MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
By Ruben Rosario
twincities.com
Posted: 10/09/2012
It’s time to start holding people other than the predator accountable for the rapes and sexual molestation of children.
I’m talking here about those whose instinct is to protect the institution and its reputation rather than protecting children. Examples abound this week and in recent months.
On Tuesday, Oct. 9, former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was sentenced to a 30- to 60-year prison term — by normal estimates a life stint, considering he’s 68 — for sexually molesting 10 boys over a 15-year period while operating on the side a foundation for underprivileged children. …
Sandusky’s sentencing followed Monday’s charges against a former drama teacher and “dorm parent” at elite Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault, Minn. Lynn Seibel, 70, is facing charges he sexually assaulted at least six former students during his 10-year teaching stint at the school. Again, what’s intriguing here is the alleged conduct of school officials in the aftermath of Seibel’s resignation in 2003 after not one or two but 14,000 child porn pictures were found on his work computer.
Shattuck-St. Mary’s said Monday that “after consultation with the school’s attorneys, the school confirmed that the material did not trigger a reporting requirement.” As a result, police were never notified.
Perhaps, the school needs to add a criminal justice course to its curriculum. Possession of child pornography is a federal crime. School officials are mandated reporters of suspected child abuse. You don’t need to be a vice cop to understand that possession of child pornography by a person with access to children or in a position of trust and authority over children is a volatile mix and more than reason enough to open a case.
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