Leon Albert Prince was convicted in 1991 of a sexual offense in 1972 against a child who was enrolled in his Sunday school class at the time.
State officials said Prince visited children at the Mount Meigs campus, a detention facility operated by the Department of Youth Services, through his affiliation with a volunteer program at Frazer Memorial United Methodist Church.
A spokesman for DYS said the state has a policy requiring that all volunteers submit to a criminal background check, and it prohibits most ex-inmates from contact with youthful offenders.
"We should have conducted a background check on Mr. Prince, but this one slipped between the cracks," Alan Peaton said.
Even though Prince was convicted of a sex crime against a child, he was not required to register as a sex offender because of hole in the law, said Chris Bence, chief of staff for Attorney General Troy King.
Bence said Prince was convicted of "carnal knowledge of a child under the age of 12," which is no longer technically an offense under Alabama law. An administrative law judge said Prince was not required to be a registered sex offender, Bence said.
Bence said carnal knowledge was folded into Alabama's current rape statute, which the attorney general believes should require Prince to register under the Community Notification Act.
"In Attorney General King's opinion, Leon Prince should be required to be a registered sex offender with law enforcement for the rest of his life," Bence said Monday.
Bence said his office has been in contact with the Department of Public Safety -- which is in charge of listing Alabama's sex offenders -- for several days to find a way to make Prince a registered sex offender.
The situation came to the state's attention after Prince wrote in Frazer's newsletter last week about his volunteer work at Mount Meigs, said Allison Black Cornelius, Prince's victim in 1972.
She said Prince served 15 years of a 30-year sentence for the crime he committed against her, and was released from prison Nov. 5, 2006, because of good behavior.
"I told the state parole board that if they ever released Leon from prison, within a year he would be found volunteering with youth just as he was when he sexually abused me at 7 years old," Cornelius said.
She said once Prince appeared in the church publication, she received more than 100 phone calls, 38 from Frazer members alone, because many people have heard her speak as an advocate for victims of child sexual abuse.
"Leon Prince is a predatory sex offender and should never be allowed any contact with children, supervised or alone," Cornelius said.
She said Prince served 15 years of a 30-year sentence for the crime he committed against her, and was released from prison Nov. 5, 2006, because of good behavior.
"I told the state parole board that if they ever released Leon from prison, within a year he would be found volunteering with youth just as he was when he sexually abused me at 7 years old," Cornelius said.
She said once Prince appeared in the church publication, she received more than 100 phone calls, 38 from Frazer members alone, because many people have heard her speak as an advocate for victims of child sexual abuse.
"Leon Prince is a predatory sex offender and should never be allowed any contact with children, supervised or alone," Cornelius said.
The Rev. John Ed Mathison, Frazer's senior pastor, said church members knew Prince was a former prison inmate, but never asked him what his crime was.
"If we had known his background, we would have never allowed him to go to Mount Meigs and be exposed to children," Mathison said.
Mathison said the church is reviewing all its internal procedures for checking those who work with its many outside ministries.
He said Prince resigned as a member of the church, and if he ever returns, he would be required to be escorted at all times by another member while on church property.
"I believe that God can redeem anyone," Mathison said. "But I can't say for certain this man has changed his ways."
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment