Convicted Child Rapist Gets No Prison Time

Freshly on the heels of a case in Vermont where a judge sentenced an admitted child rapist to only 60 days in jail after preying on a young girl for four years, comes this injustice out of Massachusetts.

A former high school teacher who pleaded guilty to the homosexual rape of one of his teenage students will avoid jail time.

Gregory Pathiakis, 26, of Brockton, Mass., pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of rape of a child, enticement of a child under 16, five counts of possession of child pornography and one count of distribution of harmful material to a child, according to the Enterprise newspaper of Brockton, Mass.

Pathiakis, who quit his job after school officials questioned his extracurricular contact with students, was arrested in January 2004 after a 15-year-old boy told authorities the Middleboro High School teacher raped him Dec. 23, 2003.

Prosecutors asked Brockton Superior Court Judge Suzanne V. Delvecchio to give Pathiakis four to eight years in state prison, followed by five years probation. But she issued a suspended, 2 1/2-year jail term, followed by five years probation.

I simply do not understand. Perhaps in law school they would have taught me the nuances of sentencing and the advantages of having convicted child rapists out on the streets to mingle with my kids.

Please someone, explain this to me.