Joseph Meili, twenty-two, of Springfield, MO, met an eleven-year-old girl texting on a dating app and made arrangements to meet her in person. He picked her up and took her to his apartment where he raped her. He recently pled guilty to third-degree child molestation and was sentenced to five years of probation.
Meili claims the girl tricked him online into believing she was eighteen. His attorney also claims he was tricked and once he knew her age he felt terrible. The girl, on the other hand, had been reported missing while she was off with Meili. She was discovered back at home packing a bag to leave again, and told police she had fallen asleep at Meili’s apartment. She said she woke up feeling like something sexual had happened to her and that Meili had raped her. According to police a sexual encounter did occur. Court documents indicate she later tested positive for chlamydia.
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Green County senior assistant prosecuting attorney Elizabeth Fax said she believes Meili knew the girl was underage, stating to HuffPost:
“I think dating apps make it easier to get into these types of situations, to be sure, but to actually see her in person . . . he knew and just decided to go along with it anyway. They might wear makeup and be on dating apps and try to hook up with older men, but at the end of the day, these are children.”1
Meili was originally charged with several felonies, including statutory rape, kidnapping and statutory sodomy. The judge in the case, Calvin Holden, sentenced Meili to five years probation, despite prosecutors recommedations for sex offender treatment and jail time. An assessment on Meili by a retired federal evaluator found that he did not exhibit the behavior of a pedophile, and the family of the victim had no objection to his sentence.
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Once Meili completes probation, he can seek to have the conviction removed from his record.
Being aware of your child’s presence online is crucial. Despite the fact that meet-up and dating sites claim to be for adults only, many pre-teens and teenagers are secretly using them (and the trend is moving towards dating apps made specifically for teens). Most dating sites now use a mobile platform, which makes it more difficult to know what your teen (or pre-teen) is doing, and sets the stage for them to engage in what may seem like innocent chatting with a stranger on their phone. Quickly, this can lead to a situation that is potentially dangerous, and that you know nothing about.
Another very real concerin is the ease in which your child can be tracked through location services. Someone with enough knowledge and skill could quickly and easily learn information about your teen’s whereabouts, including where they live and where they go to school. This can put them in direct danger at times when you are not there to look out for them.
Digital media is designed to be addictive, and it is up to parents to be aware of the time their child spends online looking at a screen. Hold off as long as you can to introduce your child to the digital world. It will be one of the best decisions you ever make.
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