I've always wondered about this. If the guy verifies the age of the woman and she successfully fakes a legal age, how was he supposed to know better? You'd like to think you know the difference, and in this case with the girl being 13 how could he not have, but there are some girls who just look old enough, maybe even at 13...

Yet such a guy is very hard pressed to prove he didn't know otherwise. I certainly want the intentional statutory rapists to be punished, at least in cases of extreme differences of age, but the innocent should remain free!

I looked much older than 13--based on build and height.

I think it's asinine. It doesn't seem like her family is doing a damned thing to stop her, either.

And here's a question I'll really get in trouble for asking.

If a teenage girl, say 17, is sexually active with other 16 and 17 year olds thats ok. But when a 21 year old has sex with her suddenly she has been wronged. Why? How is his penis so different from the dozens of teenage penises she so willingly and legally interacted with?

Is this a gray area or am I mental?

It isn't always considered legal, it just isn't called pedophilia in cases where both parties are underage. Laws vary by state on the age of consent.

I feel the same way. I'm glad I'm in a commited relationship where I know my girlfriend's age, but it really is scary that kids can do that kind of stuff and literally ruin other peoples' lives. In this case, the guy is now a sex offender and, let's be realistic here, his life is pretty much ruined - when in actuality, the f**ked up little 13-year-old girl is the sex offender. Some laws need reform.

I'm not condoning this man's behavior, or saying statuatory rape shouldn't be a crime. I'm just saying that there are instances where the victim (in this case the man) is the one getting hurt.

No. You aren't mental at all.

Laws definitely vary by state. I have a buddy from Iowa, and according to him they have a four year buffer zone. So relationships with 14 year olds are fine if you are 18, 15 if you're 19, and so forth.

You know, she shouldn't even have a MySpace page as the minimum age for an account is 14.

She should face some kind of charges for lying about her age, and be banned from MySpace.

Oh, and Dad needs to tighten the lease. He might be fine with sending guys to jail for having sex with his sweet little innocent daughter, but pretty soon he's going to be raising a grandchild, also.

I was like Maven at 13. I thought it was cool when the 23 y/o would hit on me. Mama Bear didn't think so. I get it now.

Yeah, I loved the end of the article where the parents admit she is still staying out late--hello! She is 13! and has that MySpace. It will come back to haunt her and them. It will be very sad.

I do feel for the man, who tried to do the right thing. Now he has a record that will follow him where ever he goes. People won't want him in their neighborhood. That is not right.

definitely one of the bigger problems with the sexual consent laws.

Ignorance isn't a defense? Why the hell isn't it?
Even if it isn't, what about fraud? Shouldn't that be a defense? Why is she not charged with the crime of fraud, deceit, and a con person (seeing as you know he spent money on her, she profited from her deceit)?

If she was 21 and told the man she was divorced but was still married, would he be guilty of bigamy if they were to marry? Would they say the fact that he was ignorant of her current marriage not be grounds?

Is not intent supposed to be part of a crime?

We can all think of 1000's of cases of "crimes" where the ignorance of knowing the true situation, especially because you've been defrauded should be grounds for a a dismissal of charges.

America freaks out about sex crimes just a bit too much. If it was some other crime he would have been set free and the girl would face charges. Since it is sex, things are the opposite.



I also have to wonder about the parents. They should face some sort of criminal penalty as well. At least a civil one. They know what she is doing and obviously are okay with it. I wonder if they profit in any way from their daughter's cons?

Ummmm, I think a more fitting punishment would be to take the "sex offender" label off of her ex, and stick it on her forehead. Getting banned from myspace is hardly comparable to what the guy is going to go through for the rest of his life.

*edit* s**t, that was not meant to sound combative. Second time I did that today!

This just is so wrong in so many different ways. First, she was the one taking advantage of another persons naive nature, not the other way around. Let's say your a typical early twenty something single male. You meet an attractive young lady who is obviously into you. She tells you that she is 18 (which in this case is only 4 years younger then the guy.) You talk for a little while. Maybe go home and find her on MySpace and see that she is listed as of legal age (and divorced to boot. If that doesn't show pre-meditated entraptment what does?) Then before you know it, one thing has lead to another. Do you stop and ask to see her birth certificate?!

Then, when the young man hears that she is not really 18, he does something most twenty somethings wouldn't even dream about!! He talks to her father to let him know what his "little girl" is doing and try to explain his situation. And what does he get for having enough fortitude to try and make things right? A YEAR IN JAIL, with another 5 years probation!!

And the cherry on the cake!! She's done it before! Now, I almost went as far as to assume that the first guy was deceived also but perhaps he knew she was underage. Just for the sake of keeping this already lengthy post shorter we will assume that he did know her real age and he got what was coming.

