Child molester to be drafted?

[waroriole]

http://deadspin.com/report-oregon-state-star-pitcher-charged-in-2011-for-m-1795936107

Pretty appalling. Is Oregon State joining the Baylor and PennSt. trash in signing this guy?

[sportsfan8703]

"As a teenager, Heimlich pleaded guilty to a single charge of sexually molesting a 6-year-old female family member. Heimlich registered as a sex offender in Benton County after arriving at Oregon State. When he was cited in April for missing an annual update, it put the case in Oregon court records for the first time.

OSU’s top pitcher was 15 years old when the crime occurred in his family’s home in Puyallup, Washington, according to court documents obtained last week by The Oregonian/OregonLive through a public records request. Juvenile court records in Washington, unlike in Oregon, are not automatically confidential."

Nobody would know about this if he hadn't missed that annual update.  Just a really terribly sensitive subject.  

[Tryptamine]

I've thought about this a lot and basically the kid did something pretty horrible, not as horrible as it could have been for the little girl physically, my understanding was he only used his hands. He's been issued punishment by the juvenile justice system of which he completed all of it including counseling. The counselor is on record saying that he has very little chance of repeating this type incident. Since then he's been a model citizen. He registered as a  sex offender and kept it up to date except on this one occasion he submitted an update to his profile, but it was outside the 10 day allowable time and that's how this all started. Long story short, the kid has paid for his crime in the eyes of the law, he already  has to be branded for the rest of his life, there's no reason to take away his ability to work as a possible major player as well. He should be free to pursue whatever type of employment he wants. With that said, from the Team's side it's an absolute PR nightmare and I'm sure many clubs have completely removed him from their draft boards. I know Jed Hoyer said he wasn't on the Cub's board anymore.

I just don't know who would leak this story because it involved 2 minors. So not only is Heimlich's life drastically changed, but now it's very easy to put 2 and 2 together and figure out who his cousin is. I'm sure that wont traumatize her at all knowing that all her friends,teachers, etc all know what none of them should have.

[FlipTheBird]

13 hours ago, Tryptamine said:

I've thought about this a lot and basically the kid did something pretty horrible, not as horrible as it could have been for the little girl physically, my understanding was he only used his hands. He's been issued punishment by the juvenile justice system of which he completed all of it including counseling. The counselor is on record saying that he has very little chance of repeating this type incident. Since then he's been a model citizen. He registered as a  sex offender and kept it up to date except on this one occasion he submitted an update to his profile, but it was outside the 10 day allowable time and that's how this all started. Long story short, the kid has paid for his crime in the eyes of the law, he already  has to be branded for the rest of his life, there's no reason to take away his ability to work as a possible major player as well. He should be free to pursue whatever type of employment he wants. With that said, from the Team's side it's an absolute PR nightmare and I'm sure many clubs have completely removed him from their draft boards. I know Jed Hoyer said he wasn't on the Cub's board anymore.

I just don't know who would leak this story because it involved 2 minors. So not only is Heimlich's life drastically changed, but now it's very easy to put 2 and 2 together and figure out who his cousin is. I'm sure that wont traumatize her at all knowing that all her friends,teachers, etc all know what none of them should have.

The Oregonian, honestly, did it because it still has to sell newspapers/get clicks. And this is the kind of news that sells in 20117.

[Otter]

15 hours ago, Tryptamine said:

I've thought about this a lot and basically the kid did something pretty horrible, not as horrible as it could have been for the little girl physically, my understanding was he only used his hands. He's been issued punishment by the juvenile justice system of which he completed all of it including counseling. The counselor is on record saying that he has very little chance of repeating this type incident. Since then he's been a model citizen. He registered as a  sex offender and kept it up to date except on this one occasion he submitted an update to his profile, but it was outside the 10 day allowable time and that's how this all started. Long story short, the kid has paid for his crime in the eyes of the law, he already  has to be branded for the rest of his life, there's no reason to take away his ability to work as a possible major player as well. He should be free to pursue whatever type of employment he wants. With that said, from the Team's side it's an absolute PR nightmare and I'm sure many clubs have completely removed him from their draft boards. I know Jed Hoyer said he wasn't on the Cub's board anymore.

