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According to the May 21, 2000 St. Petersburg Times article, a 25-year-old man met, romanced, and eventually had sex with a 13-year-old girl. They met in an internet chat room for adolescents. The article reports various reactions and feelings to the incident and let me wonder, just who was the victim in this story? A 25 year old married man named Michael Gisi falls in love with a 13 year old that he first meets in an adolescent chat room. Their relationship grows more and more intimate until he eventually visits her and has sexual relations with her in his hotel room. He eventually scrapes up some money to get her a one way bus ride to his hometown. Her trip is foiled when her mother finds her good-bye note and tracks down the bus. After getting the police and FBI into it, Gisi unknowingly confesses to having sex with a minor while talking to the girl on a bugged phone line. He is arrested in his home and sent to jail for 75 to life, while the girls parents try to comfort her and explain that he was taking advantage of her. Gisi's mother and grandmother say that he doesn't deserve life in prison. The 25-year-old that was married with a child still claims to love the 13-year-old, and after her father asked her, she also said that she still loves him too. The girl's parents had tried to prevent this very thing from happening. Their worst dreams had come true. An adult male had used the internet to take advantage of their naïve child's feelings. The parents thought the man was obviously a sick individual who was "messing with a 13 year-old's mind". The man not only physically assaulted their child, but also was in the process of trying to kidnap her from her family. The parents' reaction was one of hate and protection. Telling the man "If you ever come back, I'll kill you". Gisi did not believe he was doing anything wrong, "The only thing I'm guilty of is falling in love". However, he knew that what he was doing would be dangerous to him, for he had said to the girl "Honey, you can't tell them the sex part" To which she replied, "Why can't I?" He then pointed out "How old am I? How old are you?" Gisi's mother, Joanne Contreas, knew what he did was wrong, but didn't think he deserved life in prison for it. In fact, she even went as far as to blame the 13 year old for not telling Gisi she was 13 until he was about ready to go down to meet her, after "He had already fallen in love with her. It was too late." Gisi's Grandmother wondered what the big deal was, and said "People do that sort of stuff around here all the time and only get 30-90 days in prison." Pinellas Senior Judge Helen Hansel is scheduled to sentence Gisi. He faces 14 felony convictions, including lewd and lascivious acts on a minor and handling and fondling a child under 16. These can call for a sentence of 71 years to life in prison. Society's laws are intended to be hard on adults taking sexual advantage of children. I believe that Gisi deserves the 71 year sentence. If they were in "love" or not, she was still a minor and she was still 12 years younger than him. And since she was only 13 years old, she can't legally be held responsible for her own actions during this whole thing. I don't understand where Gisi's mother gets off at blaming the girl! The girl is the victim in this whole thing. Or is she? Is she indeed a minor child who is blameless or does she deserve to share in some of the responsibility? Surely Gisi is an adult and deserves to be reprimanded. It is a lot harder to make a judgment on the girls parents, because the article doesn't mention any past issues the family has dealt with, so I can't be sure of the way they and the girl normally act. But the girl should have known better than to let this guy take over her life, and shouldn't have even thought of allowing him to have sex with her. Did the parents not instill this moral code in her or did she just disregard their teachings? Maybe 13 is too young to be able to completely understand how to protect yourself. Copyright, 2000, All rights reserved |
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First Upload: May 2000 |
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