19-year-old Saginaw woman accused of raping a man risked her chances to avoid jail time because of a Facebook account.
Lestina M.Smith, a Saginaw woman who raped a man at her knife-point, appeared before the Saginaw County Circuit Judge Andre R. Borrello on 15th July for her sentencing after pleading to a probation violation in June.
Smith had a Facebook account that she had not made the authorities aware of, and now she has been sentenced for two to fifteen years of imprisonment with a credit of 313 days that she has already served.
And according to the Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA), any sex offender must register any and every internet identities that they have. Holly Kramer, the communications representative of the Michigan Department of Corrections said that “Since (Smith) did not register the Facebook account, which was created using an alias, it was a violation of SORA and her probation conditions not to violate any criminal law and that she must register as required by the Michigan Sex Offender Registration Act.”
She committed the crime on 11th January 2017 when she was seventeen years old, and her victim was a 19-year-old man whom she had been dating for about two months and later assaulted him which the victim testified.
Judge Borrello had sentenced Smith to five-year probation in November 2017 after she pleads no contest to the second- degree criminal sexual conduct involving a weapon. The conditions of her probation were not to own or use a computer, not use or possess any intoxicants, avoid sex entertainment bars and clubs and also pay the victim $1000 as restitution.
She was also registered as a sex offender until November 21st, 2042. She initially faced two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a weapon and a life offense. However, these were dismissed in exchange for Smith’s plea to the second-degree charges.