Today, Benjamin Brown faced Lady Justice. He had reached a plea agreement that would give him 3 years of incarceration and have him evaluated in prison for chances of recidivism and sex offender classification. When he faced the judge today, he had quite a surprise.

The judge was not amused that he'd shown up at a school to molest a child. In a rare move exercising judicial discretion, she rejected the plea agreement and instead gave him a four year sentence, five years of supervision upon release, and mandated lifetime registration as a Sexual Predator (eliminating the evaluation in prison). Ohio has three different classes of sexual offenders. Predator is the top classification.

Sexual Predator is defined as a person who has been convicted of, or pleaded guilty to, committing a sexually oriented offense and who is likely in the future to commit additional sexually oriented offenses.

Offenders can be classified as sexual predators in one of the following ways:

1. The offender is convicted of a sexually violent offense with a sexually violent predator specification, or

2. The sentencing court, after holding a sexual predator hearing pursuant to O.R.C. 2950.09, determines that the offender is a sexual predator.

Offenders designated as sexual predators are subject to
registration/verification requirements for life unless a judge modifies or terminates the sexual predator designation. Sexual predators are subject to the neighbor / community notification provisions and the reporting requirements at 90 day intervals.

Source: http://www.sheriff.co.stark.oh.us/pr01.htm

Brown was disturbing. He showed up to meet \"Cami\" with a knife and a rope in the truck. We knew he'd been in prison in the 1980's for rape. Today we got more details of that previous conviction. He was convicted of raping a child about the same age as \"Cami.\" This man is one of the worst of the worst, with police finding notes of other individuals he was attempting to solicit. We're very happy we were able to partner with some great police to have him arrive for them. Even happier to see a judge take a strong look at the case and the threat to find that it's greater than what was agreed upon.

And of course, we hope Ben enjoys his stay.

Related media article: Internet Sex Offender sentenced to four years