“B” is a single mother of two young boys; she attends Fresno City College part time and works hard everyday, but she holds a dark secret, she’s a registered sex offender.
She fears being branded a “rapist” or a “pedophile” and instead has chosen to use an alias instead to her birth name.
“B” is one of the 49 PC 290 registrants on the State Center Community College District website and approached the Rampage to clarify her situation.
She says there are different levels of offenders, and she wants people to know she isn’t a serious threat to anyone or children.
Statistics show that 25 percent of women all cases involving sexual attraction to prepubescent children are women. “B” is part of that statistics.
The media have also portrayed women who commit sexual molestation with a child as being school teachers. “B” isn’t a school teacher; she’s just a regular person who made what she describes as a “mistake” that she must live with everyday of her life. She lives with the stigma, finger-pointing, and others’ repulsion for a mistake she made many years ago.
In 1996 “B” was convicted of solicitation of a lewd act; she kissed a 17 year-old girl. She was 23 at the time.
She said she didn’t know it was wrong to kiss the minor.
According to “B”, no sexual activity took place; it was a consensual kiss between the two parties. She was in a relationship with the minor at the time.
At the time the kiss took place, “B” and her husband were going through a nasty custody battle.Bitter and hurt, her husband turned her into authorities at Kings County where the crime took place.
According to “B”, her husband told the police the two engaged in more than just a kiss, and in fact had sex. Obviously, this didn’t sit well with the police, so the 23-year-old was arrested and spent 30 days in jail along with three years of probation.
“30 days in jail is all the time I plan on spending in jail,” said “B”. “It changed me.”
She doesn’t mind having her criminal record available to the public because she’s open about her past; however, she feels people who have committed harsher crimes have not faced the permanent shame she is facing currently.
Every year, five days before her birthday, she has to register on the Megan’s law site; last month, she applied to get off Megan’s Law, but she’s still on the site.
“B” says her reputation has been tainted.
She says instead of people looking at her as a mother of two, she’s looked at as a “pedophile”. Because of her past, her relationships are affected negatively.
She says she tells the person she’s with about being a registered offender immediately.
“They might not want to know, but I would rather tell them right away, opposed to them finding out on their own,” she said. “It would look like I was hiding something.”
Her responsibility to register as a sex offender is a lifetime requirement. There are a total of 18 registration requirements she must agree to fulfilling.
They include: registration within five working days of release from incarceration, placement, commitment, or release on probation; updating her registration information five days before her birthday, and submitting DNA samples as well as fingerprints and full palm prints.
“I’m constantly looking over my shoulder,” said “B”. “If I mess up once, I go back to jail.”
According to “B”, there are limitations when it comes to applying for employment and choosing a career.
Legally she can’t be around schools and children; this is particularly hard for the mother of seven and 14 year old.
“I feel less of a mother,” stated “B”. “I can’t volunteer at their schools or go on field trips with them. Teachers ask me if I can help out on projects, but I can’t.”
According to childprotection.lifetips.com, there isn’t a cure for pedophilia or child pedophiles, but there is treatment. Therapy and a combination of some sort of medication treatment have been successful.
Experts do not agree on the cause or causes of pedophilia.
According to “B” as a child she endured tremendous physical abuse which might have affected her thinking and maturity level.
“I was a 23 year-old, but I was thinking like a 16 to 17 year-old because I had a 16 to 17 year-old mentality; I thought I was at the same level she was at (the minor),” she said.
“B” has been attending therapy to address her personal demons head on.
She doesn’t go to parks or schools; she has been following the registration requirements and has condemned pedophilia and child molestation.
“B” says she faces being homeless in the coming weeks, but she can’t stay in a homeless shelter.
It’s easier to believe that the “dirty old man in the park”, rather than the clean cut doctor down the street, is a pedophile.
The truth is it’s not clear who fits the description of a “pedophile” or “child molester”. It can be anyone — old or young, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, professional or non-professional, any race, or any gender.
Even though “B’s” reputation has been damaged, she says she’ll continue to fight against the stereotypes of a sex offender.
Categories:
Registered sex offenders are not all alike
Story By: Edward Ortiz
March 25, 2008
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