In what appears to be a display of compassion and tolerance, the students at Riverside City College have a man as student body president who at 32 years of age kidnapped and engaged in gay sex with a boy under 14 years of age. We do not know the true age of the child. I am offended that some nutcase felt it their place to make it public about Mr Figueroa. He pleaded guilty to gay sex with a young boy as well as kidnapping and the courts handed down a severe sentence of ZERO jail time. Why did someone feel it their place to out this man when the courts had already punished him. When flyers appeared at Riverside City College on April Fool's Day saying the student body president was a sex offender, students were stunned by the cruel prank. They were even more stunned when they learned it was true. "I was flabbergasted," said Amanda Waring, a theater arts major who works for the school newspaper. "At first people thought it was a joke." Doug Robert Figueroa, 40, who was elected to a one-year term as student body president in May, pleaded guilty in 2005 to kidnapping and lewd and lascivious acts with a boy under 14, the Riverside Press Enterprise reported. His five-year prison term was immediately suspended and he's serving 10 years' probation. Figueroa told the newspaper in an e-mail that he has not tried to hide his past. "Many students have been aware of my status and we believe in rehabilitation," Figueroa said. "I dedicate my life to change the stigmas on these types of offenses. Don't get me wrong, there are some offenders that truly need to be on high supervision." College administrators released a statement saying Figueroa had notified them of his status as required, and that his name appeared in a publicly available binder identifying campus sex offender at the college police department. They said Figueroa was told not to engage in activities that violate his probation, and he was not at the school's annual Halloween or Easter celebrations, where many children gather. "The administration reviewed the district policies, the law and the constitution of the Associated Students and determined that there was no policy, statute or ordinance that could prohibit this student from seeking office as student body president," the statement said. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/0...body-president-is-sex-offender/#ixzz2Pc4Nwqmw
Pedophiles are pedophiles whether they are gay or straight. His sexual orientation is only relevant to those obessed with homosexuality.
I think the important question here is whether the voting students were informed of his past prior to the election. IMO that is important information a voter should have before pulling a lever. If they did and elected him anyway, well, it is what it is. Regardless of the outcome, I'm a BIG fan of letting voters decide whom to represent them, whether they be big or small figures.
in this instance it is a gay pedophile as he chose a little boy. Had he chosen a little girl then it would be heterosexual pedophilia the sexual act is the sexual act and a label identifies the type of act. would you care to defend the gay pedophile or do you wish to try and deflect?
why would that be necessary? At 32 years of age the man elected to kidnap and engage in gay sex with a little boy who was under 14 years of age. The court handled this and handed down a punishment of zero jail time so why does the man deserve to be tried again by the students?
If he had pleaded guilty to molesting a little girl your headline- if you bothered- would have been: Pedophile is student body president at California college Frankly I am glad you posted about this because it is so bizarre. I am not even sure what the correct answer is- we don't know the details, we don't know all the facts, other than it appears he was found to be a very low risk. Should a convicted criminal be prevented from being student body President? Maybe- then again ex-cons to get educated and have full employment makes more sense than forcing them into a life of poverty. So let me ask you this- why did you feel that the focus on the story should be "Gay" rather than "Pedophile"?
nope in this case, it is a 40 year old student. The issue is not about the fact that at 32 years of age this man kidnapped and engaged in gay sex with a child under the age of 14 (it could be 7 years old for all we know) No, it's that the court already handed down a severe punishment for the crime yet some whackjob felt it their place to distribute flyers. As the offender stated "I dedicate my life to change the stigmas on these types of offenses" and he is absolutely correct. There should be no stigma associated with grown men kidnapping little boys and engaging in gay sex with them.
