Mark Morford: More of a Jerk Than You Ever Imagined

This is Mark Morford's description of an article about a man who was sentenced to jail for life (with a possibility of parole in fifteen years):

The former supervisor of a Newport Beach youth program was sentenced to life in prison on 25 counts of lewd conduct and assault for sucking the toes of 20 boys. You read correctly. Trenton Veches, 32, will be eligible for parole in 15 years. At his trial, Veches' lawyer said his actions with boys 6 to 10 years old were "horseplay." But the prosecutor said Veches "clearly befriended these children, manipulated them and he sexually molested them." Veches' mother, Joyce Ormes, said the sentence was too harsh. "I don't know how he can spend life in prison for this when there was no sexual contact with the genitals, things like that," she said. "Clearly Mr. Veches posed a danger to the children of our community and he needed to be in prison," prosecutor Sheila Hanson said. "Yes, an entire lifetime in prison because he sucked the toes of children and we all know toe-sucking leads to, you know, kissing, and outright massacring of babies with sharp pointy swords, and the consuming of major quantities of jasmine tea, not to mention the becoming of a suckass lawyer who loves a good punishment that doesn't fit the crime," she did not add, snidely. "One who puts weird lonely guys away in prison for life something that's not really all that troubling, really, if you actually think about it, and I suppose it's all about the context and the intent, but I mean come *on,* life in prison for toe sucking? What the freaking hell is wrong with us all, really?"

Alright, parents in the audience, answer me a simple question: would you find it "all that troubling" if you found out that a youth program supervisor was sexually gratifying himself by sucking your child's toes? I'm betting that your answer is "yes."

Me, if I found this out, I'm guessing that the molester would be safer behind bars than anywhere in the same state as me.

Yes, Mark, it is that disturbing, and, yes, Mark, I do think the bastard should be locked away where he won't get to molest children anymore, and, no, Mark, I don't think the sentence was out of line.

But some people would rather make excuses for a child molester than see them safely locked away.

Read the story that he is referring to.
(I will be happy to forward the email that the Mark Morford quote came from. I can't find it duplicated on the Gate's site.)

Posted by zombyboy at July 14, 2003 03:06 PM | TrackBack