Discussion»Questions»Life and Society» Judge Gregory S.Ross gave a rapist joint custody of his 12-year-old victim's son. Chris Mirasolo is a registered sex offender. SAY WHAT?
Judge Gregory S.Ross gave a rapist joint custody of his 12-year-old victim's son. Chris Mirasolo is a registered sex offender. SAY WHAT?
The rape occurred 9 years ago . The judge gave the victim's address to the rapist and put his name on the birth certificate without her consent. You can't make this stuff up folks. SIGH.
This is messed up beyond all belief, but it's more because one division of the state has no idea what the other division is doing. He was convicted (plea bargain to lesser charge), though the sentence was a joke. The problem came in because she filed for public assistance. And, yes, the government does try to go after deadbeat parents, as well it should. Part of that is that they went after the man she named as the child's father... I think most people would agree that's to be expected. So, the state went after the "father" in this case in order to get him to fulfill his child support obligations, rather than have her rely on the state for medical benefits and food. As part of that, they had a paternity test done and named him the father... fathers get rights. With this being a separate case carried out by the family courts, as opposed to the criminal courts, unless they had a reason to look deeper, they wouldn't. So, to be clear, the rapist didn't request time with the kid or anything- this was purely bureaucratic nonsense.
This is, in fact, the number-one reason why I never attempted to get government benefits or anything while my son was little. (For those unaware, my eldest was conceived under similar circumstances when I was 15.) I knew they wanted to know the biological father's info and I knew they were going to do the same thing. The state doesn't hide it. So, we muddled through without state assistance.
At the same time, I also know that the state, at least in Arizona, realizes it's dumb sometimes. My ex-husband lost his job a while back and fell significantly behind on child support. The state takes all kinds of actions to remedy these situations. They monitored his bank accounts for money. They froze his passport so he couldn't leave the country. They checked employment records monthly to see if he had been hired anywhere and could be garnished. They monitored for tax returns and inheritances. I actually got a significant amount back because they intercepted his tax return and gave it to me. But, the catch... the state also put liens on all "his" property. My house still had his name on the paperwork. So, my house got a lien on it.... that way, they could liquidate it to pay his balance if need be. I emailed my caseworker and pointed out that it was really dumb of them to put a lien on something I own in order to protect me from his non-payment... they agreed. But, like anything, there's an appeals process.
To some degree, I get this. The state needs to have these processes in place. They make sure they're doing everything they can to relieve the burden from the tax payers, and state agencies are not only underfunded, but also very regimented. Sometimes, there are extenuating circumstances that make cases not fit into their perfect cookie-cutter process. What could possibly be done better? Without more funding and staffing for these agencies, I don't see any solutions. And, nobody wants to pay more taxes, particularly when the word "welfare" is mentioned.
I would be more outraged if the rapist had filed for custody and was granted it, but that's not what happened. This is just a byproduct of a broken system, and so much went wrong before the judge made that ruling. The woman's ok. The kid is ok. The rapist is still physically out of the picture. They'll get it sorted out. Screwed up, yes... absolutely, but we need to look at it from the broader picture- not just what one judge did.
Just Asking 