CFC OKLAHOMA

Reported by: Abbie Alford - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Your son or daughter could be having sex and consenting to it with another teen.

Fox 23’s Abbie Alford discovered about Oklahoma law may surprise parents who may end up with a teenager branded for life as a registered sex offender.

Ricky is a 19-year-old boy; he’s asked that Fox 23 not disclose his last name in fear of vigilante’s. Under the Oklahoma State Department of Corrections Sex and Violent Crime Offender Registry, Ricky is charged with Lewd Or Indecent Proposals/Act To A Child.

At age 16, In Iowa, Ricky says he had sex with a girl who told him she was 16-years-old.

It wasn’t until an officer showed up at his door telling him the girl was really 13-years-old.

In a plea agreement Ricky was sentenced to two years probation and ten years on the sex offender registry.

Since then an Iowa judge expunged Ricky’s case but three years later he’s moved to Oklahoma and says it’s been nothing but a nightmare.

Now he wants to warn other teens it could happen to them.

"I don't have anything but my mom or my little brother or my family and nothing else," says Ricky.

However, Ricky says he does have hope. Hope he can he just be a teenager again.

Instead this 19-year-old boy is branded a child rapist for having sex with a teenage girlfriend who told him she was 16-years-old.

"It's a nightmare to wake up everyday just hoping that something will change," says Ricky.

Ricky's mother, Mary Duval is legally blind so Ricky has to take care of his family but he can’t find a job.

"I think I fed my baby to the wolves," says Duval.

Ricky is like many teens who face the same pressure of teenage sex.

In a report conducted by the National Survey of Health Statistics published through the Center for Disease and Control in 2002 about 45 percent of U.S. girls and boys ages 15-19 were having intercourse and oral sex.

Sgt. John Adams who works for the Tulsa Police Department’s Child Exploitation Unit says teens can be punished the same for intercourse and oral sex.

"They're talking dirty to each other, text messaging what have you. His age is 18 she's 15 oh we have a lewd proposal," says Sgt. John Adams.

With the exception the suspect is a teacher, coach or a caregiver, talking dirty to an underage girlfriend or boyfriend could lead to a conviction of second-degree rape and life as a registered sex offender.

An Oklahoma group promoting abstinence says Oklahoma’s laws are fair.

"According to our law that's the law,” says Tulsa’s Regional Director for Oklahoma Family Policy Council, Rosemary Gee.

However, Oklahoma's sex offender laws are complex and confusing.

To put it simply Oklahoma’s consensual sex laws reads this: Anyone under the age of 13-years-old and having sex is breaking the law, even if both parties are the same age and consent. If the person over the age of 18-years-old has consensual sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend or younger that too is breaking the law and could lead to a lifetime label as a sex offender.

"I don't think anyone would knowingly suggest that a teenager having sex with a younger teenager is a child predator. But if we don't have any difference in the law that suggests in another way they are going to read that consequence which is one of the consequence we want teenagers to realize," says Gee.

Sergeant Adams says many teens will face consequences for having sex that is why they need to better educate themselves about Oklahoma’s sex laws.

"You have to realize and understand that what you do for 30 minutes in the back seat could put you as a sex offender for the rest of your life, could effect your ability to vote, get a job, do anything," says Sgt. Adams.

Ricky’s mother says injustice starts at the federal level.

"How much is my son going to suffer?" says Duval.

Oklahoma's Tier System:

Under the Federal Adam Walsh Act Oklahoma has created a tier system for sex offenders in three levels.

Level one is the least severe which includes sex offenses such as indecent exposure with a 15-year-sex offender registry sentence.

Level two which includes sex offenses such as child prostitution will put offenders on the sex offender registry for 25 years.

Level three offenders are considered the most dangerous and include sex offenders that have committed child sexual predator crimes. Ricky falls into the same category, as do many other teens.

"The registry is a mockery. It is totally ineffective for it's purpose," says Duval.

Romeo and Juliet Laws

Mary Duval says she wants Oklahoma to do what nine other state have done which is implement a ‘Romeo and Juliet’ law, providing exceptions to teen consensual sex and widening the age gap for consensual teens.

Police departments across Green Country say they like the idea but admit it could be a slippery slope.

"Do I think there should be something in there for a 'Romeo and Juliet' exclusion? Yes. But the problem is who do you give the authority to make that call?" says Sgt. Adams.

Duval agrees but says something has to be done to protect her son and for other teens who could face the same fate.

"I may never save Ricky. I truly may not but if I can save someone else's child maybe I will have a little peace," says Duval.

While Ricky says he’s holding hope for justice he hopes one day he can live out his dream of becoming a police officer.

"I feel like my life is over. I shouldn't feel like that but I do," says Ricky.

Lawmaker Response:

In an e-mail from State Representative Gus Blackwell, R- Goodwell, he responded saying he was unsure what will be done about ‘Romeo and Juliet’ laws in Oklahoma. For Ricky’s case Blackwell says, "I am checking about Ricky's case and why he is still on registry. It may be that that the laws are new and that option has not been covered in the new laws."

Oklahoma State Statutes Governing Child Sex Crimes:

Rape Definition: www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/deliverdo...620+619+606+605+600+

Oklahoma’s State Statutes Governing Crime Against Children: