How is it you guys keep mis reading this?

He had an active grooming relationship with the girl.
He was writing sexually explicit notes to her.
He was getting very close to the initial abuse.
As of the time of the article he had not yet been sentenced. The 14 years is listed as the max possible, not the sentence he got.

None of you should be minimizing what this scumbag did to this little girl. Now she's probably 9 and seems ok but what is going to happen when she reaches puberty and realizes what was going on? How is she going to misdevelope because of the ugly view of herself as a sex object at the age of 8! What is she going to think of herself that a MAN was sexually interested in her at age 8? How is she going to see her own behavior manipulated as it was by him? Certainly she is going to take responsibility for her own actions and blame herself a little at least. That is only natural, it would be weird and alarming if she didn't. Will she become sexually active and slutty in response to the confusion? Turn to drink or drugs or both? How about the unwanted sexual fantasies of herself with him? (that WILL happen) What is that going to do to her?

You all seem to be missing the real story here. How I do not know. The 14 years if that is what he gets, for what he did is not close to enough time as far as I am concerned.
Murder is finite its over there is no more suffering on the victims part, this will cause lifelong suffering without end. She will always have to work to be "normal" and keep this damage at bay. Like all of us do when we can.

How do all of you miss these facts? I am shocked and wonder at what hes been said to minimize this guys evilness.

Being perved over is pretty sickening but it's not even close to actual abuse. I'm not sure what makes you think this girl is going to grow up to have the same exact problems as complex CSA victims because a teacher wrote her inappropriate letters. "What is she going to think of herself that a MAN was sexually interested in her at age 8?" With appropriate counseling I'm guessing she's going to think of herself as having been lucky to avoid being abused and is going to recognize that the man was a sick freak. Why wouldn't she?

I'm with Kidney and AngryAsshole. Do you guys REALLY think he's never molested a kid before? Or that he wouldn't almost certainly have dozens of victims if not stopped? Screw this guy, I hope he gets killed in prison.

He held her hand! he kissed her! He wrote sexually explicit letters ot her! I'm sure based on the eviudence we did get to see in that article of which I am sure it was only a small part of the sum total of evidence against him and I can conclude he was within days of his fist attempt at an act of abuse that lead to his ejaculating.

The reactions I list are only possibilities until or unless they happen. It is the possibility of these things is why we make doing it illegal. We don't wait to see if there is harm showing up to prosecute a perp which you're implying we should. There is no no harm no foul rule in child sexual abuse. All or none of them might happen. So we should let him stay out of jail until she finally realizes at 35 that the last 10 years of her life were being driven by what he did to her and a subconscious effort to avoid dealing with it? I don't think so. The fact that one or all of them MIGHT happen is enough to jail him if you ask me.

I had forgotten what a provacatuer you are Meliferal.

I can only assume that you and all the rest who are excusing this guy do not know how to read. Or maybe there is some other reason for excusing what is clearly written in the article, by pretending it isn't there and remarking as if it weren't there? Yes I did.

Or maybe there's nobody "excusing" anything, but instead just some people pointing out how stupid it is that violent rape of a child gets 7 years in prison and writing inappropriate letters gets 14.

Or maybe I just don't like how you condemned this girl to a life of self-hating slutdom because she was almost sexually molested.

The position of trust and the blatant lust to use the child for his gratification -the coercing the child into silence..
These people need to be rooted out.....`14yrs isn't long enough if he will be able to get out in 5yrs and do it again......This is an intense form of mental illness.....