18 Months of Pay (without Work) for Child Molester?

Apparently if you are a fireman and molest a child, you get 18 months of pay without having to work while your case gets ready for trial.  According to The Times story (Man pleads guilty to sex charge), the Defendant John Bond was put on administrative leave with pay in November 2006.  He was fired on May 23 [2008]?  So that is 18 months free money for nothing?  How can we get that money back?  Why put him on leave with pay?  Isn’t there some administrative procedure to fire someone that commits a felony offense?  Wasn’t there something that he could have done that would not have put him around children?  AND… get this… no jail time.  He almost got to keep his name off the sex offender registry too!  But for Judge Gosselin, he would not have been identified as a sex offender.

I know some cases are just about impossible to prosecute. Sex crimes are the hardest.  I have to believe that the Assistant District Attorney Juliet Aldridge had her back against the wall and got what she could out of the case despite having witness / evidence problems.  But no jail time, no sex offender registry, first offender treatment AND 18 months of pay without having to work!!!!  Its like we were rewarding him for molesting children.

Warning:  Legal Content Follows.  First Offender sentencing allows someone without a felony record to get convicted of a felony and after they complete their sentence they get their record wiped clean.  In all cases, it means that the offender can possess a firearm and vote.  In sex cases that means that after completing their sentence the offender can get their name removed from the sex offender list.  Their records are sealed.  So you might see a nurse that has a felony conviction for prescription drug forgery, a doctor with a conviction for drug possession, get prescriptions from a pharmacist that went to prison for selling illegal drugs, or have your hair cut by someone who committed a vehicular homicide.  Once their probation is over and the record is sealed, you won’t ever know about it… unless they offend again.  It is a good program to give someone a second chance, but it has been stretched beyond its initial reasons for being.