Colorado district attorneys look to step up penalties on child indecent exposure offenses: "We won't see justice"
More than 1,200 people have signed an online petition urging lawmakers to close what they call a loophole in the state's sex crimes statutes that prevents the youngest victims from ever seeing justice.
Right now, indecent exposure involving children is a felony if it happens online, but it's a misdemeanor if it ocurrs in person. A perpetrator would have to expose himself three times in person for it to be a felony.
"I learned this the hard way because somebody that I trusted had exposed himself to my... 6-year-old," said Tiffany Moon-Comandari, who started the petition.
She says it took her daughter a year to open up to her about what had happened and another year to come forward to the police. By then, it was too late. The statute of limitations for misdemeanors is 18 months.
"The Aurora detectives said 'we're really sorry. Had this happened online and not in person it would've been... actionable,'" she expressed.
There is no statute of limitations for felony sex crimes thanks in part to Representative Dafna Michaelson Jenet, who is now carrying a bill to make indecent exposure to children a felony regardless of whether it happens online or in person.
"This type of indecent exposure really ruins the trust of a child to an adult and it does some really considerable harm and it should be treated as such," she said.
Jessica Dotter, with the Colorado District Attorneys Council, says indecent exposure is one of the highest-risk highest recidivism sex crimes and many perpetrators graduate to more serious sex offenses.
Yet, she says it is the only sex crime involving kids in Colorado that's a misdemeanor.
"These are dangerous offenses to the public. They're not just a joke, they're not just a nuisance and especially when done in front of children... need to be treated with the consequences in accordance to the impact that they have on the community," Dotter said.
By changing the crime from a Class 1 misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony, Dotter says perpetrators will be more likely to get mandated treatment.
Opponents of the bill are worried people with intellectual disabilities or mental health challenges may get swept up in it. Jenet says she is amending it to make sure that doesn't happen.
"And the prosecutor will have to prove that this individual knew what they were doing," Jenet said.
Moon-Comandari plans to testify in favor of the bill. She says she is determined to protect other children.
"We won't see justice... but their perpetrator lives in Jefferson County now, with his girlfriend and her two young children," she said.
Under the bill, a child would have to be younger than 15 and more than four years younger than the offender for the law to apply.
Jenet says she doesn't want consenting teens of similar ages to be at risk of charges.