I just don't know who would leak this story because it involved 2 minors. So not only is Heimlich's life drastically changed, but now it's very easy to put 2 and 2 together and figure out who his cousin is. I'm sure that wont traumatize her at all knowing that all her friends,teachers, etc all know what none of them should have.

I'm sure there are a lot of people who view this situation the same way you do, but I respectfully disagree.  In my experience, there is nothing worse a human being can do to another human being than child molestation.  I know some want to mitigate what he did because he was only "15", but I don't think this diminishes the crime that much, if at all.  The physical difference between a 15 year old boy (especially one who is large and athletic) and a 6 year old girl is immense.  This is not a case of an 18 year old boy and a 15 year old girl where the physical and sexual maturity are similar.  Furthermore, how do you know he's been a "model citizen" since this incident?  Just because he wasn't arrested before or after this incident for other sex offenses, isn't proof he hasn't committed them.  The overwhelming majority of sex crimes are not reported by the victims.  

I've interviewed sex offenders and victims of sex offenses.  I've never come across a case where an offender only committed one sex crime in their life; it's usually pattern behavior.  Even worse is the fact that victims carry the physical and emotional trauma for the rest of their lives.  Some people worry about the poor sex offender getting a good job, but what about the poor victim who did nothing wrong and has to deal with the fear, shame, and depression every day of their life.  MLB has not banned him from being drafted, but teams are certainly allowed to determine what type of human being they want to draft.  He is certainly "free to pursue" any employment he wants, but employers are also free to refuse to hire someone who has committed such a despicable act.

The fact that this came out might actually be a good thing, as it raises awareness about a terrible crime that is most often unreported.  Only 16% of sexual assaults are reported to the police...1 in 4 girls are sexually abused before they turn 18...75% of female victims are victimized by someone they know (https://www.nsopw.gov/en-US/Education/FactsStatistics?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1).  This is the information I feel is important; this horrible type of crime is too often hidden in the shadows, while offenders commit without being exposed and victims suffer in silence.  So the fact that a star baseball player and MLB draft prospect has been exposed may actually help get some publicity for this issue, and hopefully prevent some of these acts from happening in the future.

Tryptamine, I'm not picking on you, just trying to get the other side of the story out there.  It seems too often these days the plight of the victim gets lost while many worry about the offender's future.  Lots of 15 year olds commit petty crimes (shoplifting, vandalism, simple assault, etc.) and it has no bearing on what type of adult they become.  However, this type of crime is much different and I'm much more concerned about the future of the victim than the offender.

[FlipTheBird]

59 minutes ago, Otter said:

I'm sure there are a lot of people who view this situation the same way you do, but I respectfully disagree.  In my experience, there is nothing worse a human being can do to another human being than child molestation.  I know some want to mitigate what he did because he was only "15", but I don't think this diminishes the crime that much, if at all.  The physical difference between a 15 year old boy (especially one who is large and athletic) and a 6 year old girl is immense.  This is not a case of an 18 year old boy and a 15 year old girl where the physical and sexual maturity are similar.  Furthermore, how do you know he's been a "model citizen" since this incident?  Just because he wasn't arrested before or after this incident for other sex offenses, isn't proof he hasn't committed them.  The overwhelming majority of sex crimes are not reported by the victims.  

I've interviewed sex offenders and victims of sex offenses.  I've never come across a case where an offender only committed one sex crime in their life; it's usually pattern behavior.  Even worse is the fact that victims carry the physical and emotional trauma for the rest of their lives.  Some people worry about the poor sex offender getting a good job, but what about the poor victim who did nothing wrong and has to deal with the fear, shame, and depression every day of their life.  MLB has not banned him from being drafted, but teams are certainly allowed to determine what type of human being they want to draft.  He is certainly "free to pursue" any employment he wants, but employers are also free to refuse to hire someone who has committed such a despicable act.

