Only
weeks after Lake County Juvenile Court Judge Robert Crone sentenced my 17 year
old in 2000 to the CYA [California Youth Authority], I wrote to him and Chief
Probation Officer Bucholtz several times begging for help. They didn't give me
the time of day even after I described the torture my son had been enduring. That
was three years ago. *Stan's (my son) criminal history began at age 16
when he was  charged
with a misdemeanor simple assault, he had spent a total of 60 days in Juvenile
Hall in Lakeport, that included two probation violations. The summer of his junior
year he had met up with a girl at a party, they smoked marijuana, drank alcohol
and went to her house and made out, kissed / fondled each other. There was no
intercourse. Shortly after the "make out" episode the girl's mother found
out. Fearful of severe punishment and fearful that her mother would find out she
had been at the party, she lied. She told her mother that he had "just showed
up at the house". This led to an accusation of rape. The more the girl received
attention, the more she fed into the story, even going as far as using baby talk;
"he put is choo-choo in my nanny coo". It was reported to the female Deputy Sheriff
that Stan "thrust his penis into her and wouldn't stop". It had snowballed into
a horrific story of a violent rape. After two rape test's proved the girl
to be untruthful (she was a virgin), she finally admitted the contact was consensual. The
charge was reduced to a PC288(a), the girl ended up to be 13 and not LEGALLY old
enough to give consent for any type of contact, regardless of how advanced / developed she
was or how she pursued the attention of Stan. Many 13 and 14 year old girls commonly
seek the attention of 16 or 17 year old boys, it's been going on forever. After
a pitiful defense from Public Defender Eric Bruce, which consisted of 5 minutes
in the crowded hallway outside the courtroom, he convinced Stan to accept a plea
to avoid a trial. Some non related charges would be dropped if he plead to the
288(a). He convinced Stan it was a "good deal". The Judge sentenced him to a mandatory
minimum of 3 years at CYA as a "sex offender". From the moment he arrived,
Stan began to suffer unthinkable abuse; being a sex offender at the CYA is a green
light for cruel and inhumane treatment. Stan went into the CYA a sexually normal
17 year old boy, however the staff referred to him as a baby rapist, child molester
and gave him the pet name "Chester", this went on daily for three years. There
were beatings, lacerations requiring stitches, but the most damage, the damage
that will never heal is the emotional and psychological abuse he endured. Last
Thursday I testified before the Senate Select Committee Hearing on the CYA. I
told of Stan's experiance and the damage it has caused him and our family. One
of the Senators asked if Lake County ever showed any interest in the abuse he
suffered; sadly I had to say "no, they never have". I produced for the Senators letters
written by me to the Judge and to the Probation Department where I begged them
for help. I gave them (lake Co) specific details of the abuse and they turned
their back on me, they never even gave me the respect of a phone call. Today
Stan is required to register as a sex offender, a lifetime mandate, a lifetime
sentense. The girl went on with her life, she didn't skip a beat. Before Stan
finished his first 18 months at the notorious Preston Facility, the girl had given
birth to her first child. Stan should have never been sent to the CYA in the first
place and certainly not as a sex offender. Society coddles and pities
the young teenage girl who gets pregnant, while the teenage boys are persecuted.
There are hundreds of boys just like my son who have been swept up in the over
broad sex offender laws in California today; they are normal teenage boys and registered
sex offenders who never had intercourse with a teenage girl, just consensual,
non forced contact; "any act which results in a lust or desire" with a thirteen
or fourteen year old girl. Have you seen the independent film Thirteen?
It depicts a far more accurate view of most thirteen year old girls in today's
society. I was very upset when I read in your article that nobody reported
abuse on the wards sent to CYA from your area. My son is one of the 13 sent there
by Lake Co. I reported to every person I could think of, Senators, Congressmen,
OIG, YACA and finally someone heard my cries for help and took notice. Thankfully
after almost two years I gained the support of the CYA administration in Sacramento
who agreed that Stan should have never been sent to CYA as a sex offender, they
removed him from any sex offender treatment program and they were not suprised
that it was Lake County that sent him there. All of the evaluations done on my
son stated that "Stan cannot be considered a sex offender" and that "he is not
in need of any kind of sex offender treatment". Yet today Stan must register as
one and if he ever wishes to go to school he must also register with the campus
police as a sex offender. Not all the boys at CYA are murderers, rapist
or gun toting gang bangers. At 16 Stan was a member of the varsity Basketball
and football team, he was also a student lion who did hundreds of hours of community
service for nothing but the good feeling it gave him to help others. Just 10 months
later he was ward # 85279 of the CYA, labled a baby rapist and child molester.
Lake County was fully aware of the barbaric condition at CYA. -- L
in
California | 
