“An Oklahoma teenager is swept up in laws aimed at protecting kids from child predators. He must register as a sex offender for life, as the worst level offender, after having a sex with his girlfriend, who said she was his age, 16…
“[T]he district attorney charged Ricky as an adult for two counts of felony sex abuse of a child. He was facing 25 years in prison…”
More anti-male sex hysteria. From Teen Feels Snared In Sex Offender Law (www.newson6.com, 11/7/08):
TULSA, OK — An Oklahoma teenager is swept up in laws aimed at protecting kids from child predators. He must register as a sex offender for life, as the worst level offender, after having a sex with his girlfriend, who said she was his age, 16. Sex between teenagers is no longer just a moral issue, it’s a legal one.
Ricky (pictured) grew up dreaming of joining the Navy and becoming a police officer. He was 16 and living in Iowa when he met a girl at a club for kids 16 to 20 years old. He says she told him she was nearly 16. They began dating and had sex. Soon after, police questioned him.
“The cop asked me, did you have sex with her? And, I said twice. He said sign this statement and I signed it. Soon as I got done signing it, he said, sorry to let you know, she’s only 13,” said Ricky.
Ricky’s mother, who has recently gone blind, met with the girl’s parents.
“They said, look, we know she lied, we don’t want to press charges, we just want Ricky to say away from her and I said okay,” said Ricky’s mom, Mary.
But, the district attorney charged Ricky as an adult for two counts of felony sex abuse of a child. He was facing 25 years in prison, so he pleaded guilty and got a deferred sentence, which means it would expunged off his record.
Ricky and his mother moved back to Oklahoma and learned he must register as a sex offender for life in Oklahoma as an aggravated offender, the highest level.
That means he’ll have to forget his dreams or even getting a job.
“I read one application that said if you answer yes to sex offender, this does not make us not hire you, but, it does. If you say you’re a sex offender, automatically, you’re not getting a job,” said Ricky.
Ricky’s record was expunged last month, but Oklahoma won’t take him off the registry.
“With the expungement, there is no plea now. It’s gone, no record anymore, so no plea, why is he on this registry?” said Ricky’s mother, Mary.
Ricky now educates teenagers as his mother works to get the law reformed.
Police officers told The News On 6 the law started good, but as it’s been added to, it’s become a “screwed up mess.”
They also believe the laws must be reformed to protect children from dangerous sex offenders and also, teenagers like Ricky.
The accompanying video can be found here.
For more details about this injustice and to fill out a petition, see the website http://www.rickyslife.com
Mary, Ricky’s mom, can be reached at rickyslife@windstream.net.
20 users commented in " Teen Boy Must ‘register as sex offender for life after having sex with his girlfriend’ "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackSo glad to see another paper carrying this news. We need to change these laws that do more harm than good.
Please visit http://www.cfcoklahoma.org
before i start i have 2 daughters, but i also think cince this girl lied and agreed to sex it is a totaly diffrent, shouldnt she get some punishment to, if he didnt force her why should he be the one to lose his dreams, maybee kids should cary ids and have to show them before having sex, it does take 2 and obviously the cops knew the girl lied whats this worl comming to , baby killers getting thier parents to lie for them, 8yr old charged with prmeditated murder and a registered sex offender for life for having sex with a girl who lied, hmm…
Its ridiculous…why are they even bothring that kid…the girl lied and consented to sex he is only a tweenager himself…its just ridiculous…I am sure there are other crimes they can be pursuing besides this…they do need to change the laws or choose there battles better….
Is there some way to add a spellcheck to your response box ?
SandRider, Don’t worry. You don’t need a spellcheck. We’re interested in what you have to say and we’ll manage to read it no matter what the spelling is like. So please go ahead and leave your comment!
My comment is I agree: There needs to be an adjustment to this law or a change in how it is used so that it MEANS something and does what it was intended to do.
This is ridiculous. The girl lied about her age. Guess we better warn our teenagers to check ID & birth certificates. Wonder if any of these jerks that misused the law have any kids.
