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Subscribe to RSSThe family of the bus driver killed for refusing to hand over children is speaking out for the first time. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.
The school bus driver killed this week in an Alabama hostage drama took bullets for the children on his bus just as he would have for his own kids, his son says.
When a child boarded Charles Albert Poland Jr.’s bus, “they were no longer their parents’, they were his,” Aaron Poland told NBC News. “And I know that’s the reason why my dad took those shots. It was for his children, just like he would do for me and my sister.”
Authorities say Jimmy Lee Dykes, a Vietnam veteran and survivalist, boarded Poland's bus on Tuesday and demanded two children. When Poland refused, Dykes shot him, authorities say. They say Dykes took a 5-year-old boy hostage and has been holed up in an underground bunker with him ever since.
Poland, 66, had driven a school bus for Dale County since 2009. Authorities said they found four shell casings at the scene.
"I expected them to say he had a heart attack or got in to a car wreck. Never in my wildest dreams did I think he'd get shot, and shot four times," Poland's sister, Vicki Upchurch, said Thursday.
Upchurch, who lives in Athol, Idaho, told NBC station KHQ of Spokane, Wash., that Poland family grew up in northern Idaho, where much of the family still lives. Relatives were planning to travel from Idaho to Alabama for his funeral services this weekend.
"We will get through this," Upchurch said. "My brother was very religious. He had a deep faith."
Poland joined the Army in the 1960s and moved to Alabama, where he married and had lived ever since, Upchurch said. She said he retired as a diesel mechanic in 2009 and had been driving a school bus to help support his wife until she was able to retire.
"My brother would have done anything to protect those kids," she said.
Schools Superintendent Donny Bynum said in a statement Wednesday that "Mr. Poland was well-loved by all of us here at Dale County Schools."
Hostage suspect was loner, missed court appearance
Poland's wife, Jan, remembered the man known to friends as "Chuck" as a gentle, caring man in an interview with a local newspaper, The Dothan Eagle.
Dale County Board of Education
Dale County bus driver Charles Poland, 66, was killed Tuesday.
Friends and family gathered Wednesday at the couple's home in Newton, about a 15-minute drive from Midland City, according to the paper.
"He loved them," she said of the friends and family shocked by Poland's violent death. "He loved everybody and he was loved."
Terry Roberts, a firefighter and youth pastor in Newton, told the Eagle that he had known Poland for most of his life.
Those who knew him are in "total shock," Roberts told the paper.
"The kids, everybody's just in total shock," Roberts said. "I've got a young child, so it really hits home."
The Dale County Sheriff's Department offered its condolences to Poland's family in a press release Wednesday.
"It says in the Bible the meek will inherit the Èarth," Poland's brother-in-law Melvin Skipper told the Eagle. "He was the meekest man I knew."
Alabama bunker hostage boy's family is 'holding on by a thread'
While neighbors have described Dykes, 65, as a paranoid survivalist who was always digging in his yard with a shovel, Poland's neighbor Hilburn Benton told the Eagle that the bus driver once helped him complete a major yard project and asked nothing in return.
"He told me, 'You're my friend and you're my neighbor. I'm not charging you a dime,'" Benton told the paper.
Schools in Dale County and in neighboring Ozark city were to remain closed for the rest of the week, according to a release Wednesday from the Dale County Board of Education.
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The common denominator in all of these shootings is the perpetrator always chooses a subject they know is unarmed. Why wasn't this guy in jail in the first place he already has shown himself to be a danger to society when shot at a man. Why is it that nothing gets done until someone is killed? The country has done a fantastic job of dumbing down it's people, this is why democracies fail because the populous is ignorant, emotional and easily played. Wake up people this is more corrupt incompetent laws made by corrupt incompetent leaders, when are we going to hold them responsible and stop letting them pass the hot potato of blame back and forth while they do nothing but screw us? If all you are willing to choose is corruption then all you will get is corruption and there will be no hope and no change. My hopes and dreams is that people of the US will wake up and fire all of our so called leaders that have been selling the country out. To develop a unity and a desire to work together to build our nation rather then let a select few make massive profits destroying it.To vote responsibly and put people in office that will serve the country over special interests and throw the ones serving special interests over the country out. My fear is that nothing will change and all the guns in the world will not protect us from ourselves. Sell your people, future and economy out on wars for the greed of a few, export jobs for slave labor and the freedom to pollute your heart out, import desperate people for slave labor, destroy your schools and teachers, dumb the people down, feed them violence and filth, create laws that make otherwise law abiding people criminals, fill your prisons with non violent criminals and send the violent criminals back out on the streets because of overcrowding. Don't forget to make guns a right and don't require any training, testing, licensing or registration then use it as an excuse to take them away from law abiding citizens. Also make it almost impossible for the mentally ill to receive treatment until they commit some horrific crime. Sooner or later you will have the public begging to take all of their rights away just to be safe, then bingo you have total control.
