FTA-—emphasis added
Michael English, Providence mayoral candidate, has referred to “immature decisions” that led to a “period of incarceration.”
Reality check
According to the Providence Journal, as a 26-year-old, English had a relationship with a 13-year-old. After being released from prison after a little over a year, he tried to get in contact with his teenage victim again. Instead of expressing profound regret for what he had done, English responded to exposure by bragging about his life since prison and sneering at his critics.
He does not appear on the Rhode Island Sex Offender Registry, as he successfully appealed that order, and his case is not easily examined.
English asserted that he “did not know” the age of his victim at the time of his first offense, although it seems highly spurious that he “didn’t know” ......she was not only a minor, but a very young minor.
The state AG’s Office alleged that English engaged in sexual acts with the victim between January and March of 1997. He was living in North Providence at the time, and met the girl at various locations in Cumberland, North Smithfield and Lincoln, including at the Lincoln Mall…
In March 1998, he pleaded no contest to four counts of first-degree child molestation, second-degree child molestation and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. …Superior Court Judge Ronald Gagnon issued English a 20-year sentence, with 18 and ½ years suspended, also ordering English to register as a sex offender. … the judge suspended more than 90% of English’s sentence. …
In September 2009, the victim filed a police report stating that English had driven to her house, tried to speak with her and suggested they get coffee. This time around, he was sentenced to five years’ jail. He served a little less than two years of that sentence in prison before spending two months on house arrest, and being forgiven the rest of his sentence.
Indignantly rejecting the suggestion that people could see his pedophile criminal record.......especially since he re-offended.......as disqualifying him, he responded, “They’d be wrong, legally. They also should calculate what did I do from then.” He sneered, “If I’m the bad guy here, God help you all.”
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