IN- Wabash man pleads guilty to harassment

See earlier report for more facts. Folks, by now everyone knows about the TV show "To Catch a Predator" where a Perverted Justice employee would impersonate, usually, a underage female and then converse sexually with men on the Internet, getting them to come to the home where she allegedly lives, and the police would arrest the man for soliciting a minor over the Internet. Effectively, Brown did the same at least with one of the persona's, does anyone see any comment that the police are looking into finding those predators?

8-21-2008 Indiana:

Ryan Brown, 23, Wabash, faces a maximum jail time of 180 days in jail plus fine at sentencing in Wabash Superior Court on Sept. 17.

At that prospect, Cindy Flanagan spoke for herself and daughters Haley Flanagan and Emily Jones: "We just want to throw up." They were speaking to this reporter, just outside the Judicial Center.

In Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon Brown pleaded guilty to two counts of harassment, one for each of the sisters. In pleading guilty he admitted surreptitiously stealing pictures and personal information and placing it on the Internet. Pretending to be them, he made up wild and false sexually explicit stories about them and sent them to Internet correspondents.

Wabash police investigated the offenses and, finding no Internet laws applicable, charged him with stalking and harassment.

When Brown pleaded guilty to harassment in return for getting stalking dropped, he gained a great deal: Stalking is a Class D Felony, for which he could be sentenced to as much as three years; harassment is a Class B misdemeanor, for which he could draw up to 180 days. As the charge bargain stipulated that the two harassment sentences be served at the same time, Brown can serve no more than 180 days and escaped a felony conviction.

The Flanagans have been making the rounds to school boards and the city council seeking support for stronger, specifically Internet laws for the future.

In court Wednesday, when it became clear that the charge bargain entailed no more than 180 days, Cindy Flanagan, spoke up, " With all due respect, your honor. We beg you not to accept this plea bargain. The prosecutor (deputy prosecutor Kristina Lynn) has never spoken to us." Later, outside court Flanagan amplified on that: Lynn had never returned her calls.

Recognizing the strong sentiment underlying the case and numerous Flanagan supporters present, Judge Chris Goff only mildly admonished her for the interruption. But he did contend that the agreement was so structured that he did not have the power either to reject it or hold it in abeyance.

In accepting the plea and finding Brown guilty, he did, however, postpone sentencing and ordered the probation department to work up a presentencing investigation. A PSI looks at the defendant's life from every aspect - education, attitude, prior offenses, danger to the community, if any. It will also incorporate attitudes of the victims, and the victims will presumably also be able to address the court before sentencing.

Under slightly altered circumstances, Goff could have held the finding of guilty in abeyance until after he had read the presentencing investigation. Under that circumstance, the judge could, if he felt the bargain unjust, have rejected it and allow the case to be reset for trial. There is, however, no power in a judge to force a prosecutor to prosecute beyond what he or she thinks can be proved and is just.

Scott Long, the Wabash police detective who investigated the case, talked to the Plain Dealer about how the facts of this case kind of fell between the cracks of applicable law. "Stalking" and "harassment" were the closest they could come, he said.

The federal government has some laws that might fit, but they get involved chiefly if there's an interstate aspect, Long said.

The wildly explicit false sex stories were bad enough, Long said, but even worse was the danger the Flanagan daughters were in - are perhaps still in. For in pretending to be the girls and posting on the Internet, Brown was also providing accurate personal information - information that might lead a predator right to them. As the family did not discover the Internet connection until this March, they went two years without knowing they were in danger, Long said.

"He (Brown) probably needs to register as a sex offender, but there's apparently nothing on the books to require that," said Long.