Not really. There are far more educators that engage in sexual predation, but you would know that if you did research instead of grabbing information from forum mobs. http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-215_162-1933687.html Any institution that has allowed children to be harmed by predators deserves to be taken to task for it. No institution should get a pass. And no profession should get a pass. Not preachers, not priests — not even teachers. Especially not teachers. And yet … Consider the statistics: In accordance with a requirement of President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, in 2002 the Department of Education carried out a study of sexual abuse in the school system. Hofstra University researcher Charol Shakeshaft looked into the problem, and the first thing that came to her mind when Education Week reported on the study were the daily headlines about the Catholic Church. "[T]hink the Catholic Church has a problem?" she said. "The physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests." So, in order to better protect children, did media outlets start hounding the worse menace of the school systems, with headlines about a "Nationwide Teacher Molestation Cover-up" and by asking "Are Ed Schools Producing Pedophiles?" No, they didn't. That treatment was reserved for the Catholic Church, while the greater problem in the schools was ignored altogether. As the National Catholic Register's reporter Wayne Laugesen points out, the federal report said 422,000 California public-school students would be victims before graduation — a number that dwarfs the state's entire Catholic-school enrollment of 143,000. Yet, during the first half of 2002, the 61 largest newspapers in California ran nearly 2,000 stories about sexual abuse in Catholic institutions, mostly concerning past allegations. During the same period, those newspapers ran four stories about the federal government's discovery of the much larger — and ongoing — abuse scandal in public schools. Perhaps John Karr will help change that. "Could JonBenet Ramsey murder suspect John Mark Karr get a job teaching in your community?" asked USA Today. Not any more, of course; but could a creepy pedophile who isn't all over Fox News get hired? Richard Dangel, a child psychologist in Dallas, told the paper, "Only about 4% of offenders get busted," he says. "The other 96% don't." Which means that background checks won't stop the vast majority of sex offenders. A writer for The New York Times lurked online at pedophile chat rooms, and reported this summer about the chilling way pedophiles convince themselves that children want to have sex with them and insinuate themselves into the lives of children. The Times' Kurt Eichenwald explained that pedophiles often discuss their personal lives. They come from all walks of life, but they like to speak about how close their jobs take them to children. "The most frequent job mentioned, however, was schoolteacher," he wrote. "A number of self-described teachers shared detailed observations about children in their classes, including events they considered sexual, like a second-grade boy holding his crotch during class." The media have left many with the impression that sexual abuse is a Catholic problem — as if Catholic beliefs and customs make sex abuse inevitable. Church teaching for its part is clear: Sexual abuse of minors is always wrong. A more likely culprit would be a non-religious ambivalence about the pedophilia, as seen, for instance, in the media's refusal to broaden its scope to include teachers when considering the issue. Professor Michael Tracey, whose e-mail correspondence with Karr helped in identifying him as a suspect, identified the real problem in an interview with the National Catholic Register. "Was JonBenet a pedophile's dream? Clearly, clearly she was," Tracey said. "Her death, and the whole circus surrounding it even 10 years later, has everything to do with the culture's desire to sexualize children." In 1992, the National Victim Center estimated that 29 percent of all forcible rapes in America were against children under age 11. More than a decade later, an estimated 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 7 boys are victims of unwanted sexual acts. The 2002 Department of Education report estimated that from 6 percent to 10 percent of all students in public schools would be victims of abuse before graduation — a staggering statistic.
I am sorry if you re offended that I provided detailed facts he engaged in gay sex with a little boy. None of that can be denied as he admitted it. I am outraged that someone thought it cute to distribute flyers announcing his indiscretion. As he stated, he is working to remove the stigma from these types of crimes. We should applaud his efforts because there should be no stigma over an adult male kidnapping little boys and engaging in gay sex with them, should there be? What punishment do you think should be given to the person(s) who distributed the flyers?
I am not so sure your assessment accurately represents the viewpoints of the student body. It would appear, from your article, that he was elected last May, and whilst his status as a sex offender was available, folks did not know about it until the first of April, this year. I am not sure that lack of knowledge of someone being a sex offender equates to tolerances of them being a sex offender.
Why are you promoting that idea? I think that recognizing pedophiles and preventing pedophiles from future crimes is important- but see here is the difference. I care even if the victims is a little girl.
There is a chance you are correct as there is a chance that I am. I would hope that it is I who is correct because as the man stated, there should not be stigma associated with kidnapping children and engaging in gay sex with them. The man admitted his guilt and was handed down a severe punishment. I would hope that the student body would be compassionate and tolerant and understand that the man had paid his debt to society and were supporting him.
I do, but why would someone see a need to re-hash history? He was severely punished by the courts and it appears that the student body is supportive of him which is encouraging.
Next stop - president of the Harvard Law Review or at least a lecturing gig at Columbia University on how to get out of serving time for kidnapping/kiddie rape.
are you saying that there should be stigma associated with the crime? Do you disagree with Mr Figueroa? Bottom line, the court handed down a stiff punishment so why can't he leave this behind him?
If it had been a heterosexual you wouldn't have identified him as a heterosexual pedophile. You wouldn't even have made a thread about it. You are obessed with homosexuality. No, all pedophiles should be locked up.
you were misled. The person in the article is a 40 year-old student who committed the crime when he was 32 years of age. As you can see in the article, he pleaded guilty to the event and was severely punished for it. He has now made it his mission to remove the stigma from these types of crimes.
The things is that if you have already killed the bank p[resident you no reason not to rape his secretary before the police come and kill you. If you are a pervert there is no reason not to rape kids. I think that his being a homosexual is very important. I have yet to meet a homo that wasn't fond of kids.