BURNET, Texas — John Benedict “J.B.” _____ pleaded guilty Tuesday and was sentenced to 50 years in prison for violating his sex offender registration requirements.
_____ was required to register as a sex offender after multiple 1997 Williamson County convictions for victimizing two young girls over a four-year period, according to a release from the 33rd/424th District Attorney’s office in Burnet.
Years after he was paroled from prison, _____ used an unreported Facebook account to attempt to contact one of his victims, which is in violation of his sex offender registration requirements. The victim had obtained a lifetime protective order against _____ . The violations were immediately reported and investigated by local authorities, per the release.
and if he made no contact with his victim he would not be facing 50 years end of story! next!
Ok, obviously this man should not have tried to contact this woman. That was idiotic of him. However, the idea that he was trying to contact her proves he is an idiot but nothing more. We are certain he was attempting to harm this now adult woman? I didn’t see that in the story. For all we know, he may have been apologizing? Maybe not, maybe he was up to no good. Doesn’t mean he is a, predator. Predators don’t reach out on FB like that, at least not in a way that the intended victim knows who you are! If he is a, “predator” he’s not s very good one.
Obviously this man is an idiot. This is grade A dumbass stuff here. If he wanted to contact this woman do it through a lawyer and know that even that is probably going to result in a big “NO”! Gotta live in the real world where no is always an option.
So this “epitome of a sexual predator” (as described by the DA) gets nothing for violating the lifetime protection order but 50 years for the registry violation. And this makes sense to who?
The story does highlight the purpose of the registry, though. Not to protect anyone from anything – as usual, the registry did nothing to protect this victim and had absolutely nothing to do with his identification or arrest. LE didn’t find his violations through diligent detective work; it was reported by the victim.
The registry only serves to felonize ordinary, mundane, routine activity based on previous, not current, offenses. This guy wasn’t charged for his use of the account, only for having and not reporting it. Absent the registry and its associated restrictions, there’s nothing criminal about having a Facebook account. Given the limited details in this particular case, the state could have pursued a pretty compelling stalking case against this guy (unless he contacted the victim to apologize, entirely possible) in addition to the LPO violation and gotten another felony conviction and significant sentence (though probably not 50 years).
But no. That would be sensible, applicable, and fair.
While the sentence seems harsh on the surface, this guy is obviously not a good person and blatantly refused to turn his life around. Prison is probably the best place for him.
Dustin and those in the know. Authorities have authority to do background these checks if one has gotten mixed up with the law. Its not easy being on this registry. Sure this lifetime after a bit of prison is a bit much. Would some actually hang themselves if one got involved in the registry?
Thats stink’n think’n, killing oneself over looking at some dirty pictures on the registry or getting wrapped up in this registry because someone convinced someone to play hop scotch in this naked type game of protect and serve. Sure its bad enough to do a sex number on another and of course its even worse to have someone get one’s goat so to speak. Pride goeth before the fall. Very simple.
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Some how in his sick a twisted mind he had a real relationship with this particular victim and tried to reach out to her, even after all that time had past he was still obsessed with her it was only a matter of time before he went after her again so the courts had to make sure this particular woman was safe and able to live her life in Peace they gave his azz 50 years
50 years? That’s a worse sentence than the original crime itself. Why not 25 years? Why not 10 years? Why not 5 years?
Jesus Christ. The so-called “court” system is a HUGE JOKE!