Do you think this was a good verdict? A fair punishment?

[wdeep]

Do you think this was a good verdict? A fair punishment?

Sitter sentenced on sex charges

Day-care provider gets 40 years in prison for offering to let her boyfriend have sex with 2 baby girls for $200.

By Vic Ryckaert

[email protected]

January 05, 2002

A Marion County judge sentenced baby sitter LaDonna Jo Tucker to 40 years in prison for trying to prostitute two infants in her care.

Judge Tanya Walton Pratt told Tucker she violated her position of trust when she offered two baby girls, ages 4 months and 6 months, to her then-boyfriend Melvin Riding in exchange for $200. Riding cooperated with police and wore a hidden camera during the Jan. 16 transaction.

"As a day-care provider, you were supposed to care for and protect these children," Pratt said. "But for Melvin Riding, those children would have been molested."

Tucker, 41, was convicted in November of two counts of conspiracy to commit child molesting and promoting prostitution. Pratt ordered Tucker to serve 20 years consecutive on each conspiracy charge and four years to be served concurrently for promoting prostitution.

With time off for good behavior in prison, Tucker could be eligible for release in about 20 years. After her release, Tucker will serve five years on probation and must register as a sex offender.

Tucker swayed in her chair, moaning, as the judge handed down the verdict. Two deputies carried her out of the courtroom.

She insisted she never molested the children despite the admissions she made to Riding in phone conversations recorded by police.

In those phone calls, Tucker invited Riding to her home to watch her have sex with children and described in graphic detail sex acts she performed on children. She also told Riding she would make children available to him for sex.

Tucker said she was telling stories because she believed it excited Riding. She admits she has lied to men in order to get gifts and money.

Tucker said the year she has spent in protective custody at the Marion County Jail has made her a different person.

"I said that, but I never did it," Tucker told the judge before the sentence was read. "I just want to go home. I won't do anything wrong. I've learned so much."

Clergy and family members spoke on Tucker's behalf. They begged the judge to show leniency, saying her family needs her at home.

"My daughter LaDonna Tucker is not the monster she has been portrayed to be," Edna Morris said in a statement read in court. "I ask that you have compassion on her. Send her home. And if you can't send her home, please send her somewhere where she will get help."

Prosecutors painted Tucker as a manipulative pedophile who bragged about molesting children who were too young to talk.

"She says she wasn't going to let anything happen, but Judge, she did nothing to stop it," Deputy Prosecutor Lisa Judd said. "She offered (the children) up on an altar of depravity and an altar of greed."

There was nothing in Tucker's past to indicate she might pose a danger to children. Tucker was licensed by the state to run Puggie Wuggie's day care in her home in the 6000 block of Melbourne Road. She passed an inspection on Jan. 12 -- just four days before her arrest.

Three mothers who paid Tucker to care for their children testified that their trust has been shattered by the ordeal. They urged the judge to think about the victims.

"I trusted this woman with my child. She told me she would take care of her as if she had given birth to her herself," said one mother of a child who is now 16 months old. "There was no limit to what she would do for money."

The Indianapolis Star is withholding the names of the victims. It is the newspaper's policy not to identify victims of sexual assault without their consent.

Another mother said she believes in her heart that Tucker molested her child.

"I think she needs help because obviously she's sick," the woman testified. "But I think she should get it in jail."

I'm not sure.

 

[Professur]

Sounds fair to me. But I'll offer an option. 40 years, or 20 mins in a locked room with the parents. Her choice.

 

[Gonzo]

Forty years for offering-how about 400

In the event her boyfriend followed up on her offer I'd say hang her in public by her labia & let the locals stone her to ALMOST death, the start over again tomorrow. Do that for 4000 years....


Children, though the most irritating thing on earth, outside Mariah Carey, are not possessions, toys nor sexuality enhancers.

 

[s4]

Having no other information other than what is presented here, it seems generous. The stipulation is that all the facts may or may not be presented in this article.

 

[fury]

No. Don't make it 40 years, or 20 minutes in a room with the parents. That would be the easy way out for her. Torture her. Give her daily beatings that make her bleed so much that she can barely stay conscious. Feed her very minimal rations. Not enough to fill, but just enough to keep her alive for one more day full of torture. Make this bitch feel the consequences. Make the rest of her life miserable, so maybe she could feel the pain that she put those victims through.

Does she have any fucking idea how screwed up those children's lives are going to be now? They may be too young to speak, but they will remember it, believe me. They are scarred for life, and there is nothing, NOTHING that can take that back now. Physical wounds heal. Mental wounds remain there for the rest of your life, always sticking around in the back of your mind waiting for someone or something to trigger your recollection of that day. Sometimes it will happen right out of the blue, sometimes someone will say something, or when these children become old enough for someone to touch their naughty places. They have no way of getting rid of the memory of events for that day. This incident will be baggage for their future boyfriends to carry around with them. It will very likely be a/the cause of depression later on. These facts will never change. What this bitch has done has radically altered the little girls' lives.

The damage she has done is irreparable, so the damage that should be done to her should be equally irreparable.

Torture her. Even if she didn't do it, torture her for even thinking about it.

 

[Neo]

All i can say is what ever she gets will not be enough. Wether she was doing it to turn on her boyfriend or not. She was licensed and knew the price to pay if she missused her power. And thats all i have to say about that.

 

[Nixy]

I voted no because I think she should have gotten a hell of alot more! An eye for an eye. They should release a rapist who is much bigger than her on her and see how she feels!

 

[Inkara1]

I think I'm too shocked to be able to have an opinion.

 

[kuulani]

*disgusted* 4 month and 6 month -old babies? There's no words to describe this woman!!

She never really meant what she said, only trying to attract a man? What the hell kind of man are you trying to attract?!?!

Beat her!!

 

[Gonzo]

I think I'm too shocked to be able to have an opinion.

And you call yourself an aspiring journalist? Shame on you. If anyone should be able to express angst, remorse, sympathy, anger, callousness or any of 100 other possible emotions, it should be a journalist......

 

[flavio]

As a licensed childcare worker she has no room for excuses. She deserves whatever she gets I suppose.

Anyone know what exactly this "register as a sex-offender" entails?

 

[fury]

if I'm not mistaken, it is required that you put the fact that you are a sex offender on some form of personal identification. A lot of jobs involving working with people (such as teaching, babysitting, daycare, etc) will not allow you to work there if you are a sex offender, and a lot of employers otherwise will look down upon that (who wouldn't, though?) and will probably look elsewhere if there are other applicants for open job positions... there is probably more but those are the things i know of right off the bat