Mark,
"this is why democracies fail because the populous is ignorant"
You can say that again! And judging by many of the comments I see here on Newsvine (yours not included), we are failing fast.
Mark, common denominator is that the shooter chose gun free zones. That is laughable. How do you know that? The AZ parking lot where the congress woman was shot was not a gun free zone. In fact a barney fife concealed carry clown was on the seen. You are a bit silly.
I didn't say the shooter chose gun free zones, I said the perpetrator always chooses a subject they know is unarmed.
I have a different take on it! This man is called a "hero" because he "stood" up to a gunman? He was killed in front of all those innocent children, and while you idiots praise him, what do you think the effect is going to be on the kids? Hearing a loud, almost explosion level sound, watching blood pour from his face, more likely spurting with every heart beat, and possibly hearing him moan, gag, or choke to death on his own blood? At that point this man could have killed all the children, and with the bus driver now dead, there was no one to stop him! How stupid can you phony tough and ignorant people be? These children are scarred for LIFE by this, and what caused it - A GUN! NOT A KNIFE! NOT A BASEBALL BAT! A FRIGGIN GUN! A gun probably legally bought!
But no, let's blame on an a mentally ill person! Another excuse used to NOT blame guns! So now we are to believe that anyone who does something like this has to be crazy? What happy horse, self-serving, self-effacing, sanctimonious, self-righteous, gun-loving, stupid s**t this is! Obviously this man was NOT CRAZY because he knew exactly which bus to go on and exactly which kids he wanted to take! If everyone who owns a guns does questionable things with a gun, then MOST PEOPLE SHOULD NOT HAVE THEM!
I look at this man as another victim of another senseless SHOOTING, not stabbing! A situation doesn't dictate an heroic act, our response to it does! Has he let the gunman take the children would you have hated him and called him a coward? No you would have been screaming for him and all the other bus drivers to be armed! If he was armed and shot the gunman, would he have been a "larger" hero? I guess so since he is one now after he was executed in front of the children? So according to most who wrote, one mentally ill person has created a bunch of now mentally disturbed children, because they watched their bus driver shot to death?
The simple truth is, almost everyone who wrote here, gives less than a rat's ass about this dead man, as his death, as tragic as it is, will be used to further exploit guns and their proliferation in our society!
Exactly
Oh PLEASE give us a BREAK with your DRAMATIC crap... You're clearly not a "Free Thinker" because you aren't capable of thinking. You've made that very clear. Are you sensitive to the FACT that the man suffers from mental illness? You'd like to blame an inanimate object rather than see things for what they are? Give us a break! ..... You can't deny that the man is mentally ill... Anyone who believes that Aliens are going to invade and abduct him is SUFFERING from SCHIZOPHRENIA... You wish to IGNORE that?...
You can't stop the actions of the mentally ill who have these delusions by ignoring them. No object has a mind of it's own. Period... If it wasn't a firearm it WOULD HAVE BEEN a knife or a baseball bat, etc... Do you REALLY think people are all as ignorant as you? Good gawd....
Please get yourself together and stop with all of your ridiculous and completely unnecessary DRAMA. Are you in need of attention? Are you going for a record "thumbs up" on your post so you can strut around your living room feeling large? Ugh....
kenny, just because you wouldn't have had the b@lls to stand up doesn't give you permission to castigate those who celebrate one who did. You are a coward and a sanctimonious blowhard.
