Uncle Ed Muscare gets five years..

A Lakeland Florida judge handed down a five year sentence to Ed Muscare for repeatedly failing to comply to his restrictions and the rules of his probation and parole. It's no big secret that I had a hand in drawing attention to Muscare, and I haven't pulled any punches when it comes to my opinion about sex offenders. My initial reaction, I'd be lying if I said I thought the punishment fit the crime. I don't, in fact I think the judge went overboard. Five years is tantamount to a death sentence for a a 77 year old man. I'm assuming he will have to serve a pretty big slice of that nickle. While I don't think he should have walked away unscathed, five years seems pretty harsh. There was a moment when I felt a little guilty, felt some sympathy for Muscare. I think it was the line he offered the court about seeing that his dogs were taken care of that got to me for a second.

Then there is the reality of Muscare's actions. He violated nearly every condition of his release, after being told to stop posting videos, he had someone else do it. He stood before the bench and told them he didn't do anything wrong. Never mind that he failed to register as a sex offender, forget that he moved out of state failing to notify either the state he left or the state he moved to.

"I feel in my heart I did nothing wrong."

Those were the words that bought him a fresh nickle in the joint. That's the same mindset that allowed him to commit sexual battery on at least one child. When you can convince yourself that something wrong is right, that is the mindset which makes you a danger. Fans of Muscare, and he has thousands, will fail to see the reasoning behind the admittedly harsh sentence. They won't bother to look beyond the creepy, goofy, old guy posting harmless videos. They will downplay or totally deny the lasting effect upon the victim of Muscare's original crime. They will naively call his crime a mistake. Not unlike their youtube idol, they will make shit right in their own mind. The truth is, people who molest children, the animals who rape women, they never really lose that urge. They may learn to control it through fear of prison, but it's always there, and that is why guys like Ed Muscare , harmless as he may appear, must be kept on a tight leash. Ironically one of the driving forces behind Ed's downfall wasn't me, not really. All I did was put a little information out on this blog, and through a short interview on Fox 4. The thing that brought Muscare to his present fate, his fans and his buddy who continued to post those videos after Muscare was told to stop by the authorities. I believe the Judge probably spent some time perusing the comments, realized that Muscare's followers were in large part young, impressionable, and many under age. I think he was able to put 2 and 2 together and realized that Ed could potentially reach out to some of his more impressionable fans. I also believe that the Judge got more than a little annoyed over Ed trying to work around the order to cease posting videos and using the Internet, by having a friend post them.

In the end, I just helped to get the ball rolling, it was his friends and fans, and his need to draw attention to himself, along with his inability to play by the rules, that cost him his freedom.