PTAs back tougher sexual predator laws

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT--MESA -- Local and District PTA presidents will meet today to

draft a statewide resolution in support of tougher sexual predator laws.

If the state PTA passes the resolution, the powerful lobbying group will

join Costa Mesa resident Lynn Vogt in her fight to see stricter laws

protecting children.

Vogt’s crusade began after police showed up on her doorstep last April.

They told her that Cary Jay Smith, a registered sex offender, had

allegedly kept a journal of his desire to rape, kidnap and kill her

7-year-old son.

Police told Vogt that Smith’s wife had found the journal entry in his car

and turned it over to his psychologist, who in turn notified police.

They added they could not arrest Smith because the entry wasn’t a threat,

since he hadn’t intended to deliver it, Vogt said.

After being questioned by police, Smith was held for 72 hours. He has

since been under psychiatric care and a court decided last week he should

stay in treatment for another six months.

To combat Smith’s presence in her Mesa North community, Vogt enlisted her

neighbors to distribute 600 fliers warning others of Smith’s presence and

of his previous charge of child annoyance in 1984.

Because Smith was caught before acting on his comments in the letter,

charges were not filed and the incident will not be on his record. And

that struck Vogt as wrong.

Police should be able to stop a potential child molester before he acts,

she said.

“He said he was just waiting to catch my son alone,” she said. “It seems

so ridiculous that a child has to be sacrificed before he can be

charged.”

To change the laws, Vogt has asked for the Harbor Council PTA’s help in a

statewide letter-writing campaign to Assemblywoman Marilyn Brewer

(R-Irvine) and state Sen. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine).

The letters will suggest possible changes to the stalking law the

lawmakers can propose to remedy situations like Vogt’s.

Vogt’s own ideas include making child sex offenders eligible for lifetime

probation and amending “Meagan’s Law” to allow police to notify

communities of sex offenders who have spent time in mental health

facilities.

Vogt would also like to see a “Meagan’s Law” Web sitein California to

list sexual predators. Such Web sites already exist in many other states.

“She [Vogt] told me that they need letters from around the state and not

just the Newport-Mesa area to back this,” said Jill Money, president of

the Harbor Council PTA.

In order to strengthen Vogt’s movement, Money has enlisted the support of

District 4 PTA president Sue King. They will write the resolution that

will be brought before 4,000 voting members at the state PTA conference

this May, Money said.

“That means it becomes a PTA policy to support this,” she added.