The fact that this came out might actually be a good thing, as it raises awareness about a terrible crime that is most often unreported.  Only 16% of sexual assaults are reported to the police...1 in 4 girls are sexually abused before they turn 18...75% of female victims are victimized by someone they know (https://www.nsopw.gov/en-US/Education/FactsStatistics?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1).  This is the information I feel is important; this horrible type of crime is too often hidden in the shadows, while offenders commit without being exposed and victims suffer in silence.  So the fact that a star baseball player and MLB draft prospect has been exposed may actually help get some publicity for this issue, and hopefully prevent some of these acts from happening in the future.

Tryptamine, I'm not picking on you, just trying to get the other side of the story out there.  It seems too often these days the plight of the victim gets lost while many worry about the offender's future.  Lots of 15 year olds commit petty crimes (shoplifting, vandalism, simple assault, etc.) and it has no bearing on what type of adult they become.  However, this type of crime is much different and I'm much more concerned about the future of the victim than the offender.

Not trying to start a larger debate here (and I'll stick to that by not discussing this topic any further than this final post), but the flip side here is that you don't know that he hasn't been a model citizen, either.

[sportsfan8703]

16 minutes ago, FlipTheBird said:

Not trying to start a larger debate here (and I'll stick to that by not discussing this topic any further than this final post), but the flip side here is that you don't know that he hasn't been a model citizen, either.

Well he hasn't been a "model citizen" because he didn't show up to his annual update.  Imagine the type of person that doesn't show up to the one place you have to be once a year to not have to register as a sex offender?  

I don't think he has his stuff together.  

[Tryptamine]

24 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Well he hasn't been a "model citizen" because he didn't show up to his annual update.  Imagine the type of person that doesn't show up to the one place you have to be once a year to not have to register as a sex offender?  

I don't think he has his stuff together.  

you're slightly off on this. There was no meeting or anything like that. Basically when Hemlich has things like a change of address, phone number etc, he has 10 days to get that information in so the records can be updated. Well he did submit the new information, but unfortunately for him, he submitted it too late. So it's not like he was trying to dodge the system.

[FlipTheBird]

22 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Well he hasn't been a "model citizen" because he didn't show up to his annual update.  Imagine the type of person that doesn't show up to the one place you have to be once a year to not have to register as a sex offender?  

I don't think he has his stuff together.  

He was already registered, and will be forever. He missed the annual update by a couple days, which is why this came to light, and he was cited.

The county DA ultimately dismissed the charge of missing registration, and he's up to date now.

[Can_of_corn]

 

[Moose Milligan]

Teams would be stupid to take him.  The outrage wouldn't justify whatever possible benefits he could bring.  

[billw76]

I'd be highly upset if the O's take him, and don't think he should be drafted at all.

It happened multiple times over a 2 year period, and that makes it even worse. 

[Can_of_corn]

I am not defending anything that was done but I'm not sure that a series of actions that were committed as a minor should completely eliminate his chances at having a career which doesn't conflict with his status as a sex offender.

Not everyone is lucky enough to have a show on HBO to fall back on.

[sportsfan8703]

20 hours ago, FlipTheBird said:

He was already registered, and will be forever. He missed the annual update by a couple days, which is why this came to light, and he was cited.

The county DA ultimately dismissed the charge of missing registration, and he's up to date now.

You guys are missing my point.  If your one thing with the legal system is to report, then that should constantly be on your mind.  He's not on probation for stealing a candy bar.  He's on probation for molesting a small child.  

That tells me that he hasn't accepted enough responsibility for his actions.  Sorry that its an inconvenience but that's part of his debt to society.  Punishments are meant to inconvenience you so you don't make another mistake.  The guy didn't even do any jail time.  A life of check-ins is very fair.  

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

You guys are missing my point.  If your one thing with the legal system is to report, then that should constantly be on your mind.  He's not on probation for stealing a candy bar.  He's on probation for molesting a small child.  

That tells me that he hasn't accepted enough responsibility for his actions.  Sorry that its an inconvenience but that's part of his debt to society.  Punishments are meant to inconvenience you so you don't make another mistake.  The guy didn't even do any jail time.  A life of check-ins is very fair.  

I think being a registered sex offender for your entire life over something that happened when you were a minor is a lot more significant than "a life of check-ins".