To
Whom It May Concern,
I am writing this letter to address issues I have
regarding current statutes concerning sex offenders. While I agree that
the true offenders, pedophiles, and violent offenders need to be dealt with in
a manner that ensures the safety of everyone, the laws must be changed.
There have to be allowances for mitigating circumstances, and judges have to be
allowed the freedom to look at all factors, in order to make appropriate decisions
on a case by case basis. As it stands now, it appears that judges have their
hands tied, and have to follow a "The law is the law" protocol.
This issue is very personal to me as I have been on both sides of it.
Two of my daughters were sexually assaulted when they were 3 and 4 years old by
a family friend's teenage son. The case was dismissed because evidence was
mishandled and lost, and my 4 year old daughter was unable to testify out of fear.
In spite of overwhelming physical evidence, the District Attorney chose to dismiss
the case, rather than inform me that the evidence had been lost by authorities.
I discovered the truth about the lost evidence through a newspaper that had done
an investigation 2 years later. As a result of this experience, I
believe that I am capable of seeing both sides of this issue objectively.
I am now on the other side of this issue as my 19 year old son Niles has
been labeled as a sex offender, and I question whether that label is appropriate
based on the facts of his case.
In July, 2003 Niles met a young
lady, (whose name I will not disclose due to confidentiality) in a local chat
room. They discussed music at great length as Niles is an accomplished musician,
and this young lady wanted Niles to teach her how to play guitar. This young
lady had an internet profile that stated she was 15 years old. She also
stated in a conversation with Niles that she was 15, and would be turning 16 in
a matter of weeks.
Niles agreed to meet with her to begin giving her
guitar lessons, and they also had bible studies as they both shared similar
spiritual beliefs. After they had studied together on numerous occasions,
they became attracted to one another, and became engaged in a mutual relationship
which involved intimacy. They engaged in intimate activity 4-5 times until
the young lady disclosed that she was only 14 years old. Once she revealed
her true age, Niles expressed his belief that the relationship should not continue.
The young lady became angry and indicated that if the relationship ended, she
would call authorities and portray that she was a victim of assault as a means
to keep the relationship intact. Although Niles cared for this young lady,
he realized that this relationship could not continue.
On July 16th,
the young lady convinced Niles to come to a park near her home to return her guitar.
Once again, she expressed her desire to continue the relationship, and when Niles
resisted her advances she became angry and stated that she was going to her home
to contact authorities. Niles remained at the location pending arrival of
authorities in order to respond to the allegations leveled against him.
Upon arrival, Niles was willingly transported by authorities, and was questioned
at the sheriff's office and cooperated fully with officers concerning the allegations.
Based on the nature of the allegations, and the statutes as they are currently
written, an officer then transported Niles to the Adams County Detention Facility
charged with a felony sex offense. He was released on bond the following
day and given a summons to appear in court to answer to the allegations against
him. There were no restrictions imposed or implied other than he was to
have no contact with his accuser.
During the time that Niles was detained,
the young lady was calling his cell phone in an attempt to retract her allegations.
She left numerous voice mail messages stating she was sorry, and asking for forgiveness
as her allegations were made in an attempt to preserve the relationship, and she
did not realize the severity of her actions. The attempts to contact Niles
were incessant, and her level of deception increased in an effort to force Niles
to communicate with her in spite of the fact that a no contact order had
been issued. Examples of the deception used in an attempt to initiate contact
included statements that she was pregnant, and also that she had contracted an
STD. Niles's adherence to the no contact order seemed to escalate her attempts
to contact him, and she left numerous voice mails that were increasingly intimidating
in nature. The voice mail messages varied in content, and she was either
apologetic, saying she was calling authorities to inform them of her deception,
or she would be very angry because Niles would not respond to her attempts to
contact him, and indicate she would do "whatever it takes" to send him
to prison. She stated that the charges would be dropped if Niles resumed
the relationship with her. The frequency of the calls increased to the degree
that it became necessary to contact authorities on August 8th to have them
intervene and ask her to stop harassing Niles. The calls decreased for a
short period, but increased again as the court date approached. We ignored
them until it became nearly constant, and we disconnected his phone to prevent
her from calling.
Two days after Niles went to jail for his alleged
"crime", this young lady was back online in the same chat room she had
met my son in, and was attempting to meet other males that were 18 or older.
She continually changed her internet profile stating that she was between the
ages of 14-16. This young lady was also asked to leave her church for a
period of time after she continually harassed her youth group pastor who was 18.
The church spoke with her mother, and they stated that the mother seemed helpless
in dealing with her daughter's behavior, and she consented to her daughter being
expelled from all church activities. The young lady continued to attempt
contact with her youth pastor through email, and he has saved numerous letters
from her stating that, "I thought that I, or someone else here at the church
would need these as proof of her behavior to defend ourselves in the event she
made untruthful allegations." The youth pastor also stated that she
was asked to leave because they knew that her blatantly aggressive advances would
cause troubles for someone in the church. They had tried to counsel her,
but she continued to be sexually aggressive to the male members, and also to males
she encountered during church outings.
