A sick judge just decided to only give a man who admitted in court to his heinous acts after enticing a little girl into his home and sexually assaulting her with only probation because of what he blamed the child for doing, rather than throwing him in jail, where he belongs!
22-year-old Joseph Robert Meili started conversing with an 11-year-old girl after searching the dating app MeetMe. The girl consented to meet Meili at his house but their chats eventually turned passionate. He took the chance and took the teen to his residence in Springfield, Missouri, where she claims to have fallen asleep by accident. However, her worst fear was realized when she awoke.
Children are using the latest tech devices at an earlier age, in the era of innovation. But sadly, little did they know that this also provides a doorway for predators to come into contact with children with whom they would otherwise never cross paths. Exactly, unfortunately, how Meili preyed upon his victim. They thought that not only this allows them to quickly and efficiently connect with family and friends, but it also gives danger ahead that they never expected.
The girl told the police she fell asleep at Meili’s apartment and woke up “feeling as though something sexual had happened.” Weeks later, she told investigators Meili raped her. And disturbingly, she reportedly tested positive for chlamydia, as investigators found semen in her underwear. Meili should have served years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree statutory rape, first-degree statutory sodomy, and child kidnapping. But because of the amazing deal he got, the admitted child rapist won’t ever set foot inside a jail cell. But Meili has gotten away with extremely lenient sentences.
Meili’s charges were lowered to only one count of third-degree child molestation, which is a class C felony, in exchange for her admission to the rape and kidnapping. Meili still had to pay a $10,000 fine in addition to 3 to 10 years in prison despite the fact that his charges were significantly reduced. However, after hearing his unsettling justification, the judge only sentenced him to 5 years of closely monitored probation.
Meili claimed he only agreed to meet up with the girl because her dating profile said she was 18. Scott Pierson, Meili’s attorney, said that the girl “catfished” his client by misrepresenting her age online.
“He felt horrible about the entire incident,” Pierson said. “He’s going to be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life… Neither side is really going to get justice here.”
However, Greene County Senior Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Elizabeth Fax said that it is “absolutely” impossible for Meili to have believed the girl was 18.
“I think dating apps make it easier to get into these types of situations, to be sure, but to actually see her in person … He knew and just decided to go along with it anyway,” she said.
“It’s just really hard for people to wrap their minds around the fact that these are children. They might wear makeup and be on dating apps and try to hook up with older men but, at the end of the day, these are children,” she added.
According to both Pierson and Fax, child molestation and statutory rape cases in Greene County similar to Meili’s tend to result in probation rather than prison sentences. Even so, prosecutors suggested that Meili serve at least 120 days in a sex offender treatment program and up to 7 years in jail for his offenses, despite the fact that he accepted a plea agreement.
Such decisions strongly imply to would-be rapists that they can get away with it, because of a Judge like Judge Holden who merely sentenced him to probation, he was able to rape an innocent youngster and get away with it.
Sources: Taphaps, Huffpost, Thepetitionsite