A federal agent was busted smelling a 3-year-old little girl’s dirty underwear in a disturbing nanny cam video. But, perhaps more appalling than his crime was the punishment he received for it from an Arizona judge. And, some think the judge’s own ignoble history might be why this pervert was given a slap on the wrist.
David Timothy Moon, a Deputy U.S. Marshal, was caught on a nanny camera pulling a 3-year-old little girl’s dirty underwear out of a laundry basket and smelling them — more than once. The 50-year-old federal agent was touring a home, which was for sale in Phoenix, as a potential buyer when he was busted.
While the real estate agent was elsewhere, Moon was caught on video entering the little girl’s bedroom. After looking in the closet briefly, he headed to a corner of the room, where the child’s dirty laundry hamper sat. After digging through the basket for a moment, seeming to purposely search for something in particular, he pulled out a pair of dirty underwear and held them to his face, appearing to smell them.
After sniffing the child’s dirty underwear, Moon left the room. A few minutes later, however, he returned, went over to the hamper, and did it again. This time, he noticed what he had missed before. As he turned to leave the room, his eyes landed on the motion-activated nanny camera in the room, puts his hand to his mouth, and is then heard uttering “Godd**nit!” before exiting. He was caught, and he knew it.
Indeed, Moon’s entrance and movement in the room had triggered the motion-activated camera and caused a notification to be sent to the girl’s father, who then watched the footage of Moon, including his interest in the toddler’s dirty underpants. Appalled by the behavior he saw taking place in his little girl’s room, the child’s father called the Phoenix police.
David Timothy Moon was charged with two counts of felony trespassing with a sexual motive and fired from his job with the U.S. Marshals Service as a result of his crime. Moon, who reported to bosses in Washington, D.C., had been a federal agent for 24 years and worked in multiple states, including Arizona, Alabama, and Florida, according to an agency spokesman.
Although a Marshals spokesman told ABC 15 that they can’t comment on personnel matters when asked whether Moon faced similar allegations before, his girlfriend was more than willing to discuss his seemingly sordid behaviors with authorities, telling them that once Moon found out police were looking for him, he threw away his computer.
Moon’s girlfriend also told authorities that she had found an email he had sent himself with a video of girls doing gymnastics, as well. But, the panty-sniffy pervert was about to get off easy. As a result of a plea deal, the charge was dropped to misdemeanor trespassing and he will only have to serve two years of unsupervised probation.
Even more shocking than the unsupervised probation is the fact that he will not have to register as a sex offender. Although prosecutors were seeking supervised probation and a sex offender designation, the judge said that “to impose sex offender terms in addition to the terms of the plea would be to essentially unright the plea.” This was a concern for the family, though.
“What if he comes back?” the dad asked the court. “What if he tries to hurt us or our daughter? What if he loses his job and has nothing else to lose?” His concerns seemed justified. Speaking with ABC 15 after reviewing the video, forensic psychologist John Delatorre described what he saw as “a compulsion” and called it “sexually deviant.”
Although Dr. Delatorre was not personally involved in Moon’s case, he has evaluated hundreds of sex offenders and was troubled by the footage. “This isn’t someone who’s unsure and needs to look around and tries to figure out — is this thing what arouses me?” he explained. “He knows immediately.”
Deputy County Attorney Marcus Beecher seemed to agree. “The actions by the defendant, in this case, show a need for evaluation, show a need for potential treatment, and that’s going to go unnoticed, untreated if there’s no evaluation done in this case,” he said. Judge Katherine Cooper, who once dated a sex offender, felt differently, however, and denied the request.
Although Judge Cooper acknowledged the family’s concerns, she also listened to mitigating factors, including Moon’s lack of criminal history, his service in the military and law enforcement, and her opinion that he expressed sincere remorse for his actions, in determining his sentence. “It can seem unfair,” Judge Cooper admitted, acknowledging the concerns of the victim’s family. “It can seem like it’s not enough.”
“This is by far the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Moon said in court, but this was more than just stupid. In the words of Dr. Delatorre, the “behavior that he demonstrates is sexually deviant.” But, sadly, as the doctor also pointed out, “There’s concern that there’s not enough for maybe a jury to say he’s a sex offender.” For that reason, Moon will be out, amongst the public, unsupervised and can apply for the case to be dismissed and the judgment of guilt set aside.
Tragically, it isn’t all that uncommon or unusual for cases like this to end in plea deals that don’t reflect the true nature of the crime. Sadly, there are limitations in the criminal justice system, but thanks to this little girl’s alert dad, David Timothy Moon is at least no longer in the role of a trusted community protector — and we are all reminded that evil may lurk in places we’d least expect it, so we must remain vigilant.
Source: Tap Worthy Happenings
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