SURVENT

These charges were the result of an extensive joint investigation between the Attorney General's office and the Michigan State Police. Based upon a search warrant executed on Raar's Lincoln Park home, Raar was charged with: 16 counts of Possession of Child Pornography, each a 4-year felony; 3 counts of Using a Computer to Possess Sexually Abusive Material, each a 10-year felony; Felon in Possession of a Firearm, a 5-year felony; and Felony Firearm, a 2-year felony.

During the execution of this search warrant, Police made the startling discovery of a secret room in the basement of Raar's home as well as child pornography hidden behind a false wall of the home. Raar is set to be sentenced on these charges on March 16, 2007, at 9:00 a.m. before the Judge Colombo in the Third Circuit Court for the County of Wayne.

This investigation also led to the discovery of additional evidence which resulted in separate charges filed by Cox against Raar in the 22nd Circuit Court in Washtenaw County. In that case, Raar is charged with 2 counts of Criminal Sexual Conduct in the 1st Degree, along with Felony Firearm. Raar is awaiting trial on this case and, if convicted, could face up to life in prison.

A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Again I give kudos to Mr. Cox for taking this man off the streets. I completely agree with Mr. Cox that people who engage in the viewing or making of child porn have a "perverted appetite". These people harm our children who are helpless to defend themselves and people like Mr. Raar need to be found, brought to trial and punished when found guilty. If a number of these people are found and processed accordingly, perhaps the message will be heard by other pedophiles and they will think twice before acting on their urges.

I am sure that there is more to the "perverted appetite" though that is based in a person's psyche. I think that pedophilia is more or less a sickness. While arresting and punishing people for these acts does make the world a safer place as it gets these people off our streets, this is not really going to solve the problem. We also need to be focusing as a society on a way to understand this sickness. We need to find a way to identify people who have an interest in pedphilia before their desires are acted upon and we need a method to help these people with this sickness to either rid the desires or at least control them. In the meantime, I saw find these people and put them away for life as crimes against children are the worst crimes that someone can commit in my opinion.

Raar, a convicted sex offender who served three years in prison on an unrelated charge, is scheduled to stand trial in that case on first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Washtenaw County Circuit Court on April 2. [MLive.com]

Here is a link to a full-length article on NewsFlash at MLive.com about this as well.

As I stated in an earlier post about Randall Raar, I have some insight as to his thoughts on his arrest and will try to share this information soon. I have been quite busy and have simply not had time to put anything together. I will try tonight though. No matter what he thinks is going on here, a jury reviewed the evidence and found him guilty of the crimes brought against him - I would side with the jury on this one. Bummer dude.