Child Sex Offenders Go Scot Free in St. Mary’s

ST. MARY’S TODAY

LEONARDTOWN — It’s that simple: a teacher who is fired after being arrested in St. Mary’s County for child pornography, gets hired in the neighboring Charles County. But he gets re-arrested there for the same crime.
Shocking revelations about child predators were made at a legislative meeting of the St. Mary’s Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday evening.
The meeting was presided over by outgoing County Commissioner President Tommy McKay (R. Hollywood). The top state legislator known statewide for his unconditional love for the Chesapeake Bay, Senator Roy Dyson (D-29), was among those present at the legislative meeting. Dyson beat McKay two-to-one in the mid-term elections last week.
Of the 16 elementary public schools, 13 elementary schools had 87 sex offenders, while the four middle schools had 21 sex offenders, and the four high schools had 23 sex offenders, all living within two miles from these public schools.
St. Mary’s County has more than 100 registered sex offenders, the meeting heard.
“Maryland should give it’s citizens an honest and full accounting of all people convicted of these crimes,” said Keith Harless, who works as an IT professional at the Pax River Naval base.
He said sex offense against a child was a life altering crime. Harless called for at least three new laws to put kids out of harms way.
In all, the state of Maryland has 860,000 children attending public schools, 16,667 of whom are in St. Mary’s County.
He said too often sex offenders are not being required to register. One example from St. Mary’s, in particular, was spine-chilling. In that case, Harless said, a man who had committed sexual offense on a ten-year-old girl was allowed to go free with just a tap on the wrist.
He said the culprit could have gotten 25 years in prison, but that he plead to second degree assault and committing a fourth degree sexual offense with the 10-year-old victim. Harless regretted the man just got five years in prison, adding even that light sentence was suspended with work release privileges and probation, and it was ruled the culprit did not need to register as a sex offender.
“Better minimum sentencing standards need to be enacted into Maryland law to ensure the community of proper justice,” Harless said.
He said 24 Maryland sex offender registrants are employed or enrolled at Maryland institutions of higher education. “Including one at the College of Southern Maryland.”
Harless, speaking on the basis of research done in the field, said, “One in five girls will be molested by age 18, one in six boys will be molested by age 18 and one in five children on the internet have been propositioned.”
He said as many as 36 percent of children reported abuse by apparent, 15 percent reported abuse by another relative and 30 percent reported by abuse by acquaintances.
One of Harless’s proposal reads, “Require schools receiving Maryland state funds to perform background checks on all employees and volunteers, including review of sex offender registries in all states the person has previously resided or worked.”
Another proposal reads, “Require sentencing of convicted sex offenders to include mandatory lifetime registration one the sex offender registry.”
Yet another of his proposals said, “Provide school personnel who are responsible for monitoring children during outside activities, including, but not limited to recess and bus loading or unloading, with Maryland Sex Offender Information. This information will support the development of a protocol for school district and personnel to follow as they seek reestablish a safe environment in the immediate vicinity of public schools.”
Meanwhile, nine public officials were present at the legislative meeting. Out of the nine, voters reposed their trust one more time in as many as eight of them. In contrast, McKay went to hobnob with outgoing governor, Bob Ehrlich, to unseat Dyson. He made an abortive leap from county to state politics, but the voters decided to send him into the political wilderness. McKay conceded at a public meeting last week, voters had decided to throw the bums out.
Other than Dyson, the elected officials who attended the legislative meeting were area House Delegates John Bohanan (D-29B), Johnny Wood (D-29A), Tony O’Donnell (R-29C), and the four St. Mary’s commissioners Dan Raley (D. Great Mills), Tom Mattingly (D. Leonardtown), Larry Jarboe (R. Golden Beach) and Kenny Dement (R. Piney Point).
Jarboe, talking with ST. MARY’S TODAY, said it may take quite a while for McKay to recover from the ignominy of the massive defeat. “He lost by a huge margin. He will now have to start from scratch, perhaps by contesting the seat that would be vacated by Tom Mattingly four years from now,” Jarboe said. “Before that he will have to go to college to get his business administration degree, show it to the voters and ask them to forgive him. But I doubt he will do that.”
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