Most ridiculous item of the day: Sex offenders get big breaks
Two stories came to my attention today that tie for first place as "most ridiculous items." First, FoxNews reports that a convicted rapist in Watertown, New York was allowed to serve as a foster parent to as many as fifty children.
This story would be bad enough had Nicholas Chaney lied about his conviction and found a loophole through which he was accepted into the foster program. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. According to Chaney himself, he stated on his application that he had been convicted of felony rape charges! This means that those charged with placing vulnerable children into homes in which they will be protected, loved and cared for looked at the application (assumedly), saw that he was a rapist, and approved this man as a qualified foster parent. This is beyond ridiculous. It is unconscionable.
I couldn't agree more with Marchetti that every child deserves to be protected and it is frightening to think of how many children right this moment are in the same situation that these children were in. If it has happened once, there is a good chance that it has happened more. It will be interesting to see if this was the result of simply not paying enough attention to the applications or whether there was a total disregard for the well-being of these children. I'm not one who likes to see people lose their jobs, but this is the type of situation where the incompetence must be purged from the system.
In a similar story, the Kansas City Star reports that Missouri state officials have confirmed that "Missouri's Medicaid program paid for sexual performance drugs to treat impotence in 26 convicted sex offenders during the last year." Ok, let's take just a minute to think this through: men who, like Mr. Chaney in story #1, have been convicted of sex crimes are having problems with their sex lives (understatement #1). So, in order to help these men overcome their sexual shortcomings, the state helps them get back in the saddle by providing Viagra which is being paid for by the taxpayers of the state, not only putting them in a better position to carry out future sexual crimes, but actually increasing their sexual appetite through the use of these drugs...clearly, an absurd practice (understatement #2).
If you think this is a problem unique to Missouri, guess again. According to the Star, "Officials checked whether Missouri sex offenders were receiving impotence drugs after an audit found that New York's Medicaid program paid for nearly 200 sex offenders to receive such drugs over the last five years." Clearly, this is not an isolated event. The question is how many other states have conducted similar audits and how many more are receiving free sex drugs?
In a time when sex crimes against minors and kidnappings leading to murder are on the increase, these are not incidents that can be taken lightly. These two stories rise to the level of calling for an all-out investigation by every state in the Union to find out if similar practices are common elsewhere. If this disturbs you as much as it has me, I encourage you to contact your state representative and ask them to make sure that your state (and every state) is clear of this type of negligent oversight demonstrated in these two stories. The well-being of countless children may depend on it.
This story would be bad enough had Nicholas Chaney lied about his conviction and found a loophole through which he was accepted into the foster program. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. According to Chaney himself, he stated on his application that he had been convicted of felony rape charges! This means that those charged with placing vulnerable children into homes in which they will be protected, loved and cared for looked at the application (assumedly), saw that he was a rapist, and approved this man as a qualified foster parent. This is beyond ridiculous. It is unconscionable.
According to authorities in Oregon and Washington state, Chaney was convicted in 1989 of two counts of third-degree rape. Chaney told the television station he had been convicted of having sex with a 16-year-old girl.
According to New York state law, "A person is guilty of rape in the third degree when: 1. He or she engages in sexual intercourse with another person who is incapable of consent by reason of some factor other than being less than seventeen years old; 2. Being twenty-one years old or more, he or she engages in sexual intercourse with another person less than seventeen years old; or 3. He or she engages in sexual intercourse with another person without such person`s consent where such lack of consent is by reason of some factor other than incapacity to consent. Rape in the third degree is a class E felony."Brian Marchetti, a spokesman for the state's Office of Children and Family Services, said the agency began an investigation Wednesday into why the Jefferson County Social Services Department approved Chaney's foster parent application.
"We are treating this matter very seriously," he said. "Children's safety and well-being are always our top priority. Every child deserves to be protected from sexual predators."
I couldn't agree more with Marchetti that every child deserves to be protected and it is frightening to think of how many children right this moment are in the same situation that these children were in. If it has happened once, there is a good chance that it has happened more. It will be interesting to see if this was the result of simply not paying enough attention to the applications or whether there was a total disregard for the well-being of these children. I'm not one who likes to see people lose their jobs, but this is the type of situation where the incompetence must be purged from the system.
In a similar story, the Kansas City Star reports that Missouri state officials have confirmed that "Missouri's Medicaid program paid for sexual performance drugs to treat impotence in 26 convicted sex offenders during the last year." Ok, let's take just a minute to think this through: men who, like Mr. Chaney in story #1, have been convicted of sex crimes are having problems with their sex lives (understatement #1). So, in order to help these men overcome their sexual shortcomings, the state helps them get back in the saddle by providing Viagra which is being paid for by the taxpayers of the state, not only putting them in a better position to carry out future sexual crimes, but actually increasing their sexual appetite through the use of these drugs...clearly, an absurd practice (understatement #2).
Medicaid officials said the prescriptions would not be refilled and future orders for Viagra, Cialis and other drugs that treat erectile dysfunction will be screened to make sure the recipient is not on the sex offender registry.Officials have guaranteed that the oversight will not occur again. Exactly how reliable this promise is can be brought into question since something so basic should never have happened in the first place.
The prescriptions cost the Medicaid program $1,977 in state money and $5,083 in federal and other matching funds.
If you think this is a problem unique to Missouri, guess again. According to the Star, "Officials checked whether Missouri sex offenders were receiving impotence drugs after an audit found that New York's Medicaid program paid for nearly 200 sex offenders to receive such drugs over the last five years." Clearly, this is not an isolated event. The question is how many other states have conducted similar audits and how many more are receiving free sex drugs?
In a time when sex crimes against minors and kidnappings leading to murder are on the increase, these are not incidents that can be taken lightly. These two stories rise to the level of calling for an all-out investigation by every state in the Union to find out if similar practices are common elsewhere. If this disturbs you as much as it has me, I encourage you to contact your state representative and ask them to make sure that your state (and every state) is clear of this type of negligent oversight demonstrated in these two stories. The well-being of countless children may depend on it.
Labels: David C. Price
posted by DAVID C. PRICE at 5/26/2005 04:45:00 PM
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1 Comments:
How horrible!
*grrrrr*
Personally, I'm thankful for Megan's Law. Just Google your state name and sex offender registry. The state provides names, addresses, and photos--as well as whether they are predators or simply offenders.
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