FSI Blog

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — State legislators passed a law Saturday that would require adults who French kiss a child younger than 13 to register as a sex offender.

Those convicted of tongue-kissing a child would be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. The House of Delegates passed the legislation 96-1 and the Senate 39-0. The bill now heads to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, who said he supports the legislation. Delagate Riley Ingram, R-Hopewell, introduced the bill on behalf of a woman whose 10-year-old daughter was French-kissed by the 62-year-old husband of her babysitter. The only crime prosecutors could charge the man with was contributing to the delinquency of a minor, which did not require that he register as a sex offender. Ingram and other members of the House fought to make the crime a felony, but in the final day of the 2008 General Assembly session gave in to senators who thought that classifying it as a felony was too harsh.

Delegate Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News, cast the lone nay vote, refusing to back down from his belief that the crime should be a felony. “I think that type of behavior is so egregious it warrants a felony,” Hamilton said. Ingram said he was satisfied that a conviction would land someone on the sex offender registry.

A Westmoreland County woman has been sentenced to two to four years in prison for letting her 12-year-old daughter have sex at home with a 16-year-old boy.

Thirty-four-year-old Angel Harp Suman was sentenced after pleading guilty to endangering the welfare of a child.

Suman’s three children are now in foster care. Westmoreland County Judge Rita Hathaway says she believes Suman is a danger to her children and other children. Prosecutors say the sex incidents occurred while Suman was on probation for allowing another daughter and other juveniles to drink at her home while Suman was drunk.