originally posted 10/8/2010
I would like to discuss our SEX OFFENDER Registry with you. Please hear me out. I am a wife of a Sex Offender and I want to tell my story. I married my husband in 2003, he came from a very good family, his dad and brother are ministers, his other brother is a lawyer and his sister is an engineer. My husband retired from the United States Navy in 1995.
We had a good life. I am not sure when this problem arose but in 2009, my son found a camera at the end of my in-home tanning bed and turned it over to the police. That brings us to present day nightmare: On the hard drive the investigation found six videos of two girls (at the time they would have been 15 years old ) the deleted videos from back in 2008 were all that was found on the hard drive.
My husband was arrested and spent 37 days in the county jail. I needed time to evaluate what had happened and about my marriage, after many books and counseling sessions I decided to post bail for my husband, I had bought a small trailer so he could live there and it was up to him to figure out what he needed to do about his situation. He immediately called a counselor and started his sessions and eventually I joined the sessions too.
The counselor wanted him to see a doctor, so he set his appointment up and both the counselor and doctor diagnosed my husband with BIPOLAR 2, not that this excuses his actions, they believe he has had this all his life, but undiagnosed. After listening to the doctors and reading up on BIPOLAR, I am starting to understand the disease, this disease leads to RISKY behavior and being treated with medicine helps with the highs and lows of life and other things that happen in the brain.
After long searching within me and about my marriage, I wanted to work things out with my husband. A marriage vow that I took seriously, in sickness and health.
My husband was sentenced on September 14, 2010 to four years in prison and will have to be labeled a Sex Offender for 25 years. All because he made a BAD choice, he never touched the two girls nor did he send pictures onto the internet, I want to make that VERY clear.
My husband was very remorseful for what he had done. I believe that a first time non violent sex offender should be given a second chance at life.
I understand the need to protect our children but sex offenders have children too so while protecting one set of children you are damaging another set of children, this doesn’t make sense.
We don’t have registries for murders or drug dealers; these type of OFFENSES hurt our children as well.
This registry not only affects the Offender, but the innocent family that tries to stay together is also affected and that is not fair to me or my kids.
I do believe that if they are REPEAT Offenders or rapists, molesters there should be notification. The first time NON violent Offender should require extensive treatment and probation for ever long the courts deem. There are hundreds of Sex Offenders that are on a list that don’t deserve to be on the list.
God is our JUDGE and he FORGIVES, why do we think we have the right to try and be ABOVE GOD? WE NEED TO PROTECT ALL CHILDREN and this registry does not protect the sex offender’s family.
Please rethink the Adam Walsh Bill, it is UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!!