NC- Local case underscores sex-offender rights

While any contact should have been stopped, the outcome of this case is absurd and excessive given what is mentioned and criminal acts (a kiss on the cheeck and one on the mouth).


6-14-2008 North Carolina:

For months, a former school bus driver and minister exchanged letters with a teenage girl.

That, according to prosecutors, led to kisses on the cheek and mouth.

The minister and bus driver called it counseling. Prosecutors called it taking indecent liberties with a minor.

Earlier this week, after a jury was seated in Iredell County Superior Court and opening arguments presented, Lawrence Kerns opted to plead guilty to taking indecent liberties with a minor. A second charge, a misdemeanor, of taking indecent liberties with a student, was dismissed.

Kerns, with no previous criminal record, received a sentence of 16 to 20 months, which was suspended, and he was placed on probation for three years. The first six months will be on intensive probation.

He cannot be employed by any school during that probationary period or reside in a home with a minor child. He also has to register as a sex offender.

The young woman at the heart of this case had a short, simple message about the sentence.

“I don’t think this (is) enough punishment,” she said.

Assistant District Attorney Paxton Butler said a suspended sentence would likely have been the outcome even if a jury returned a guilty verdict on both charges.

“It’s a good chance this would have happened even with a trial,” he said.

Butler said this was an unusual case. “It’s one of the very few cases of this nature I can remember where there was no contact of a sexual nature,” he said. “We pushed it as far as it can be pushed.”

An eyewitness, another student, did see Kerns kiss the girl on the cheek, but neither she nor anyone else in the case alleged that Kerns committed any sexual act with her or in her presence.

The letters between the two, her mother said, did hint of the hope for sexual contact.

Kerns, according to Butler, insisted he was counseling the girl through a difficult time in her life.

Her mother said she was concerned that her daughter was reaching out to Kerns.

“My reaction is, you have your own minister, your own preacher to talk to,” she said.

Then she received a call from the school after another student found one of the letters, and turned it in to school officials.

The mother said she was appalled when she read the letters. From that point, the criminal investigation ensued.

While neither the teen nor her mother were happy Kerns avoided jail, they are pleased he is required to register as sex offender.

That carries a lot of baggage for at least the next 10 years, said Lt. Julie Gibson of the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office, who oversees the sex offender registry program.

The name of someone placed on the sex offender registry can technically be there from 10 years to life. After 10 years, offenders can petition a judge to have their names removed, she said.

Gibson said a two-man team of Detective Sgts. Chris Nitzu and Ernie Line spend the majority of their work hours tracking down sex offenders and making sure they are abiding by the rules of the program.

Many people are under the false impression that sex offenders are prohibited from living with or around children.

-Talk about a hick cop, this guy has no idea of whats happening across the nation.

In North Carolina, there are few such restrictions, Gibson said. While on probation, a sex offender can be ordered to never be alone with any child under the age of 18.

But, once that probationary period ends, they are only subject to the rules of the sex-offender control program.

As part of that program, they cannot work or volunteer at a school or day care, cannot live within 1,000 feet of a school or day care and must comply with the requirements to register and notify the sheriff’s office of any change of address.

Even those rules are limited, Gibson said. Offenders who owned their own home or were convicted prior to Dec. 1, 2007, when the new regulations went into effect, don’t have to move.

Gibson said in one such case, a registered sex offender lives near a school, but he has owned the house for many years and is grandfathered in as to the sex-offender control program regulations.

And there is no law against a child living in the same household with a registered sex offender if the person is not on probation.

However, Gibson said, those cases may be reported to the Department of Social Services, which could conduct an investigation.

She said potential violations of the sex-offender control program should be reported to the sheriff’s office, and specifically, her unit.

“We maintain the registry here, and we know each and every one of these guys,” she said.

Most of the 200-plus sex offenders registered in Iredell County live where they are registered, she said.

A few, who are homeless, are difficult to register without a fixed address, and recent changes in the law mean they cannot stay at Fifth Street Ministries because of the close proximity of the Bentley Center.

“We aggressively monitor these people. We get out there with a tape measure and make sure they’re not within 1,000 feet of a school or day care,” she said. “We stay on top of it as much as we can, but by all means, if someone is violating the law, call us.”

The teen involved in the most recent case said she hopes other victims of abuse will be encouraged to step forward.

While reluctant to go forward with the case at first, she’s glad she did.

“I’ll never say it’s been easy,” she said. “I’m not asking them to do it alone. I’m willing to help.” ..News Source.. by Donna Swicegood