Not only children but the public registries are sweeping up people from 70 years ago. It’s time for the public to demand these registries be repealed as they are doing more harm than good. It is impossible to tell who is what.
“The man, fell in love with the woman. He was 18, she was 14, 70 YEARS AGO. They have been happily married ever since but that all may change if the United States Federal Government gets to have their way with them.”
http://cfcoklahoma.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=252:teen-love-turns-to-tragedy-sex-may-send-them-to-prison&catid=38:news-articles&Itemid=80
A spellcheck isnt that just grand….who cares bout ppl’s spelling its the internet…Im sure there millions of ppl who cant spell fur the life of them and they manage just fine to be understood.
Since when is masterbation outdated?
If he used the five knuckle schuffle maybe he wouldnt be in this mess.
I just came across two very important articles. We really need insight into the sex offender laws. So I’ll post the links to them here.
The first, “Sex Offender Expert Offers Coping Advice”
http://cfcoklahoma.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=284:sex-offender-expert-offers-coping-advice&catid=38:news-articles&Itemid=80
The second, “Residency limits on sex offenders questioned.” Patty Wetterling, was the keynote speaker.
http://cfcoklahoma.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=280%3Aresidency-limits-on-sex-offenders-questioned&catid=37%3Alatest-news&Itemid=1
Though I agree the law needs to be changed, the federal law states that if any law is found to be broken (no matter what law) it is illegal not to prosecute or investigate. So basically law enforcers CAN NOT legally “pick their battles”.
If you would like to spell check your text box download the GOOGLE TOOLBAR (Mac AND PC) and add the “Spell Check” application (often comes already installed).
I’ve seen similar situations, even one case where a 15 yr old pressed charges on her over 18 year old boyfriend after he broke up with her for another girl. She did is simply out of revenge. What’s more concerning is that on Tribal Reservations there is not always adequate legal aid service available and young men can get railroaded in to the federal system. They are signing typed up (which they didn’t type) statements while in custody. They are only thinking about getting out of jail, not the serious consequences of becoming a life -time sex offender and going in to a prison as a sex offender. Some laws need to be changed. These girls need to be charged too!
Delaware not let any one off the sex offender registry unless they die.
They have probation officer who just try to get them back in jail. Why even let them out on probation. Give them a straigt time.
I thing it’s Double jeperty , to spend life on the list after you have already did time for the crime when it comes to Romeo/ Juliet relationships. This state and others give birth control out to boys and girls free and Federal lawsay parent don’t have the right to know , then how come they let parent say if the guy or girl raped their child ( even when the child says different )
The whole Sex Offender thing has gotten blown way out of proportion. I know of a case here in my city where a man had gotten locked out of his house and needed to use the restroom so he went behind his house to urinate in the bushes and was seen by a neighbor and now he has to register for the rest of his life. I think for the most part the Sex Offender statues are a great idea, but for real crimes of a Sex Offense such as rape and child molestation ect. But to see and hear people getting locked up because they slept with someone underage 14-16 ect where it was consensual and not forced, is totally ridiculous, if the parents are okay with it, then i dont think its any of the laws business. Now if it was forced or what not that’s completely different. Now i think maybe a red flag needs to be raised if a 16 or 18 year old boy was sleeping with someone under the age of 12 per say. For the most part i hear alot of these horror stories and trials of ridiculous offenses falling under the Sex Offender list, like i said before it has gotten blown way out of proportion. Do we want to protect our kids from predators or Joe blow down the street who got locked out of his house and had a bathroom emergency? The Laws need to be Re-Analyzed and the Judicial System needs to learn when to mind their own business. Rape is one thing, Consent is another.