Whatever! In your infantile minds this man, this unarmed man SHOT in the face in front of a bunch of kids is a HERO? Boy do you lower the standard of being a "hero". This man was murdered senselessly in front of innocent children and what do you barbarian idiots do? Call for more guns. Read your own statements. What is it did this man do to be a hero? You really don't even say - do you? WHAT DID HE DO? I am not trying to demean his memory in anyway because I really feel bad for him. No one deserves to be killed, especially like that. Especially by a GUN in front of young children!
What we DO know is that this man is being called a "hero" not because he was one really, but because the death of a "hero" has to be avenged through revenge, and that revenge is arming everybody! What do you think these kids will feel the next time they see a gun? Happy? Safe? To you lying idiots, this man's death is nothing more than a free commercial for the NRA and gun manufacturers! You care about nothing except guns!
Hero? By just saying no?...not hardly...the term hero is used way too loosely these days....yes he was a true man..but not a hero...heros save lives...he didnt....now maybe if he had fought with the dude or put up some struggle other than saying no AND nobody got taken maybe then...but not a hero now....geez how fickle the maerican public is...the man is a hero for dying AND a little child still abducted? lmao really?
I couldn't agree w/you more... So much dramatic play in the media and w/people.... The driver wasn't a "hero", he was the victim of a schizophrenic...
He saved all of the other kids that were on the bus.
You 2 are made for each other
What's the latest on the psycho criminal and the 5 year old boy? Did they get him? Shame, another innocent person killed by senseless gun violence. This jerk was known in the town as a "paranoid survivalist" (usually found in the GOP, "the government is coming to take my guns away and take me away to the funny farm, haha, heehee, hoho, I must build a bunker, stock up on guns, and fight them back and defeat them!!!" ), yet I bet that nobody there had him investigated for his bizarre behavior. They always wait until these psychos takes some innocent people's lives!
I believe he was supposed to be in court that very day for stalking, ok, pointing his gun at his neighbor while driving by. Should have been dealt with when authorites got the call on that.
John..."should have been dealt with that day". How should he have been deal with? He was charged with a crime. Are you suggesting that at that point he should have been locked up for a couple of months with no bail? He was not found guilty of anything. Are you from North Korea?
Liberty, you cant lock someone up for acting strangely or for being different. As far as I know he was convicted of nothing. We do have due process in this country.
Liberty Hill - Agree with your post. However, we can't do anything with "crazy" people until they harm or kill. Very sad, but that's the way it is. Not against the law to be crazy.
Hope the young child get's home soon to his parents.
R.I.P Mr. Poland.
I hate to even bring up guns with everything going on but, it should be clear at this point we need beefed up security in schools and on the buses. After 9/11 look at all the changes that were made to airport security. Kids, teachers(who are highly underpaid already) their families and any other employees in education should feel safe. There should be armed guards or police officers present not only in the schools themselves but on buses as well(I'll do it for free)and instead of hearing about slain heroes(like Mr. Poland) and babies, we would hear about some whack job dying in an attempted murder rampage. Just saying if it were common knowledge that armed guards are on standby we would hear much less of these things.
If we had armed guards on the buses and in schools this would have turned out very differently. Teachers are already WAY underpaid and the kids,parents and anyone else should all feel confident that things like this won't happen. R.I.P Mr. Poland. I'm not trying to go on a pro-firearm rant but enough slain protectors and kids this wouldn't happen at the airports after 9/11. I believe I read that Poland himself was armed( or maybe that was a for-instance) either way, another adult rider in charge of safety wouldn't hurt. He is a hero no doubt and I wish his family peace and comfort but I'd rather be reading about one less psycho in the world them some nice old man being gunned down trying to protect children from some paranoid coward. I don't care that he's a vet, there is no honor in this no matter the motive.
Yeah when we have all that they wont wait to ambush first the guard.
I dont care what you do it will still happen if not the bus the target will change.
When a plane is hijacked again everyone will see.
Perhaps next time it will be the whole damn airport. it is not like you cant see the traffic tower.
Laws are not going to prevent aholes the threat all these people are really to is mine and your wallet as we are the ones who have to pay for all these people to search and guard everything.
Searchers and guards run amuck too like TSA stealing your stuff. sounds like they can be bought to me.
I bet we could do a better job of giving people less to be aholes about.
Oh good gawd..Teachers are NOT underpaid and the man is schizophrenic. He has no "motive" that is formed in reality when he apparently (according to those who know something about him) believes in Alien Invasion and Abduction....
oops I thought I lost the first comment please overlook the repetition ;-)
I don't understand why the hell anyone would defend a guy who kills a man and is now holding a child hostage but,okay the rest of us are stupid.......
