This is a really hard one to write. It's basically every parent's worst nightmare, or at least one of them. Actually, it probably can't really be called your worst nightmare since that implies the thought would have actually occurred to you.
Basically, 23-year-old Aaron Jay Lemon of Little Canada, Minnesota ran an ad on Craig's List looking for a job as a babysitter. He was hired by a St. Paul couple to watch their 2 year old. Then he made pornographic videos with the child.
The one positive seems to be that Lemon pleaded guilty, so there won't be a trial. I know that's not much of consolation but with a story like this, I'll take what I can get.
This happened back in 2007, and it appears that Lemon was exchanging child pornographic videos with someone else, which led to an investigation and his eventual arrest. He lived with his mother, who had no comment for the press.
There's also a very scary quote from Erin Hammill, the owner of a company called Above and Beyond Nannies. "There is no way that you can tell a sex offender. You don't just trust…But if you checked four references, you would have a sense of who they're dealing with." Her company checks pretty thoroughly – "10 character references, five employer references", a credit check, and more. Hammill went on to say, "I think that people are using Craig's List because the economy is so poor…But no one should use Craig's List for a baby-sitter. That's just playing the victim role. That's like saying, 'Oh my gosh, I'm walking down a dark alley, and I'm carrying my life savings in my wallet.' "
I tend to agree, although I don't know that I could muster up a scolding if I were talking directly to the parents who just experienced this horror. (As far as I know, Hammill just gave a quote to a reporter and wasn't speaking specifically to the parents of the 2 year old.)
"There is no way that you can tell a sex offender." That definitely got to me.
Again, the one teeny little positive thing here is that the guy is caught, pled guilty, and will go to jail. The maximum sentence is 30 years. That doesn't seem like enough.
Source: TwinCities.com
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