Just read a disturbing piece in the Washington Post:
“Here’s what we now know about Oregon State pitcher Luke Heimlich: He’s the top pitcher on the nation’s No. 1-ranked college baseball team, a major league prospect who has led the Beavers into this weekend’s NCAA Super Regional against Vanderbilt.
He’s also a registered sex offender, having pleaded guilty to a single charge of molesting a 6-year-old family member in his home state of Washington when he was 15.”
His team is 2 wins away from playing in the College World Series and he is on the roster to pitch this weekend. It’s unclear whether the university was aware of his status as a registered sex offender; the university president wouldn’t comment on what the university knew and when.
Seems to me that the university was asleep at the wheel here and/or the coaching staff/athletic director have a little too much power.
I have a hard time with cases like this. On one hand, he was only 15 and the hopeful part of me thinks someone that young can change. On the other hand, the original charge was that he molested a child who was a family member over a period of 2 years, beginning when the child was 4. I suspect that the child will have serious psychological problems.
I hope that the state in question has a very long statute of limitations for civil actions arising out of crimes like this. If he makes it to the major leagues, I think a very big part of his earnings should go to the costs of giving that child the very best treatment and care plus a huge chunk of money to make up for the horrific mental anguish this child has suffered. I’d also give the parents who trusted him a whopping amount of money.
I would also require that he have some sort of reverse bodyguard, paid for by his earnings, who would accompany him 24/7 to make sure that he was never alone with a child. I don’t want him autographing baseball or visiting hospitals or doing anything else that pro baseball players might do that would lead little kids to think he can trust them.
I’m not suggesting that money can right the wrong. I know it can’t. But I also think allowing him to play pro ball and pay a substantial portion of his earnings to his victim might be a better outcome than having a victim who doesn’t get much help.
This goes back to a question raised in another thread (see http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20705771/#Comment_20705771 replies #214 and #220) about whether a convicted criminal should be given a chance at school and employment in the future (assuming that the school situation and type of employment does not elevate any temptation to reoffend).
I’m skeptical people like him can ever be rehabilitated. If we’re not willing to put people like him in prison, they should be allowed to earn an income.
I agree with some of what you’re saying, @jonri but take issue with this:
I have a 15 year old and she’s old enough to know not to sexually abuse anybody - in fact I suspect that most if not all 15 year olds who haven’t been abused themselves wouldn’t even be tempted to sexually abuse a little kid. I would want to know that this star football player has been in and continues to be in psychological therapy before feeling okay about him.
Juvenile records may be sealed, but the purpose of being required to register on a sex offender registry would be moot if it was sealed.
Jonri, you can think of all the restrictions or fines you want, but his sentence was already set when he took the plea. You don’t have to cheer for him or his teams.
He’s already pleaded to the charges. What difference does it make how long the statute of limitations is?
I agree. I just said I would like to hope that a 15 year old who did something like this is young enough that he CAN CHANGE. BTW, he plays baseball, not football.
A criminal conviction doesn’t give the victim money damages. When this young man was convicted, it’s unlikely that he was required to pay any large sum of money in restitution to the victim because he was a 15 year old kid and presumably didn’t have much money. Now, f he ends up being signed to a MLB team, he could get a fair amount of money. IF HE DOES, I’d like him to have to give a substantial sum to the victim. In some states, the statute of limitations for the offense will already have run, so any civil suit will be dismissed. In those states, any civil action brought by his victim would be dismissed and the victim would not receive any portion of the signing bonus or other money the abuser receives. In other states, especially those in which the statute of limitations is tolled while the victim is a minor, the victim could sue and collect money damages. I would like the victim to share in any money the abuser receives.
He was supposed to pitch tonight against my team (Vanderbilt) and now he is not going to. AT first OSU said he was still going to pitch, but there was an uproar so now he’s not pitching. He might be done. A few major league teams have said he is now off their draft lists. I wish it had come out sooner and not right at the Super Regional so that it could have been addressed by the school and the coach without all the publicity.
"The newspaper then was able to obtain the court documents from Washington state via an open-records request, because although most cases involving crimes committed by juveniles are kept sealed, “Washington considers the type of crime Heimlich committed to be so serious that the records are not confidential for juvenile offenders,”