We need to reinforce the doors put bullet proof glass in all the windows and get the drivers guns.
The media is continuing to DISTORT the truth. This man is not in a "BUNKER", it's a STORM SHELTER which are not uncommon in Alabama. The man suffers from schizophrenia and he is NOT a "survivalist" nor "prepper" as MSNBC and others have reported. The man believes there will be an ALIEN ATTACK and ABDUCTION which is why he'll patrol his property. SCHIZOPHRENIA folks... MENTAL ILLNESS is again being IGNORED b/c there is this disarmament agenda that they have. This is past the point of sickening...
Mental illness is not being ignored. It isn't illegal to be mentally ill. Can't do anything unless they "act out" on crazy. Now that he has acted out and killed an innocent person, something can be done.
Oh, and Jill, the neighbors have said he was a "survivalist" so take your arrogant "know it all crap" and take a nap!
Condolences to the bus driver's family. I sincerely hope the little boy he is holding is not being abused or molested. Obviously, he must be horribly traumatized, which in itself is abuse. Poor little guy! Poor family of this little boy. What a nightmare!
Hope they can get that little guy out of there!
If the Child can stand a sleep agent put this fool to sleep like the Russians did the Chechens but have the antidote ready for this baby. This fool doesn't have to get any.
If this child can stand a sleep agent, then pump that in there and go get the child. Have the antodote ready so we won't have a repeat of the Russian/Chechen incident.
YUP.... GUNS SURE DO KILL, yup! = ABOUT THAT BRAINLESS IDIOT THAT PULLED THE TRIGGER??????
%HOW TO DEAL WITH INSANITY%..... YUP!
I'm sad that this man Mr. Poland was a victim of a schizophrenic... It's well PAST TIME that MENTAL ILLNESS in this country be addressed.
Agree about mental illness, but the man is an adult, and although neighbors may have known he was "off his rocker", nothing they can do. Nothing anyone can do. Sadly, it is always that nothing can be done until after the crazy person has killed or harmed innocents. Until then, being "off your rocker" is not a crime.
So, how we "round up the mentally ill" is no small thing to figure out!
The "survivalist" again is someone with serious mental illness. I wish the far right would stop with its constant fear and paranoia building messages. It just throws crazies over the deep end. Get in your bunker with supplies and gun and wait for the "government" to come and get you. So sad! See this mentality on posts daily - especially the pro-gun people. I feel sorry for all who are so afraid, but listening to some possible answers would assist you all. Stop being so afraid - it keeps you only one step from being one of the crazies.
My condolences to the family of the bus driver. So sad! Glad he tried to save the kids, but not much one can do with the crazy gun-nuts. Have gun - will kill!
I sure hope he lets this little boy he has go soon. Hoping beyond hope that he is not molesting this little 5 year old. Why, oh why must this nut traumatize a little boy? Wow, talk about severe mental illness!
As a fellow U.S. citizen I am asking for your help. As a father and someone who would be devastated if my child or children in my community were killed needlessly, as so many others have been recently, I am asking for your help.
I am doing this because our leaders in Washington D.C. are failing to do what needs to be done, they are failing us. They spend all of their time in campaign mode. Trying to figure out how they can use every issue to their advantage and using every issue to keep the People divided. Using every issue to try and paint the other side as the bad guys to gain a political advantage.
Gun violence is not a Left issue and it is not a Right issue, it is all Peoples issues. Our communities are being devastated with gun violence, Mass shootings, Hostage situations etc. and all they do in Washington is worry about what Legislation they can get passed and how it will affect their party.
Our leaders are not leading.
We do not need Congress to act to make a difference on gun violence. We the People can act now and make a difference.
That is why I am asking for your Help.
If it saves just one life it’s worth it.
What I don’t understand is why Obama will go out on national television and call for everyone to act, to be on his side to pass Gun Control legislation, but he doesn’t go on national television to address the nation and ask for the peoples help to end gun Violence. Why won’t he come out and say to the nation that no matter what Congress passes it doesn’t work if the States and the people don’t help to make the country a safer place.
