Courtesy: NC Department Of Justice
High Point Police charged Paul Brantner with sexual exploitation and indecent liberties with a minor. Brantner was discharged from the Coast Guard after getting convicted for 12 counts of using a government computer to download child porn.
However, you won't find him on our state's sex offender registry. Brantner reportedly avoided the registry by entering into a plea agreement. In other words, he pleads guilty and skips the public humiliation.
So, what sex offenders are required to register? Here's what our state laws say:
Offenses against a minor -- kidnapping and abduction of children.
Sexually violent offenses -- this includes rape, incest, indecent exposure and prostitution.
Aiding, abetting and conspiracy -- this involves planning to harm a child or working with someone else to harm someone sexually.
Peeping -- or spying on a person.
"I think if you commit a sexual offense where it's registerable, I want to see you do the time and I want to see you register in accordance with the law," Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page said. But, Page says he knows attorneys can find ways to get their clients out of all kinds of situations. "When you have a system where you're allowed to do pleas, it doesn't surprise me that someone would plea to a lesser offense to dodge getting tagged as a sexual offender and having to go through the registration process," Page said.