I have an ideological problem with sex offender registries,* and *with charging underage criminals as adults (which happened, or else he wouldn’t still be on the registry). I mean, there are kids as young as 12 or 13 who do something stupid, and right away everyone starts talking about charging them as adults. What the everloving FUCK?
Anyway… obviously you can’t unlearn what you learned, so I’m not advocating you just forget about it. But I do think he’s done his time and, if he hasn’t been convicted of any other sex crimes in the 22 years since his original offense, then you and your neighbors are very, very likely safe. I would recommend letting him finish the job, but don’t hire him again in the future (and don’t recommend him to anyone else).
I think you should consider investing in criminal background checks in the future, though, if this kind of thing worries you (or at least look people up on the registry before you hire them). It’s not fair to pull the rug out once you hire the guy, because once you hired him he probably stopped looking for other work during that time period. It’d be one thing if he just got out of jail yesterday, but that isn’t the case.
Charging a seventeen-year-old as an adult is far, far different than charging a thirteen-year-old as an adult. Especially when we’re talking about someone who raped a six-year-old. Jesus.
How do you know he fucked a kid? I’m not seeing it anywhere on that website and if he did then surely it’s odd that he only has to be on the registery for another 4 years? Do that here and you would be on it for life and we have much lesser sentences than you.
This type of thing hadn’t even crossed my mind before I heard the comment from him to his girlfriend. When I told my wife about it her curiosity got the best of her and she had to go looking it up; I wouldn’t have even bothered. I just don’t plan on hiring him in the future or recommending him, which is overall a shame because he is doing very good work in a tight time frame. I think you’re right with what you suggest.
To whomever questioned me about the charges: I looked up the conviction based on the criminal code given to his case and it states to be charged with what he was he would have had to, "Forcibly engage a child under 14 in (insert whatever here.) So, he engaged in some form of sexual contact with an unwilling victim, which in my opinion, is rape.
Thank you for doing the research to find this pat; I did not feel like looking it up again. This also begs the question: At what point is someone forgiven for a crime like this? Or are they ever?
Also, if I would have had children of my own that were near the rental I am having him work on I would have been quite a bit more diligent with my screen of him. He gave me some photos of his work and a few numbers to call and that was the extent of my check on him. It isn’t particularly difficult work, but it is monotonous and boring, so I chose to pay for it rather than do it myself.
If I would have had kids would he have even been legally allowed to work where they were present?
I understand your confusion. This is a shared computer and my wife and I’s mutual friend, Jered, logged into read this thread. He still had it up when I began using the laptop again.
He introduced me to this site by the way and suggested I start this thread here knowing that solid advice would be offered. Thanks for pointing it out so I didn’t post anything he would have been upset with.:smack:
PS: He was one of my friends who were here last night when we found all this out. He was of the opinion that we let him go right after the job was finished; I felt that there were other solutions, for example not even addressing it since its just a weeks work.
Because, despite your hysterical capitalization, we don’t know that he raped a 6-year-old.
What we know is that he committed Sexual Abuse 1st Degree, and that the victim was a girl, aged 6. Sexual Abuse is defined under Missouri law as:
Emphasis mine.
So, any sexual contact with a person under 14 falls under this statute. It doesn’t have to be rape, and indeed, the Missouri statutes have separate listings for crimes such as forcible rape, statutory rape, child molestation, and sexual misconduct.
I’m not arguing that this makes him a good guy. I’m also not arguing that his sentence was appropriate. I also think that any sexual contact with a six-year-old is pretty fucking disgusting, and is deserving of punishment. But, in the absence of an actual transcript of his trial, or a news story related to the case, we don’t know exactly what he did. It seems to me that, if he actually raped the girl, the charge would have been more than just Sexual Abuse.
This is more or less the conclusion my wife and I came to last night. We decided we didn’t know the facts or extenuating circumstances so we would just let it be. Perhaps I made an overstatement by calling him a rapist, but we all agree that
these types of crimes are repulsive.
To whomever asked why not just come out and ask him: What good is that going to do me? He is done here on Wednesday (he is off today), so it just seems like more bad than good could come from such a confrontataion. I’ve already paid him for most of the work because he provided me an address, references, and a copy of his driver’s license. He came off like he needed the money to get back and forth from the rental to his home; the trip itself is about 60 miles in total.
Like I said before, the whole thing just makes me feel…confused. It makes me question a lot of what I believe and how we, as a society, should handle individuals like this.
While I hate and despise child molesters and child abusers just like all other normal, sane, ethical individuals the fact remains that if we DON’T lock them up for the rest of their lives, and DON’T simply give them a stipend to live on, we need to give them a means to pay for a roof over their head and food on the table or we will be party to pushing them into further crime as a matter of survival, as I don’t see the average criminal of any type simply meekly laying down and starving to death.
If he hasn’t been a problem on this particular job I’d let him finish and definitely pay him for his time. So long as there are no children near I might even hire him again for a specific and short term job if he’s a good worker. I realize that will horrify some people, but as I said, if we aren’t going to give them a means to survive honestly we’d be kinder to either lock 'em up for life or put a bullet through their head. If anyone asks for a reference be up front - he’s a good worker (if that’s the case) but he’s a convict and needs to be kept away from kids at all times, no exceptions. Let the other person decide whether or not to hire him on their own. True, most people aren’t going to hire him. Sucks to be him. Even so, there are types of work and job sites where kids just aren’t around and thus no one will be at risk from his presence. Prevent him from doing any sort of honest work at all don’t be surprised if you hear he’s holding up quickie-marts.
I agree with you, Broomstick. The fact is he has been a very good employee and proved to be very highly skilled when it comes to carpentry, especially finish carpentry. Not only that, but he saved me money by using parts that I figured were of no use anymore and he was able to salvage them. He has been nothing but courteous and saved every receipt for me to deduct off of taxes.
Last night him and his girlfriend showed up rather late in the evening with nothing but a tupperware container of rice and peas to eat for supper. He seemed ashamed when I came in and him and her were eating only rice. I went ahead and grilled them some chicken and my wife made them mashed potatoes with a salad. They seemed very grateful and did not appear they had ingested anything recently that was as kind to the palate.
If I hired him again, Broomstick, would that make me an enabler or excuse maker? There are plenty of people looking for work so it is not hard to find someone do the labor, so that isn’t the issue. Frankly though, he has saved me more time and money than everyone else who works on our rentals has.
Ex-cons need to eat, too. If you find him a good worker and can employ him with no risk to others then why not? The job-seekers that are NOT ex-cons and convicted sex offenders will have far more places too look for work than he will.
It comes down to your choice when you employ someone - there are MANY people out there qualified for any position you name. You can choose to employ an ex-con who does good work for you, or you can choose to employ people with clean records.
Enabler or excuser? What, no option for “helping him live an honest life”? Isn’t that also worth something to society?
I agree with Broomstick he has paid his price and deserves a chance. My Brother is an ex con, while I cannot condone criminal behavior, I can accept that they have done their time and the slate is clean. The Man is eating rice and peas does he need to be humiliated any further? IMHO you should let him know you know and give him more work when you need him again. It is taking a chance but he has been a good worker thus far, can you judge him as the person he is today instead of the person he was 22 years ago? That said you must be careful and trust your instincts and frankly your wife. Good luck, sometimes ignorance is bliss.
