I'm not really sure how to start this. Or whether I want to start this post at all. I may wind up being something I never ever wanted to be.
Today I read a story about a Texas man, Frank Rodriguez, who married his high school sweetheart and went on to have four children with her. Nice story, right?
But, because this couple had consensual sex while they were dating in high school (he was a senior and she was a sophomore) and she was underage, he landed on the sex offender list all those years ago. Now, he's spent his life on the list, and he's even banned from going some places with his own children because other young children will be there. He cannot coach any youth sports teams. Hell, he can't even leave the state without getting permission from the right people.
What happened was, when his wife Nikki's mom heard that they were having sex as teens, she went to the police. She says she went to "scare some sense" into the kids. So she told the police the story and let her daughter and boyfriend think about the terrible "consequences of sex before marriage" for the night. When she went back to the police the following morning to withdraw the complaint, it was too late. Unfortunately, the charge had been filed and Frank went to court, and for his crime of statutory rape was sentenced to seven years probation. As a part of the deal to avoid jail time he plead guilty and was required to register as a sex offender.. the same sex offender status given to rapists of children and pedophiles. And that was more than 15 years ago.
When Frank Rodriguez looks at his name on the registry of sex offenders it says, "sexual assault of a child." When anyone looks at the registry that's what they are told about Frank Rodriguez. It just doesn't seem to tell the correct story, does it?
I'm all for protecting children from sexual predators, but our jails and court systems would be overrun if every 18 year-old high school boy who's ever had sex with a girl under the age of consent was processed through the court system and forced to register as a sex offender. Newsflash! It's not uncommon for high school girls and boys to have sexual relationships. I'm not saying anything about the morality of it.
I also have to say I do not have a daughter and my feelings might be very different if I was ever presented with the news that my little high school junior was having sex with the captain of the football team. Frank's wife Nikki Rodriguez says, "It's hard to explain to our children why daddy is a sex offender." She says she and Frank talked about having sex in high school and taking their relationship to another level. It was not a "what the heck just happened" moment for either of them.
Obviously, when Nikki was old enough, they got married. Today, they're together with their four girls. But Frank is still saddled with his sex offender status.
I think we all need to take an interest in kids getting involved at too young an age, but don't you think that's way different than criminalization and branding people as sex offenders?
So, if I may have inadvertantly, or if YOUR husband at one time may have inadevertantly had a go with someone under the age of consent, are we right up there with pedophiles? According to the Law in Texas, the answer is "guilty as charged."
I think Frank Rodriguez has suffered long enough, don't you?
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