Isn’t this supposed to be a nation that was created by the people, of the People by the People and for the people, and our politicians serve us not the other way around?
Why doesn’t Obama go on national T.V. and say;
“
We will look at what we can do to strengthen our gun laws to make sure guns are not ending up in the hands of criminals and the mentally ill but you do not have to wait to act. You have the power to reduce gun accidents and gun crime by acting now to learn proper gun safety and storage. We could be doing things now like instituting the Eddie Eagle Program to teach k-4th Graders simple gun Safety;
If you see a gun:
STOP!
Don't Touch.
Leave the Area.
Tell an Adult.
You could be going online and finding out the best way to secure your firearms for what makes sense for your situation.
We could be requiring conflict resolution teaching in school to teach our children how to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence. Isn’t that supposed to be part of the Safe Schools initiative so kids can feel safe at school and not bullied, etc?
You could be calling on your States and legislatures to Comply with the NICS system and report convicted criminals, people deemed mentally unstable, report people convicted of drug violations, etc.
If you are the victim of a robbery and your guns are stolen report them to the Police so that Law enforcement will know there out there and you are no longer liable if that gun is used in a crime.
There are many, many things that as Citizens of the United States you could be doing now to help curb gun violence in the U.S..
You don’t need to wait for Congress to act or an Executive Order for something to be done.
This country is found on the Principle that the people are intelligent and capable of determining for themselves how our government should work and what our laws should be. This country works when people are involved and taking responsibility for it. Ask yourself are you doing what you can to prevent gun violence or are you just waiting for the government to do something about it?
Here’s a website (website name) with information on what you can be doing now. It covers proper gun safety, safety rules you can teach your children when they see a gun, how to properly store weapons when they are not in use, etc.
”
Why is it that ending gun violence is only a Legislative issue and what matters is what they can get passed and turned into law and not about citizens themselves taking a role in our society?
There are millions of legal gun owners and groups that would be more than happy to help make the country safer and help reduce gun violence. Lawful gun owners do not want guns in the hands of criminals and don’t like gun violence anymore than you do. They do not like seeing children killed by guns any more than you do.
Instead of attacking lawful gun ownership, trying to limit all of our rights and making Legal gun owners the scapegoats every time a psychopath with a gun kills a child, why aren’t you asking law abiding gun owners for help?
Why does this schizophrenic have guns? You say, "why aren't you asking law abiding gun owners for help?" What are you doing? You have to be asked for your help? Be like the rest of the Americans and offer ways to stop the violence. Many are gun owners, but the "gun-nuts" just want more guns. "Don't take my guns!" "Over my dead body!"
Well, what positive changes can you all make to stop the madness? All you do is rant about keeping your guns. How do you suggest we stop the madness? The only "change" I have heard from the gun-nuts is more guns! Guns on every street corner! Everyone should be armed.
Some of us would like a peaceful America back!
AllPeopleRights
How about this as a suggestion.
Rebuild our Psychiatric Hospitals and institutionalize those that walk among us that shouldn't.
Have REAL criminal control.
STOP the nonsense of plea bargaining.
If someone is caught with an illegally acquired firearm (stolen, serial numbers filed off, etc.) a minimum mandatory 5 or 10 year sentence.
If the individual has used that firearm in the commission of a crime, a minimum mandatory 10 or 20 year sentence (first offense).
If the individual has used that firearm in the commission of a crime that results in the injury of another, a minimum life sentence.
If the individual has used that firearm in the commission of a crime where the loss of life has resulted, whether caused by that individual or another, execution, sentence to be carried out within 30 days of conviction with ONE appeal only if SUBSTANTIAL and FACTUAL evidence proving innocence is provided.
In ALL instances above, ANY firearm related sentence is to be served CONSECUTIVELY with any sentence imposed for the actual crime.
In ALL instances above, there shall be NO plea bargaining, NO leniency, NO time off for good behavior, NO sentence shall be served concurrently, NO judge "discretion". Do the crime, do the time. PERIOD.
Personally, I don't give a $hit how "bad" their life was. I don't give a $hit who or what was "mean" or abusive to them. Personally, I really don't give a $hit about those that can't live in society civilly and peacefully.
Is that sufficient for you to consider?
The bus driver was a hero.
