WI- Tutor in Amery, Wis., student sex case is banished from community

This sentence is totally wrong for the circumstances of this case, the article's first sentence tells us why "had sex multiple times". Further, banishment should never be used as a punishment simply because it moves a local problem elsewhere and ignores the responsibility of the judge to protect, the local area and society as a whole.

Here the ties between the victim and the offender still exist, the next step we will hear about is, he runs to her and they elope to parts unknown.

It appears that this sentence lacks a component of "preventing it from happening again," (sex offender therapy at a minimum) which judges are also responsible for when choosing a sentence, here I see nothing. If this woman has a propensity for young men then what -within her sentence- would prevent her from finding another young person in the new community she is banished to?

7-16-2008 Wisconsin:

Wisconsin sex offender banished for 15 years after refusing to stay away from victim


An Amery, Wis., tutor who had sex with her daughter's high school classmate has been banished from her hometown.

Brenda K. Baillargeon, a mother of four who was once engaged to the 16-year-old boy she tutored, was ordered out of Amery on Thursday for the next 15 years.

The unusual order, part of a sentence that includes one year in jail, was made because she repeatedly violated past restraining orders by contacting the boy at his home, work and elsewhere in the western Wisconsin village of about 2,800.

-Any guy would get 5-10 years in prison, this is just wrong.

Polk County District Attorney Daniel Steffen said the sentence was just.

"It's not common," he said. "But where there's a clear victim and a threat, it is done."

A judge has discretion in sentencing and terms of probation, and given the actions of the former teacher's aide, the punishment could have been worse, a Hamline University School of Law professor said.

"She has found it difficult to discipline herself, so this is just another way of accomplishing that," said Robin Magee, who teaches criminal law and procedure.

The 40-year-old Baillargeon, who in March admitted to the relationship, also was ordered to have no contact with the boy the duration of the banishment. If she violates any part of the conditions, she will be sent to a state prison for at least five years, Polk County Circuit Judge Molly E. GaleWyrick said.

-Remember the movie "Catch me if you can" about the guy who was a master conterfeiter, here we will see eloping.

GaleWyrick granted Baillargeon work release, which means she can leave jail for up to 50 hours a week for work. But Baillargeon, who resigned her seven-year post as a teacher's aide during the investigation, is employed by her parents in Amery, so she will have to find another job, Steffen said. Court records say she now lives in Luck, Wis., some 20 miles north of Amery.
The judge said gender did not play into the sentence, which would have been the same for a man who had sex with a teenage girl.

"He relied on you to say stop, 'This is wrong.' He is blameless. You are not. You were 39 and he 16. It is not too much to ask what you were thinking," GaleWyrick told Baillargeon.

"I have never encountered a less likely felon," GaleWyrick said, noting she was a mother, had been employed with the school district, and had family and strong ties to the community. And "no criminal record, which in the law is significant."

Those factors weighed in her favor, but Baillargeon "clearly needs to be punished," the judge said, ordering her to have no contact with her victim, who is now 17, during her 15-year probation.

"You are going to prison if he contacts you and you respond," GaleWyrick said. "It's that simple."
As a convicted felon and a sex offender, Baillargeon can't vote or use firearms and must submit to polygraph and DNA tests, and register as a sexual offender. She must also pay restitution to the victim and his family, but the amount will be set at a later date.

Before entering no-contest pleas to sexual assault and child enticement as part of a plea agreement, Baillargeon faced 10 criminal charges and up to 31 years in prison.

Steffen said Baillargeon has failed to take responsibility or show remorse. But Baillargeon's attorney, Owen Williams, disagreed.

The boy remains interested in his former tutor and is "sorry for Brenda," he said. "She came to this relationship as a damaged person ... in a damaged state of mind as her marriage deteriorated."

Baillargeon remained stoic during the proceedings and never turned to face the victim's mother and family, even when she addressed them.

"It doesn't paint a good picture of me," she said of a blistering letter — read in court — that the boy's mother wrote detailing the damage to her son and family. "I do realize what I did, and I am very sorry for the hurt it has caused. I do apologize to you in public. I think that shows I am trying to be remorseful. I am not a sexual predator who seeks out young boys."

She, her family and attorney left court without comment. The boy's family, according to the court's victim advocate, said they were satisfied with the outcome.

The teenager's mother became suspicious about the relationship last fall — a relationship Baillargeon and the boy first denied to investigators. The mother obtained a restraining order, which Baillargeon repeatedly ignored.

She had sex with him at his home, at his grandfather's cabin, on a bench at a nearby park and at her cabin near Amery over the course of seven months, Steffen said.

Baillargeon also took him on trips and sneaked into his home in the early morning hours for sex, the court records said. He saved his summer earnings for an engagement ring, and after she got a divorce, they planned to marry and move to North Carolina, where he wanted to become a NASCAR mechanic.

Under Wisconsin law, marriage applicants must be 18. But 16-year-olds may marry with parental consent.

There have been banishments similar to the one imposed on Baillargeon, including the 1992 case of a 61-year-old Bloomington man who molested a 9-year-old girl. A judge ordered him to move permanently from the neighborhood or go to prison for more than five years.

In 2003, an Alaskan village of 110 grew tired of a troublemaker with a history of drunken violence and banished him. The Native Village of Perryville Tribal Council and a state judge told the man to leave and not come back. He was given a one-way ticket to Anchorage. ..News Source.. by Kevin Harter