All of this information
was documented, and presented to the courts to show that this was not a case of
a child being preyed on by a sex offender, this is clearly a case of a misdirected
young lady that seems to believe that this behavior is acceptable. She is
unconcerned about the ramifications of her actions, and has no remorse for the
lifetime damages she has caused my son. The court reviewed all of this information,
including the statements from the girls mother that said any punishment would
be unjust as she felt my son had committed no crime. She felt that they
were simply dating based on her daughter's deception about her age, and when my
son tried to do the right thing, he was persecuted instead. The mother also
stated that her daughter has a tendency to act in a malicious fashion when dealing
with young men that reject her. The mother sought counseling, but the young
lady refused to attend. The court sentenced my son based on the "letter
of the law", and this is the sentence he received 2 years probation - conditions
include, but are not limited to:
Vacate family home due to minor
siblings there. NO contact with siblings, not even to inquire how they are.
(he was allowed to stay in the home for 6 months during court proceedings and
it was not a risk until the day he was sentenced. This makes no sense)
No contact with minors in any way - This means he must shop in the late night
hours to minimize exposure to children and families, he may not enter ANY fast
food restaurant, and to go to a traditional restaurant, he must have a trained
chaperone, make sure he positions himself away from families, and if a family
is seated near him, he must leave the premises immediately.
He may
not go to malls, toy stores, or ANY store where he may encounter families.
That would be nearly all of them.
He may not come to family events such as
birthdays, holidays, etc. if children will be present.
He may not seek employment
where children or families may frequent, and if a child enters his place of business,
he must leave immediately. This puts him at risk for termination. He
may not go to parks, theatres, sporting events, concerts, zoos, amusement parks,
or anywhere he may encounter a child or family.
He may not possess photographs
of minors, including his siblings. He may not discuss his siblings, or any
other minor at any time.
If he has an appointment, i.e. , doctor, dental,
probation, etc. He must sign in, inform the staff that he is a sex offender,
and wait in the hall until called for his appointment. Due to the deception
of this young lady that was acknowledged by investigators, probation, and the
sex offender evaluation team, it was determined that Niles would undergo polygraph
testing so the truth could be determined. He will also undergo maintenance
polygraphs to ensure he has had no contact with minors.
He must also register
as a sex offender for 10 years.
This list is a very short summary of
the humiliating, and unbearable conditions Niles must now live under. Until
this incident, Niles was an outstanding young man with no legal record, no problems
during his school career, no drug or alcohol use. He had a very promising
career in music ahead of him, and was to be auditioning for the Denver Pops Orchestra
this summer. He has played at National music competitions, traveled out
of state with his peers for musical training and competition, and has even performed
for some of you during Cinco De Mayo at the State Capital with his Mariachi group.
He was also the assistant musical director at his former high school. Niles
was an outgoing, happy, confident young man with a bright future ahead of him.
He has always been well liked by his peers, adults, instructors, and anyone else
who had the fortune of meeting him. He is respectful, kind and considerate,
and always eager to lend a helping hand to anyone in need of help. He was
a cheerful young man who looked forward to new challenges musically, and was investigating
college music programs that would enhance his natural gift. I am a foster/adoptive
parent for Adams County Social Services, and have had numerous children in my
care, and Niles was always kind to them, and tried to be a supportive "Big
Brother" to these troubled children. He tried to help them find their
niche in life be it, music, art, drama, etc. as a means to help them overcome
their troubles.
Since his sentencing, Niles has become quiet, sullen,
insecure, and doubtful of his future. He feels ostracized and shunned by
the same society that once embraced him. He feels violated and robbed by
the system we call justice. He was honest and cooperative during his case,
and has taken full responsibility for his actions, yet he was treated like he
was a deviant pedophile, stalking small children on playgrounds. His accuser
has a documented pattern of this behavior, her deceptions were revealed, yet she
is not held accountable. His once contagious smile has faded, and his smiling
eyes are now filled with sadness. He is insecure, anxious, and has not slept
well since he was sentenced. He is heartbroken at the loss of his family,
as he now cannot even call to say hello for fear that his siblings may answer
and he will be in violation. This has only just begun. Who will he
be in 2 years when his probation is completed? Who will he be in 10 years
when he must no longer register as an offender? The thought of the
long term negative impact on him frightens me.
The family has been torn
apart as well. My children wonder how the justice system could be so blind,
and how the laws could be so vague. They wonder how the system could fail them
yet again. They believe that the law should allow room for situations such
as these. They are uncertain about their future, as they were pursuing music
as well at their brother's instruction. They miss their brother terribly,
and don't understand why I had to make him leave home. I myself have not
slept more than 3 hours a night since my son was forced to move out. The
house is quiet now, we no longer hear him playing piano every evening, and we
no longer hear his contagious laughter. The vagueness of the laws has impacted
not only our lives, but the lives of our friends, family members, and coworkers.
We are all outraged and appalled at a system that can fail so miserably, and we
intend to unite together, and make society aware of the horrible tragedies occurring
in our courtrooms everyday. How many others have had their lives ruined
by laws like these? We intend to make it our life's work to find out, and
bring it out into the open until something is changed.
May God be with
you when you make decisions concerning our laws. You have lives in your
hands, and they could very well be your sons, daughters, grandchildren, nieces,
nephews, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers. I hope you, and your loved
ones never have to endure the heartbreak and loss these laws can impose.
Sincerely,
K |
