Posted on 05/13/2006 9:51:45 AM PDT by ivyleaguebrat
WASHINGTON
It all seemed darkly funny at first.
Eric Haskett was merely taking a nap in a car when he roused suspicion in a rural Frederick County neighborhood. A neighbor traced Haskett's license plate to an address once used by a registered sex offender.
Then his girlfriend's parents told him to scram; law enforcement officials, including three FBI agents, began investigating; and Haskett began fearing that the suspicions could cost him his job at a gag shop that sells such kid-friendly items as whoopie cushions.
"It blew me away that a federal agent was sticking a badge in my face. Three agents, dog -- like I'm the ringleader!" said Haskett, 28, of Mount Airy.
After allaying the concerns of several law enforcement officials over the past few weeks, Haskett also asked them what he could do to clear his name.
"They said the best bet is to leave the area," Haskett said.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
This mom is a real piece of work.
Yeah seriously. He didn't dress up enough for dinner, so he deserves being vilified as a sex offender?
Mount Airy? Isn't that the town that Mayberry was modeled after? Has anyone seen Gomer recently?
The "sex offender registry" seems to me one of those things that sounds good in theory, but has huge problems in practice. The people who really belong on the sex offender registry should be in jail rather than in society; at the same time, there are many people on the list who didn't really do anything to deserve it; an FR post described one person whose "crime" was grabbing a girl's arm after she walked in the path of a moving vehicle.
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