What's next? Experts speak about the Lasaga case

Antonio Lasaga, one of the world's most prominent geochemists, has watched his life spiral out of control after being charged with federal and state offenses. In the aftermath, many questions remain. Will Lasaga go to jail? Can he return to teaching? Might other victims surface? The Herald asked several legal and psychiatric experts familiar with child pornography cases to draw upon their specialized knowledge to discuss what generally happens to people in Professor Lasaga's situation.

—J. Robert Flores is senior counsel for the National Law Center for Children and Families, a non-profit legal assistance organization. He previously served as deputy acting chief of child exploitation cases at the Department
of Justice.

The bottom line is that child pornography cases almost always lead to conviction. Lasaga is going to go to jail probably for a long time. State and federal charges are extremely serious and have extremely severe penalties.

In all likelihood, I don't see this individual going to trial--a plea bargain will be worked out. My expectation is that he will get a significant prison term, he'll probably be on probation for a substantial time. The government would probably ask the University to postpone a tribunal. When you hold a tribunal, people generate all kinds of reports. Even if [a witness'] story is the same, the witness might have used different words
or left out details, which would lead a defense attorney to paint the witness in a negative light.

—James McLaughlin, a police officer in Keene, N.H., works in an undercover operation funded by the federal government that tracks sex offenders on the Internet and also organizes material about prevention and law enforcement for parents.

Pedophilia is extremely obsessive-
compulsive behavior for some people. I've caught two people twice, one during treatment, the other waiting for a jail term. They couldn't resist and were back on the Internet. Pedophilia is a behavioral disorder, not really a mental illness.

Regarding employment, most places, including universities, don't want to hire a convicted felon. Possession and distribution of child pornography is a felony. We've had people over the years come back to the community. Some are very healthy, upfront. They can lead normal lives. However, they cannot obtain a paid position or volunteer position involving children. For example, if a convicted sex offender in New Hampshire tried to volunteer or get employment with children, if he simply applies and then is caught, he gets three-and-a-half years to seven years in jail. If he gets the job and then is caught, he gets seven-and-a-half to 15 years in jail.

—Janet Larue, legal director for the Family Research Council, has had extensive experience with child pornography cases.

What has happened to Lasaga demonstrates the compelling nature of pedophilia. [The allegations show] that he is so obsessed with his attraction for a child that it overrides common sense and his fear of violating the terms of his bail with an offense that is not permitted. It seems that he has invested so much time in this boy and is so fixated on him, as often happens with pedophiles. This is not necessarily a long-range fixation; when the child becomes older, he could trade him for another, younger child.

It is easier for a man of prominence in education and social status to keep his pedophilia hidden. No one suspects that someone you know, trust, and respect would do such a thing. Recent studies have shown that generally pedophiles have 50 or 60 victims before they are caught the first time. I'd be surprised if other victims didn't come out as well, as with the Frugal Gourmet case a few years ago when many victims eventually surfaced. The police should be questioning other boys in the same program and also seeking to interview children in his own neighborhood to see if there were other victims. There could be civil suits from the victims' families as a result.

—Dr. Robert Prentky, director of assessment at the Justice Resource Institute, a non-profit organization that deals with health and human services around the nation, worked exclusively with sex offenders for the past 20 years.

We all have particular preferences for whom we choose to be intimate with. For most people, the preference is for the opposite gender and about the same age. Pedophiles have a sexual preference for a child. The interest tends not to be just sexual. They prefer children as social companions as they would with an adult male or female. In their distorted thinking, they have, as they conceive of it, a true relationship with the child. That is a true pedophile. Most child molesters, on the other hand, have no interest in the child as a companion and might abduct or rape the child.

The treatment for sex offenders is the same as that developed for alcoholics. Clinicians try to develop or help an individual develop his own cycle so that he knows when he's relapsing or in a place to re-offend. I'd be very skeptical of anyone who became a sex offender in midlife. I'm not suggesting that there's a demonstrable record of offenses in [Lasaga's] case, but a record of history, such as interest in children is possible. Often people struggle for years with these fantasies and have thought about it for years before actually doing it.

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