Miami Herald: They dated since he was 17. He turned 18 and now faces 15 years behind bars.
A Coral Shores High School student in the Florida Keys is facing 15 years in prison and life as a registered sex offender for continuing to date his 15-year-old girlfriend after he turned 18 in December, according to a Monroe County Sheriff’s Office arrest report.
“At the time of these incidents, Tucker was 18 and [the girl] was 15 years old,” Detective Josh Brady wrote in the affidavit. “[The girl] is not old enough to consent to sexual intercourse.”
The charge is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in state prison. And, by the letter of the law, if convicted, Tucker would have to register as a sexual offender.
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There needs to be a line drawed somewhere. This is so stupid. Who ever made these laws needs there head examined. I would bet that the group of persons that thinks they got some of these laws enforced; how ever many years ago. They are not God. There is a limit on appropriate age consent but something like this should not apply at all, no way, no how. They have known each other long enough to consent to anything and everything as before he turned 18 that’s just normal. So let it be! “Dictators”
I’m an old man now but back in my day this sort of crazy legislative environment could NEVER have happened. The “Fifteen will get you twenty” saying was around in my day back in the 1960’s. But almost everyone I knew-including myself- had 14 and 15 year-old girlfriends
at 19 and older. Our girlfriends were biologically grown women and proved it quite often. Pregnancies resulting led to a lot of long lasting happy marriages back then. And everybody caught up in such situations recognized what the Jews have known for thousands of years. That’s why they barmitzvad and batmitzvad their kids at 13. This crazy war on sex has got to end. Criminalizing young kids having sex is just plain nuts!
Someone needs to go and seriously slap the shit out of that girls’ parents. There’s no way you couldn’t have known who your daughter was dating. And even then, you know what the consequences are going to be for this young man who was totally “legally”dating their daughter when he was 17, but now that he turns 18 all of a sudden now it’s an issue and you want your daughter to stop dating him and the only way you can enforce it is through the police and ruining this kids’ life for the REST of his life.
This is what happens when you have a bunch of SHEEPLE who run to the government and want them to solve all your problems for you. You end up with stupid shit like this where the government is used to ruin the life of an 18 year old kid. It’s beyond shameful. As someone who used to be a teacher and work with teenagers, this kind of crap just makes me sick to my stomach and breaks my heart. All because of a couple of vindictive adult parents.
It almost seems like the parents waited for this kid to turn 18 to screw him over like they did. I really hope he gets out of this mess – and I’m talking about charges being dropped and no pleas.
Actung! Where are your papers!
I believe that Florida’s law allows a 16 or 17 year old to have consensual sex with an adult up to the age of 23. It doesn’t apply in this case because the girl is only 15. It does look like the law will allow him to eventually petition for removal from the registry, but such removal is not automatic. It wouldn’t surprise me if some of those pursuing the case committed the same crime when in high school themselves, but got away with it. The judge who sentenced me regularly dated high school freshman girls when he was a senior. I seriously doubt that nothing sexual happened on those dates.
“Also, if convicted on the original charge, Tucker can appeal the registration requirement under the 2017 “Romeo and Juliet” law.”
Doesn’t Florida’s RJ law specifically say that if there is less than 4 years between the victim and accused, registration is not required (if not prohibited)? Seriously asking; I’m not familiar with Florida law, but that seems common.
How about just not adding that to his sentence in the first place? Why should he have to go through the appeal process if Florida’s RJ law specifically exempts circumstances like this from registration? Guess the obvious answer is that it doesn’t inflate Florida’s registry.
Sounds to me like the girl’s parents are simply vindictive assholes with friends in high places. If they don’t like the guy, fine. But bringing in the law and ruining this kids life to this extent is a bit too extreme. If it were my son accused, I’d advise him to take it to trial. Expose the idiocy of the “letter of the law” as (selectively) applied to this case.