OH- Judge sentences sex offender to more counseling, no prison

As I post this article I can already hear the howls about this judges decision....

10-3-2008 Ohio:

Prashant Chopra used the Internet to lure an officer posing as a 12-year-old girl to have sex, but the Cleveland Heights man was sentenced Thursday to get more counseling instead of prison.

Chopra, 30, was arrested last year outside a video store after he tried to arrange the sexual rendezvous. He was ordered to serve five years probation by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Stuart Friedman.

"I think it is important we keep you on the path you already embarked on," said Friedman of Chopra, who went to a facility in Atlanta to get therapy from a doctor who specializes in treating sexual offenders.

In January, Chopra pleaded guilty to three counts of importuning and one count of attempted kidnapping. He could have been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. His sentence also will require him to take periodic polygraph tests, and he will have to register as a sex offender for the next 15 years.

Chopra, who used the screen name "Secret Mango," asked for forgiveness before the judge read his sentence.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Brendan Sheehan was disappointed with the sentence, and said others have gotten harsher penalties.

"We feel the punishment for this crime should be incarceration," Sheehan said. "The judge was clearly impressed by his background and his community involvement, and his doctor."

Chopra is an Internet-technology consultant and entrepreneur at a Cleveland-based global nonprofit called the CampusEAI Consortium. It helps universities, governments and businesses incorporate the latest Internet technologies.

Chopra also helped develop the Open Student Television Network that Webcasts college-student-produced programs globally. His online biographies say he helped Case Western Reserve University modernize its computer infrastructure.

Chopra lives in a $1.1 million Cleveland Heights mansion and forfeited a 2006 Mercedez Benz, which he drove to the meeting that led to his arrest, as part of his plea deal.

In April, Chopra went to Atlanta to get several months of therapy from Dr. Gene Able, who testified via videoconference that Chopra took ammonia pills whenever he had an urge to look at underage girls.

In similar cases where importuning was involved, court records show some penalties were stiffer than Chopra's.

Earlier this year, Ronald Foster was sentenced to 10 years for importuning. In 2007, Howard Kaplan was sentenced to five years for importuning.

Spellacy said his client made a mistake, but has been proactive in his recovery.

"The bottom line is that Prashant sought the assistance of someone who is extremely respected in this field and engaged in the treatment," Spellacy said. "We are better off having him on the streets." ..News Source.. by Stan Donaldson, Plain Dealer Reporter