Sex offender case was botched more than once

The June 20th headline read Error lets rapist avoid sex offender label.

Okay, I thought, mistakes happen. And, probably like you, I kept reading.

It seems a sentencing slip-up by a judge in Pasco County, which was overlooked by the prosecutor who had cut a plea bargain for Shady Hills resident Thomas Wolverton in 2004, resulted in this degenerate not being labeled a sexual offender, even though he molested three children.

Their ages: 4, 5, and 7.

Consequently, Wolverton was released before serving his full sentence of six years in prison and nine years of probation. Then he moved to within walking distance of an elementary school in Brooksville, and never registered as sex offender or convicted felon.

Then the mother of the children spotted Wolverton, who she thought was still incarcerated, and began to ask some very pointed questions. Lucky for her. And good for her.

When Hernando County Sheriff Richard Nugent learned this morally corrupt cretin had been on the loose for a month, he was outraged. More pointed questions — and comments — followed. "This is as bad as it gets," Nugent said. "It places all children at risk. ... People need to know who he is and where he is," he told our reporter.

Amen.

The Pasco-Pinellas prosecutor's office held an emergency hearing to correct this awful mistake. Congratulations to Circuit Judge Daniel Diskey and the State Attorney's Office for getting it right the second time around.

But here's my mostly rhetorical question: Why was this pervert sentenced only to six years in prison in the first place?

The Times story stated that the children's family agreed to the plea bargain, which convicted Wolverton, then 18 years old, of lewd and lascivious conduct, while dropping the original charges of capital sexual battery. The state also may have had a weak case on the more serious charges. That happens, especially when your victims are so young. And it appears the judge adhered to the mandatory sentencing guidelines.

But it still is shocking that such unspeakable acts, which will haunt each child a lifetime, can result in only six years of hard time for the perpetrator. That turned out to be less than two years in jail for each child he sexually assaulted. And only because the mother of the victims happened upon him will he receive the debauched designation he deserves.

Meanwhile, our jails are full of nonviolent offenders and this so-and-so is walking the streets.

Oh, and here's one illuminating detail not included in Friday's story about this legal foul-up, but which was reported in the original 2002 Times story about the sexual assaults: At the time he violated these children, Wolverton stood 6 foot 3 and weighed 280 pounds.

This big boy, whom I will forever more refer to as Wolverton-'O-Goo, deserved a bigger sentence. And the little ones he physically and emotionally desecrated deserved a better effort from the adults whose responsibility it was to avenge them.

Jeff Webb, editor of editorials for the Hernando Times, can be reached at webb@sptimes.com or (352) 754-6123.