A Shelburne man who was once a high-ranking member of the Vermont Air National Guard will avoid a federal child pornography trial by pleading guilty to a lesser charge.
VT: Former high-ranking VTANG member pleads guilty in child pornography case
[mychamplainvalley.com – 11/28/20]
It’s revealing how the rich, powerful, and famous treat their own kind regarding sex crimes. They sentence them to lesser crimes because they realize the sentences regular people receive are often excessive.
Assuming the ambiguous wording “registering for Vermont’s sex offender list” means for life, then I think that would be the most serious part of his sentence.
Maybe when enough rich and powerful people are on the registry then they will revert the registry to law-enforcement-only access, which is how it all started.
He was not high ranking because Major’s aren’t high ranking to begin with. Here, a kicker is because his is retired military, he is still subject to the UCMJ and could be recalled to face prosecution for the entire suite of initial charges. So, before saying they are taking care of their own, the state got a pound of flesh here, but the DoD could really get a pound of flesh and then some if they wanted to pursue charges, where he could lose his retirement, VA benefits, etc.
I would be surprised if after all is said and done, he is required to register as a sex offender.
I think the term “high-ranking” was just used to add shock value. Majors are actually in the middle of the rank progression, unless you count the varying degrees of general, in which case they’d be in the lower half. He’s not subject to UCMJ if he’s retired, but they can revoke all his retirement benefits and whatnot based on felony convictions alone. He’ll likely keep them because he’s taking a plea for a misdemeanor.
More revealing I think is that the story focused on the charges and didn’t say a single word about the circumstances that led to them, that the Feds are willing to allow a plea to a state misdemeanor, and that he more than likely had the CP attached to his computer/cell in one of those entrapment stings makes me think that the entire affair is considerably less alarming than what the reporter would have us think.
@ Anonymous, registration was part of the plea. I don’t know about Vermont law, but I suspect his registration won’t be for life on a misdemeanor. But of course, that is subject to numerous revisions.
The one thing that got my attention the most in this article is:
A CP charge which is only a misdemeanor
I did not even know there was such an animal.. I thought any type of CP charge would be a felony. I thought just the words “CP” is equal to at least 15 years in prison.
Never thought looking at pictures would carry a long sentence. On the other hand a picture is worth a thousand words; so they must include the conversations you had with a picture.