This is insane. If the sex was consentual, and not forced, it may have been ill-advised but not a legal issue. Teens have sex, have always had sex, will always have sex. Get over it, America. It was a ‘fling’. Something they wanted to do. I know that the laws structured to “protect” the kids are going to backfire and you are going to have worse problems than an occasional ‘fling’ by trying to enforce these absurd laws. The D.A. in this case obviously didn’t get any when he was 16 and has a mal-developed brain. If I was this boy’s parent, I’d make things happen off the record to this D.A. bastard.
edited by BNN Editor
I have to say, I would expect no less from a state such as Oklahoma…who’s denizens are dumb enough to repeatedly send Tom Coburn to the Senate, mandate the teaching of creationism in public schools and (until they were threatened with the removal of farm, oil and highway subsidies in the early 1990’s) declare people with physical disabilities incompetent for such purposes as entering into contracts or executing legal documents.
However, with that said, this problem doesn’t only exist in Oklahoma. It exists here in Missouri and in several other states and is the result of what happens when politicians act in a knee-jerk way to a bonafide problem.
As the father of two small children, I want to know where truly dangerous sex off3enders live. Hoever, without reforms, the registry is in danger of becoming irrelevant…How am I, as a dad, supposed to know who on that registry is truly dangerous and who simply was the victim of an overzealous or overly-moralistic prosecutor??
I THINK WE NEED TO CHANGE OUR SEXOFFENDER LAWS IN OKLAHOMA. WE NEED TO DECIDE WHAT A SEXOFFENDER IS. SHOULD WE HAVE THE SAME LAW FOR SOME WHO URINATES OUTSIDE AND FOR SOMEONE WHO MOLESTS CHILDERN? NO!!!!!!!!! SOME THING IS WRONG WHEN WE HAVE THE SAME PUNISHMENT FOR THESE CRIMES!
This is happening in Texas too. Boy I know was 17, girl was 12 (and better developed than I was at 18). When his dad asked him “is she old enough, if not stay away from her”, boy went to girl’s mother and asked her permission. Girl’s mother not only said yes, she asked him to move in with them and let them sleep together. Girl’s sister, already an unwed mom at 16, didn’t want girl in same situation so she called cops. Cops investigated, but waited until boy was 18 to file charges so he would be charged as an adult not juvenile. Harris Cty DA told him that he was being made an example of – which should be a crime in itself by the DA. And no example – no one even knows it happened except family.
My question is if the crime is so bad, why wasn’t the mother charged with anything? She’s just as guilty as the boy. Now boy is in prison because the probation rules are impossible to succeed at, and will be a sex offender for rest of his life.
I agree that the true predators should have life w/out parole sentences, but there are people using the laws to punish teens for having sex and ruining their lives. This zero tolerance is out of control!
As stunningly beautiful as America is, it is also essentially a police state. The country belongs to the police, no one else. Everywhere you go there are police – watching, watching, and waiting for any reason – for no reason – to jump on people. Consequently, the people of America are very nervous about everything – about parking their car, about driving too slowly, about crossing the road the wrong way, about sneezing without a permit, etc. If you walk down a street humming in Los Angeles for example, you are immediately considered to be suspicious. Once you’re arrested, the courts always support whatever the police say regardless of what that is. In Europe, the police are very casual, and they don’t threaten people because they seem to quite rightly think that most people don’t actually intend to break the law. This gains the police respect. In Los Angeles, the police believe that everyone is guilty of intending to commit a major crime – to know is to be guilty,etc. Paris, London, Berlin and Rome have all struck me as being very safe cities, and not at all uptight, which is a contrasting relief against the pressures of some parts of the United States, especially the south states and some larger cities.
Well, I am quite happy, that we don’t have anything like that in the European Union. Really. We have other freaky things, especially freedom of speech related (like that you can go to jail for issuing Mein Kampf, even for educational purposes), but not this… it’s scary. I have a good friend, who has slept with a girl slightly under 15 (a legal age for sex in the whole EU), being 16 by that time. He didn’t know it, but he was lucky that nobody called the cops. If they did, the procedure differs in each state, but generally he would have been given something like conditional punishment for 1 year or something and that’s it. No lists, anything. We had been through the “blacklisting” period before, during Nazi, Fascist or Communist expansion. We know, what is it like. And with all due respect to America, which I admire in general, this is really horrible and makes America being similar to some harsh Islamic countries more than to the Western World.
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