Now for my thoughts on how this should have turned out. I will put myself in the shoes of the "father" (as he's called). I have a 15 year old daughter myself so this is not much of a stretch for me. After being confronted by a young man telling me that he had sex with my daughter and that she had told him that she was 18, I would definetly be less than happy with the guy and probably use some very colorfull vocabulary to convince him to disappear. Then my daughters computer would be smashed to bits (perhaps with a handy sledgehammer in the garage or some similar utensil). She would then be taken in to be tested for the entire checklist of STD's and she definetly would not be "staying out late". I would not, however, press charges against the person who brought the behavior to my attention.

IMO the judge should have ruled that the website in question be immediatly taken down, along with suggesting a user ban by the website to help prevent it from going back up. And from what little information we gleam from the article about her father, I would suggest an investigation concerning neglect. Seriously, who lets their 13 yr old daughter "stay out late"?!?

As a side note: I don't want to come off sounding like the father is totally to blame and I know kids will lie. I have 5 kids of my own and I know what is posted on every one of their MySpace pages. They don't all know that I know, but it helps keep things "real". I've only had to tell one of the kids to change his page and that was because of drug references. I simply asked him about it and explained to him that it is never a good idea to post anything on the internet that he would not want his mother to see (she in not nearly as "cool" as I am :P). I'm just saying that if you want to protect your children, there are many more effective ways to do so other than pressing charges against the people your children CHOSE to assosiate with.

I know I will probably get downvoted for this but here goes.....
Yes she may have the body of a 19 year old, but look at her face. I have a 12 year old step son who likes a girl in his class who looks 19 until you get up close and look at her face. Then it becomes apparent that she is not of age. Also, the way she acts. 13 year olds are immature and don't realize it, but a mature person should. Maybe he didn't realize she was lying because he didn't want to. He let his little head do the thinking. If she's 19, does she have a car, a license, a place? Did he even bother to ask. I'm not defending the little s**t, I'm just saying, men should be more careful. Hell, she might have given him something!!!

She has a history of jailbaiting and the parents don't care?

Shouldn't they be charged with child neglect or something?

"He let his little head do the thinking". That is just a bit sexist, but whatever. I know what you are trying to say.

The simple fact is there are many 13 year olds that can pass for 18. Pure and simple. Yes he asked her age, she claimed she was 19. The only think he could have done was to ask for 2 forms of ID. Assuming she didn't have fake ID.

You can not make broad statements such as 13 years old are immature and don't realize it. Some 13 years old, yes. Most 13 year olds, probably. Not all 13 year olds.

I have personally known 2 13 year old girls who could pass for 18+. One you would probably pick up on it if you spoke with her long enough, but if you met her at a bar (which she was able to get into quite easily) you might never get the chance to talk long enough with her about a variety of subjects to realize it. The other you would never know she was 13 without being told no matter how long you spoke with her.

Sorry, didn't really mean to sound sexist. If the picture on the article was of her, then he should have been able to tell. Apart from her D-cups, she sure didn't look a day over 16 to me. I didn't mean to be too generalized either, some 13 year olds may be mature, but all men should be more careful. Girls too for that matter, she's putting herself out there, but it may be another story if she gets beaten/raped/gang raped. She is just a kid still and obviously not smart enough to stay out of serious situations. Her parents need to be doing something, and punishment shouldn't stop with the guy that had sex with her.

I grew up with a few girls who looked 19 when we were 14. One was dumped by her 22yo boyfriend the instant he found out she wasn't actually 19. She looked 19, no matter how close you got to her, and with her "parents" never acting as parents, she was more mature at that age than many 20yo's I met later in life.

My best friend didn't get her driver's lisence until she was 21, just because she never needed to drive before that. She still doesn't have a car, because she doesn't need one, but we both had fake ID's by the time we were 15.

I just wanted to point out that I don't think he wasn't thinking clearly by dating her, and I think this is more evident by his actions once he found out she wasn't as old as she said he was.

I really feel bad for this guy.

Its really just a ridiculous case, the guy was conned. HE is the victim, not the girl. The fact that he went and told the dad, when most guys would have just ran away and tried to forget about it, shows a level of honor that few guys possess. Its really sad that it turned out this way.

As someone that's worked with both victims and sex offenders, I can tell you that our sex laws are messed up. There is virtually no differentiation between types of sex offenders. Someone that flashes people is considered the same as someone that serially rapes children. It's messed up.

That being said, I've heard from a lot of sex offenders that they didn't know the age of the girl, but it usually ends up that they didn't really bother to ask and they should've known better. Rule of thumb, if you're with a girl that looks or is under 20, do some digging for the truth. That being said, if she produces a valid ID, what's a guy to do?

People don't realize it, but their attitudes towards sex offenses have changed over time and there is both a real problem with sex offending and an unreasonable hysteria over it. Sensible looks at both human nature and effective ways to deal with the problem are necessary to make good policy.

i agree with the clansman -the guy was conned and this wasn't even the first time she did it. i hope his sentence is reduced, i also think he should maybe file a civil suit against her and her family. clearly her daddy isn't going to do anything about her until it hurts him directly....