|
Maine: Serial predator gets 18 months |
 |
 |
|
Tuesday, 25 September 2007 19:00 |
|
A former teacher and convicted sexual predator who kept a 500-page manuscript about his crimes against children has been sentenced to 18 months for child pornography possession.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Norbert asked Superior Court Justice Thomas Warren
to sentence Melvin Logan, 67, to consecutive prison terms, saying he
was a "true predator" who "began in his early 20s..." News reports say
Logan served an earlier prison sentence for sexually assaulting a child
then moved to Maine and claimed to experience a religious conversion.
He later began selling sexual devices for men over the Internet.
Despite Norbert's request for serious prison time, Warren suspended
most of Logan's sentence, giving him just 18 months followed by
probation. At the time of Logan's most recent crime, child pornography
possession was a misdemeanor in Maine. The Portland Press Herald
reports the legislature recently showed its courage by raising that
penalty to a felony... if the victim is "clearly under the age of 12."
Justice Warren's sweetheart sentence follows a familiar pattern in sex
offender sentencing. Allowing a clearly dangerous and habitual child
predator to avoid meaningful incarceration, the judge claims to have
thrown the book at the perpetrator, usually without being challenged by
anyone. "We have to send a message," Warren says.
"It was the most serious case on my caseload," said ADA Norbert. "I
have never asked for consecutive sentences on misdemeanor charges
before."
|
