Dateline, sexual predator bullshit Options

[impala454]

I'm watching Dateline NBC right now... they're doing a segment on sexual predators... something is really bugging me here. Here's the situation:

Cops + Dateline set up inside a nice house. The cops get online and start chatting with guys, posing as 13 year old girls wanting to have sex. They invite the guy over, have an 18 year old girl posing as the 13 year old, and this girl flirts with them when they get there until Dateline pops in, embarasses the guy, then the cops arrest the guy (who is 28). WTF!?! Now I'm not condoning 28 year olds having sex with 13 year olds, but this is bullshit... the guy never did anything illegal. It's still on NBC right now.

[Spectatrix]

Yeah, my mistake, just read some more about it. I assumed they were all in DC. From Wiki:

Age of consent

In the United States, 18 years of age is the age of majority (anyone below that age is considered a minor). However, the age of consent for sexual relations can differ from the age of majority, being dictated by statutory rape laws, and varies by state (it is 16 in the District of Columbia).[155]

The email that first came to light was sent to a 16-year-old former page in Louisiana, where the age of consent is 17.[156] However, the age of consent is only relevant in cases where there has been physical, sexual contact.[157] Foley has not been accused of any such contact with this youth, and has specifically denied sexual contact with any minor through his lawyer.[158] On another occasion he offered a narrower denial of "inappropriate sexual contact with a minor".[159]

The minimum age for House pages is 16.[160] Two former pages have told news organizations that Foley arranged sexual liaisons with them, but only after they turned 18 and 21, respectively.[18][17]
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Sexual communications with minors

Legislation that Mark Foley helped enact, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, covers certain Internet communications with children under 18. Federal law makes it a crime to solicit sex with a child below the age of consent. However, federal law does not prohibit an individual from engaging in explicit, sexual communications with a minor per se.[157]

Some state laws criminalize certain communications with minors, even in the absence of physical sexual contact. In Florida, which Foley represented in Congress, the age of consent is 18 and attempts to seduce a minor are illegal. Louisiana makes it a felony to have sexually explicit communications over the Internet with anyone under 17. California has a law against sending sexually suggestive communications to anyone under 18.[156]

The initially publicized explicit IMs were made with two pages or former pages beginning when they were 16 or 17, and continuing until after their 18th birthdays.[2][161] One of the pages told the FBI that his contacts with Foley led to two meetings, including a dinner in San Diego in October of 2002, when the page was 17. After dinner, the page said, Foley invited him back to his hotel room and "touched his leg", but nothing untoward happened beyond that in a 20 minute visit.[45]