Originally Posted by Whistlin' Dan

Too often, I'm afraid. I'm hoping this doesn't turn out to be one of those cases. One thing that mitigates in his favor is that he doesn't have a record of prior convictions for this type of crime. As I understand it, clinically-diagnosed pedophilia usually begins around adolescence and involves a close member of the family or someone else who the child trusts, which is hard to hide from other adult members of the community. So if this guy has been operating under the radar, he's been doing a pretty good job of it for the last 20 years or so.

Another marker authorites use when investigating these kinds of cases is a predeliction for kiddie-porn. I'm sure they seized his computers, but I don't recall any mention of him being charged with possession of kiddie-porn, so this may just be a case of collossally bad judgement on his part.

Either way, even if he's found not guilty, or guilty of a lesser-charge, he and his family are going to pay a very heavy price for all of this. "It's a life-changing event"

BTW, my only "interest" in these kinds of things comes from several circumstances, most notably growing up next-door to a guy who went to prison for "lewd and lascivious behavior involving children" In his case, they were in fact "children" and not merely "underage", and none of us were surprised when it happened. He had a pretty long track record of being "weird, in a sexual way," starting in his mid-teens, especially after a few drinks. He never held a normal job, and was arrested at least once (maybe more, not sure) in his late-20's for something involving a 7-year old girl. Then came the charges which took him off the street for the next 20 years or so. "Off the street" is where that guy definitely needed to be!