Not a smart idea

The Dom Post reports:

A high-risk sex offender proposed marriage and gave an engagement ring to a 13-year-old girl he met in an internet chatroom while he was supposed to be monitored 24 hours a day.

Shortly afterwards, Shane Frederick Stoneham, 26, took the girl, dressed in her school uniform, to meet his probation officer. They told him they were in a sexual relationship.

I guess there are stupider things to do than taking a 13 year old in school uniform to a meeting with your probation officer, and declaring you are having sex with her. But, I can’t think of too many off hand.

Judge Gaskell also gave Stoneham a first-strike warning under the three-strikes law.

In asking her to send Stoneham to the High Court for sentencing, Mr Gilbert said: “He managed to get engaged to and have sex with a girl who was turning 14 while on the most restrictive type of extended supervision order.”

I think the three strikes law was designed for offenders like this.