Sex offender says he's reformed, but bill would punish him anyway
KATHLEEN MILLER Associated Press writer | Posted: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - Michael Wicks says he's a good guy.
He ticks off the reasons: He's been married for 10 years to the same woman, helped her raise the two daughters she had with another man, and held down two jobs, working as a tattoo artist and a pizza delivery man to support his blended family.
But Wicks, 38, has a secret: He's a convicted sex offender. In 1991, he was 22 and had sex with a 15-year-old girl. In 1992, he did it again; this time, he was 23, and the victim was only 14.
"At the time I was completely pickled," Wicks, of Powell, said. "That doesn't justify anything I did. I was an alcoholic, and it was my responsibility to not stay that way, but I was a drunk."
Wicks says the sex in both circumstances was consensual. He is not classified as a high-risk offender, so he isn't listed on state sex offender online databases.
But Wicks is exposing his secret because he's worried about a bill that would publish his sex offender status on the Internet.
The Legislature is considering a variety of bills this year that have a common goal: strengthening the state's sex offender policies. And legislators believe they have good reason to do so.
"We are becoming a haven for sex offenders," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Tony Ross, R-Cheyenne, said.
The manager of the state's sex offender registry program, Bob Brackett, says 62 percent of the last 100 sex offenders to register moved to Wyoming post-conviction. Brackett and Ross say it's because the state's current laws are lax.
So the Legislature is considering a bill that would require all sex offenders to register in an online database, with the offenders' license plate numbers and lists of their offenses accessible to the public via the Internet.
Not all lawmakers are on board. Sen. Bruce Burns, R-Sheridan, said he's worried publicizing all sex offenders' information, regardless of offense or risk of recidivism, would divert attention from the most serious offenders.
"I don't want to dilute the effect of the sex offender list," Burns said. "I'm thinking lesser offenses should be kept off the site. The idea of the list is for public safety. For example, somebody who was convicted of statutory rape, I don't see any point of having them on the list as opposed to a child predator."
Rep. Jane Warren, D-Laramie, said she's concerned the bill leaves offenders no incentive to change.
"As we passed it in the House, if you had somebody in '85 or '86 who had an error in judgment, and they were charged - they've never had any problems since, they have jobs, they have wives, they've carried on as members of the community - now its gonna go on the Web site," Warren said. "To go back in time like that seems quite unfair to me."
Wicks says he's most worried that if his license plate is listed on a sex offender database, his family's safety may be in jeopardy.
"I'm not the only person behind the wheel of that vehicle," Wicks said. "I'm worried about my daughter, who just had our grandbaby, driving down the road and having her head blown off by some idiot who 'wants to get him a sex offender."'
Wicks said he feels the proposed law is unfair to people like him, who have tried to turn their lives around.
"You have to really beat some serious odds to become a good citizen after you've done something like this," Wicks said. He worries that daily life would become impossible.
"If I'm on a database as a sex offender for something I did 15 years ago, I'll probably lose my job. Then I won't be able to pay to keep a roof over my head, so I'll lose my place, and I'll have to go on welfare," Wicks said. "Without a job, income and place to live, how can you have a life?"
But Attorney General Pat Crank and many legislators have little sympathy.
"It's a hell of a mistake to make," Crank said. "This is not like forgetting your car is parked in a one-hour time slot and getting a parking ticket. These are conscious, deliberate actions of folks to commit one of the most heinous crimes against another human being I can imagine."
Crank says his experience as a prosecutor has left him determined to fight sex offenders.
"When you have to look into the eyes of a 7- or 8-year-old who's been repeatedly molested, robbed of all innocence, and will carry those scars throughout the rest of his or her life, I'm gonna come down on the side of protecting those children every time," Crank said.
Crank thinks the current system, in which a judge determines whether a convict is at high, medium or low risk of offending again, is inefficient and needs to be changed. Statistics from Brackett's office show about one in four sex offenders in the state has not had an assessment hearing, and Crank and Brackett say some counties are not as quick as others when it comes to performing assessments.
And if hearings aren't held, then it's possible some sex offenders aren't being put in the online offender database who should be there.
But Wicks says doing away with risk assessments isn't the answer. "If they do away with assessment, they're throwing me in the same category as child molesters and rapists," Wicks said.
He's been labeled a child molester before, by a former neighbor who had heard gossip of his sex offender status and assumed he was convicted of child molestation.
"I'm not a child molester. I had indecent liberties with a minor when I was drunk and stupid years ago," Wicks said. "I did my time and reformed."