On mental health and gun violence. let us take the belief that 10% of the population is clinically and dangerously nuts. (i make up this number but please go with my flow)
in 1990 the population of the US was 248,709,873 making the nutters 24,870,987
in 2000 the population of the US was 284,421,906 making the nutters 28,442,190
in 2010 the polpulation of the US was 308,745,538 making the nutters 30,874,553
so even if the % of nutters does not increase the number of nutters does. The more nutters we have the more likely we are to have tragedies like this, when a brave man faces down a nutter with a gun. I don't want to ban guns I just want to limit access.
What the hell is the motive here. What is this idiot trying to acomplish. I have'nt heard anything about that this just seems too weird. This nut job could'nt come up with anything better than this it just makes no sense.
Maybe I missed it but where is the little boy? RIP Mr.Poland a true hero amongst us.
Still hostage in an underground bunker.
Driver IS a Hero!
Story just now coming out of southern Missouri: Elderly couple recently moved from Detroit, to a lake home on Table Rock lake to "escape the violence of Detroit". Found murdered last night by two teenagers, 15 & 16, during a robbery/burglary. (no word how they were killed-details skechy at this time-sheriff not disclosing much info). Neighbor evidently heard something and held the two teens at Gunpoint until sheriff's deputies arrived. Neighbor being hailed as a Hero by sheriff's dept. They might have gotten away with it if the neighbor hadn't intervened. If the kids had resisted and the neighbor shot them wonder what the outcome would have been? Be interesting to see if the neighbor is an NRA member.
Gun-lovers should be ashamed. If they had any shame.
For the actions of a sociopath? For the actions of the pathetic CRIMINAL Justice system, the system that affords the criminal more rights than the victims?
Or for pathetic people like you that like to use your 1st Amendment Rights to attempt to restrict or eliminate our 2nd Amendment rights?
Please tell me EXACTLY WHY I should be "ashamed" for ANY actions of another?
john n --- i can see your point when it comes to a nut like this guy. all people that own guns need not be ashamed. i grew up on a farm and around guns all my life. i'm not ashamed to say i like guns. i would love to own a boss or purdy shotgun or a drilling, but cannot justify the price. they are true works of art. one of my favorite sports is pheasant hunting in the fall. we put venison in the freezer last fall, not with a gun, but with a crossbow. i don't have any desire to shoot anyone, even an intruder. there is a world of difference between a saturday night special and the guns i mentioned. the two don't deserve to be compared.
Get rid of assault weapons and handguns, they are the human killers. Everything else is acceptable.
i want to see a breaking headline that say's NUT JOB holds boy hostage, police attempting to kill him the first chance they get!
Nut-job=gun-lover!
this is exactly the kind of creep that needs a good background check. they need background checks for criminals and also checks for people that are mentally unbalanced. medical records need to checked to see that the person hasn't suffered psychotic episodes and isn't taking psychotropic medication. these people should not be allowed to possess any kind of firearm or ammunition. the fact that he holds up underground proves he has severe problems. living in a bunker proves that he is severely paranoid.
PLEASE tell that to the local Prosecutors that permitted the man to walk AFTER he killed a neighbors pet, AFTER he threatened neighbors and their children, AFTER he SHOT at others.
Yes, PLEASE tell the local Prosecutor to DO HIS (her?) job!
xdm9mm --- i agree that they let this creep escape the arm of the law. they did not do their job. where i live you can't discharge a firearm within 600 feet of a residence. if the police had done their job this would probably not have been a story for the news. he should have been in the can facing some serious charges.
Yeah I know. You know and I know.
Unfortunately, the people that feel sorry for these psychos don't think the same way. He needs to be put away in a place like Creedmore. That was a few miles from where I grew up in NYC. They had the "residents" that did no harm protected from society and society protected from them. The vast majority were in truth harmless, but they didn't "fit" with society and society didn't fit with them. The criminally insane were in another area and were well guarded and KEPT that way. Even family was very restricted from visiting and were ALWAYS under the watchful eyes of security for their protection as well as everyone else.
Personally, I'd like to see the local PROSECUTOR held liable or culpable in SOME way for this event.
xdm9mm --- i doubt the police or prosecutor will ever get any heat. it's more likely some poor schmuck who had a few beers and had to stop to take a piss up against a dumpster will be charged with some kind of sex crime that will stay on his record for life.