken.
I clicked the link thinking there would be more info than you provided here; there wasn’t. With so little information to go on, how can anyone make any kind of judgment? This discussion can only be a reflection of our inherent biases.
I hope the system works here and justice is served, whatever form that takes. I think it’s impossible to say more than that, given the lack of facts.
Gosh. I remember my mother telling me a story about one time when we were on the way home from the supermarket and she discovered I had a half empty bag of M&Ms in my hand. I have no memory of this so I must have been in my single digits, age-wise. I’m in my 40’s now, could they still come after me for shoplifting?
Well, now that you’ve gone and posted that shit online, I’m sure your IP address is being traced as you read this. 
Some crimes have a statute of limitations and some do not.
But seeing as Christmas is around the corner I’d get crackin’ to return those M&Ms 
See, I don’t. We have that the offense was when he was 12, and that it not grave enough to file for first degree assault or rape or first degree sexual offense.
Maybe you can come up with something that fits those parameters that would warrant being tried as an adult, but I can’t. I guess there’s enough reasonable doubt that I couldn’t convict on that information alone, but I think it reasonable to be, say, 75% sure that this prosecution is unjust.
Of course they could and will eventually. However, you have the advantage of age induced amnesia and there being only one witness. Next time you talk to your mother, maybe an offer of some hush money in is order. If she refuses, let her know that it would be a shame if anything happened to the only witness.
He was a kid the and if charged should be charged as a such. Although I am torn on if charges should be pursued in the first place. We are talking about an alleged crime that took place 10 years ago. Not only that but the “victim” told his/her parents about it within a year of it taking place and they decided then not to press charges. Ten years go by and all of a sudden a light bulb goes off? I don’t buy it, something isn’t right in this story.
Jesus Christ this stuff is getting out of hand.
I hope the neighbor girl doesn’t remember us playing doctor when we were about 10.
General Practitioner or specialist?
Well, at least the guy will be the biggest 22yo badass in the middle school aged juvenille rehabilatation center. How the hell do you “punish” an adult like you would a kid ? (which should HAVE happened way back when).
IMO the “let’s get justice” boat sailed long ago. Mayyyybeee he has to go see a shrink for awhile just to be sure he ain’t a closet pedo/rapist/evilsexthingamabob, but if he gets a bunch of jail time or labeled a sex offender now IMO thats a crock.
Just last week, 20/20 did a segment on mainstream media’s sexual exploitation of young children. From crotchless panties to padded bras for 7yo.
And then OTOH, we have this witch hunt BS like we do in the OP.
Seriously, WTF?!?!
I’m confused. How do you arrest a 22yo man, charge him as a juvenile, then release him into the custody of a parent?
Really? When you’re 22?
Thirteen and seven is seventh grade and second grade. Think about your seventh grade buddies. Were they playing doctor with second graders?
I don’t really have an opinion on the case–nowhere near enough information–but a thirteen year old and a seven year old is really different than two ten year olds.
I am shocked at the reactions in this thread.
A friend I grew up with recently confessed that she was molested by a neighborhood boy, with an age dynamic similar to this case. It was not “playing doctor.”
After undressing her and forcing her to fellate him and a number of younger boys (who are also victims in this), he tried to insert a stick and other dirty objects into her. Then he urinated on her, encouraged the other boys to urinate on her, and forced her to drink their urine while she was forced to say degrading sexual things. She was around nine years old when this happened.
A violent sexual sadist does not know that he is “too young” to do vile, reprehensible acts to small children. This kid was eventually moved to a special school for children with major behavior problems. Something was always “off” about him, and I would be surprised if he did not continue to repeat these acts with unwilling partners throughout his life.
How are you going to give a kids punishment to a now adult? In our legal system, the then 12 year old could have probably done things that would have made Hitler go “man, thats over the top dude” and the 12 year old would have had various treatments/punishments/whatevers done to him till he was 18 and then very likely been a free man. The guy is now four years past 18. Is time travel part of your solution here?
I’ll say that it is possible the whole story is bad enough that the guy might could use some mandated therapy, a background investigation, and a few years of “don’t ever let us catch you doing these sorta pervy things” parole. Jail time? Too late IMO.
"The victim reported the alleged abuse to parents about a year after the incident occurred, according to police interviews. After the victim made the allegations, contact with Church was no longer allowed.
“(The victim’s mother) stated that she did not know how **serious it really was until a few years ago when (the victim) told her what happened. **”
Bolding mine.
I am having a difficult time reconciling these two statements. One one hand, it says that the victim told his parents of the abuse “about a year” after the incident occurred. On the other hand, it says that the mother of the victim didn’t know the seriousness of the situation until the victim told her what happened “a few years ago”.
I would think a parent would treat any reports of abuse coming from their child as seriously as possible. This seems odd to me.
I’m referring more to the talk about “playing doctor”, the use of quotations marks in the title, and things like this being a “witch hunt,” as if any sexual abuse must have been trivial or just a matter of kids playing around. A second grader doesn’t feel less traumatized because it was a 12 year old rather than a 16 year old who subjected her to confusing, degrading, humiliating, scary, physically painful acts. As I mentioned, children that age- especially children who are likely to go continue to be sex offenders- are perfectly capable of perpetrating serious sex crimes that can have real, lasting harm.
If someone forced you strip, forced his penis in your mouth, tried to penetrate you with an object, urinated on you and forced you to swallow multiple men’s urine, would you shrug it off as “boys will be boys?” Would you call it a “sex offense?” Would you compare it to stealing M&Ms? Then why would you do this when it happens to a second grader?
What looks like happened to me is that years ago the kid said something like “Mom, Billy showed me his penis behind the old shed!” and mom said “Honey, that’s a problem. I don’t want you playing with Billy again. You should always come to me if someone does something like that and it makes you comfortable.”
Only years later does the daughter say “You know, Mom, when I said Billy showed me his penis, he actually did X, Y and Z.”
I’m not shrugging it off. You are confusing the issues of something (possibly horrible) happening with what can/should be done justice wise now.
That some folks here think “what the hell is to be done NOW?” does not mean they think what happened BACK THEN wasn’t bad or shouldn’t have been dealt with properly at that time.
Again, what are going to do now that is fair and works within the legal system?