Sexual predator loophole targeted

2-13-2008 Alabama:

MONTGOMERY -- Attorney General Troy King said people in Alabama would be outraged if they knew that a loophole in state law could hinder law enforcement officers from using tactics similar to those on a popular TV show to find sexual predators.

Millions have watched the "To Catch a Predator" segments on NBC's "Dateline," which exposes men who use the Web to contact children for sexual encounters.

On the show, members of the group Perverted Justice, which targets predators, create Internet postings -- purportedly written by minors -- meant to attract the interest of possible molesters. After chats online and other contact, men who respond to the postings come to a house, where they are confronted on camera.

In Alabama, some judges have interpreted state law to say that a defendant may be guilty of solicitation only if he engaged a child, not someone posing as a child online.

King, state Rep. Steve McMillan and others want to clearly define the law to allow the prosecution of people soliciting someone they believe to be a child.

"There is no adequate tool to hold people accountable," said King, who explained that he was informed of the problem by law officers in Baldwin County.

For the second straight year, King is supporting a bill by McMillan, R-Gulf Shores, intended to close the loophole. McMillan's bill could clear the House as early as this week.

The bill passed the House last year, but fell victim to stalling in the Senate.

McMillan said the Gulf Shores Police Department has become adept at luring sexual predators via the Web. But the loophole could endanger the local cases because the officers are not minors, McMillan said.

Baldwin County District Attorney Judy Newcomb said there were 30 cases in Gulf Shores last year in which her office had to charge people with a lesser crime because judges interpreted the law to say that an actual child must be solicited.

"That is where it became quite obvious this was going to be a problem, that our judges made the legal decision it was not a child," she said.

Parents have contacted law enforcement agencies in Baldwin County when they have found evidence of improper communication on the computer, Newcomb said. She said a law officer should be empowered to step in and continue the conversation.

McMillan's bill states, "The fact that an undercover operative or law enforcement officer was involved in the detection and investigation of an offense under this section shall not constitute a defense to a prosecution under this section."

The bill would change the law to specify "that the crime may be committed if the defendant believes the person being solicited is a child."

Using a computer to solicit a child is a Class B felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

King said law enforcement officials have told him of people mailing bus tickets, hotel keys and airplane tickets that they think are going to a possible child sexual partner. "They sent tools to accommodate the rendezvous. It is frightening," he said. ..more.. by SEBASTIAN KITCHEN