Man convicted of child abuse exiled to Canada (he's US citizen - new meaning to dumping?)

CTV.ca ^ | Sun. Oct. 22, 2006 | Staff w/AP

[GMMAC]

Man convicted of child abuse exiled to Canada

CTV.ca News Staff
Updated Sun. Oct. 22 2006 11:26 PM ET

Given a choice between jail and exile to Canada, an American man chose Fort Erie, Ont. after being convicted for having sex with a 15-year-old girl.

Starting Monday, Malcolm Watson will stay out of the U.S. for three years as punishment for having a sexual relationship with the Buffalo, N.Y. student.

The sexual abuse sentence handed down by a New York State court only allows Watson to re-enter the U.S. to report to his probation officer.

Watson, 35, lives in Fort Erie with his Canadian wife and three children.

The former seminary teacher was arrested in April after a mall security guard noticed Watson and the girl sitting in a parked car for two hours.

District Attorney Frank Clark called the sentence "a little dicey."

Immigration lawyers in the U.S. are questioning whether the court has the authority to banish a citizen, The Associated Press reported.

Watson's defence lawyer Oscar Smukler was reportedly surprised by the unusual sentence. He is concerned that his client's new criminal record could prompt Canadian authorities to deny Watson entry.

"We did some research on the question of whether Canada might consider throwing (Watson) out, which would make him a man without a country," Smukler told AP.

Watson did have a choice of sentence. His alternative was to spend a year in jail.

With files from The Associated Press

[GMMAC]

Aside from the fact that the public should be rightly appalled by a DA plea-bargaining pedophilia down to misdemeanors as well as by a Judge rubber stamping the deal, does anyone else find it more than a little odd that a US citizen would opt to maintain a 'Canadian' family most likely only a few minutes across the border?

Assuming he's their natural father, his kids are US nationals too &, as a teacher, it's unlikely he wouldn't have Stateside health insurance. Plus, the cost of living in Fort Erie is probably higher than in most parts of Erie & Niagara Counties & he has no tax angle since his wages are taxed where he earns them

His whole living situation reeks of some sort of premeditated ulterior motive which makes his receiving such a mild slap-on-the-wrist all the more suspicious.

[conservative in nyc]

I doubt there is anything sinister about an American with a Canadian wife living in Canada while still working across the border. Would it be suspicious if the family lived in Buffalo and his Canadian wife commuted to her job in Fort Erie?

As a teacher, he likely had health insurance in the US. If it included the wife and kids (which it often does), the family might be better off not having to endure the wait times the Ontario system sometimes imposes. And he might have been paid better in New York than in a comparable job in Ontario, especially after factoring in the exchange rate when it was 66 cents to the Canadian dollar not so many years back.

It's not clear that the judge has formally passed on this sentence yet, by the way. It was supposed to happen today, according to some news reports. If so, perhaps he's seen the uproar and is having second thoughts about it.

[GMMAC]

"Would it be suspicious if the family lived in Buffalo and his Canadian wife commuted to her job in Fort Erie?"

Yes - for all the reasons you listed in the following paragraph & then some. Plus, although it's likely not all that relevant but given the immediate proximity, what sort of a person would opt to raise their American kids in Canada?
Fine, if your employer transfered you to some far distant foreign locale and you had to go wherever to keep your job and/or move upward but, maybe 10 minutes a way in Fort Erie !!!

BTW, the story got some play on Toronto talk radio stations this afternoon.
The overwhelming consensus was twofold:
It's got to be totally illegal in any Western democracy and, if the situation were reversed, America would never stand for it.

[conservative in nyc]

I don't think the U.S. can stop an American from coming back into the country - but we can arrest him once he steps on U.S. soil.

To some extent, the plea bargain is a solution to a problem. The 15-year old girl didn't seem to want to testify, and without the 15-year-old's testimony, the perv wouldn't be convicted. The deal his defense lawyer made with the prosecutor was essentially for parole, with a restriction on where he could go, almost like house arrest, but not really. Without the deal, he might have totally gotten off scott free, and been a menace to everybody. Of course, the only party at the table - Canada - doesn't seem to have been consulted and gets the short end of the deal.

Canada doesn't need to stand for the deal - turn him around at the border the next time he enters the U.S. for a parole hearing or whatever. As far as has been reported, he's not a Canadian citizen. Foreigners have no right to enter Canada.

What the perv did might not have been a crime in Ontario at the time - is the age of consent still 14? The girl was 15.

[GMMAC]

"What the perv did might not have been a crime in Ontario at the time - is the age of consent still 14? The girl was 15."

It's a crime in Canada & a fairly serious one expressly because he was in a position of authority which effectively trumps the 14 age of consent.

I'm assuming the real problem with your suggestion will occur, thanks to the damned Liberals & their activist Judge buddies, if he's smart enough to utter the word 'refugee' once stopped ...

[GMMAC]

This sucker's seemingly starting to get 'legs' up here:
Lead-off story on CTV's 11:00pm national news broadcast.

Doncha just love being at least a half day ahead of the msm's news curve - LOL!

[Squawk 8888]

As a teacher, he likely had health insurance in the US

But not any more; it's unlikely that he'd find a job stateside with health coverage now, which is all the more incentive for him to choose to stay here.

[GMMAC]

2 new up-date articles posted here earlier this morning.

[Fawn]

Please take me off this list. Thanks.....

[GMMAC]

Although most weren't among my routine contacts and I've seldom done so, I let those who'd expressed an interest in this topic by commenting on the above thread know two follow-up articles had been posted.

As it should have been obvious this was intended as a courtesy and that you're not normally on any list of contacts of mine, your public request is ill-mannered and needless; especially when it could have just as easily been made via private FReep mail.