LANSING -- A former Zeeland man who used the Internet to try to recruit teen-age girls for sex will serve a year in jail after an Ingham County judge declared he was a sexual predator. Kenneth Scott Weber, 39, was ordered to the jail term by Ingham Circuit Judge Thomas L. Brown Wednesday. The sentence resolves Weber's August 2001 arrest for distributing obscene material to a minor and using the Internet to commit a crime, both felony charges punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Authorities say Weber, who now lives in a Grand Rapids suburb, trolled instant messaging boards searching for teens interested in intercourse. Weber sent the girls nude pictures of himself and asked them to meet him for sexual favors.

Michigan State Police arrested Weber last year as he entered a Lansing park where he thought he was going to meet a 13-year-old for sex. The 13-year-old Weber thought he was chatting with on the Internet was actually a state police detective who had been tipped off to Weber's activities by Spring Lake Sgt. Roger DeYoung.

DeYoung informed state police after a probe in which Weber sent nude photos to a Spring Lake girl and they were found by her father. Officials say Weber may have solicited sex from a dozen teens, but never engaged in any contact with the girls.

"You're a predator looking for innocent teens on the Internet and you've admitted you have a problem with sex," Brown told Weber. "You're a threat to society and I observe that you have no morals (or) scruples and you lack judgment."

Weber pleaded guilty to both counts, and the lack of a criminal history left sentencing guidelines recommending a year or less. The 39-year-old Weber must also serve 36 months on probation, register as a sex offender and undergo counseling for mental health problems, Brown ruled. Weber was shaking and crying after listening to Brown's sentence, which rejected a plea from his defense attorney for only a probationary term.

"I'm very sorry for the harm I've caused to everybody, the teen-age girl, my wife and my family," Weber said. "I've taken full responsibility for my actions. I'm sorry I cannot change the past, but I am working for the better for the future."

Weber's attorney, Richard Wade, said the former Zeeland man has a rare hereditary disease that affects his judgment and may have led him to commit the Internet crime.

Wade said Weber is involved in treatment for Huntington's Chorea, which is characterized by quick involuntary movements, speech disturbances, and mental deterioration due to degenerative changes in the brain.

"He has no control over this," and can only hope to medicate the disease," Wade said. "Part of his treatment is to help him manage the problems that arise that result in judgment lapses."

Weber was working in the computer services department at Grand Rapids Community College and was enrolled as a graduate student at Central Michigan University's Grand Rapids campus when he sent some of the messages.

Pete Plummer, an assistant attorney general who prosecuted the case for the state, asked Brown to limit Weber's computer access after his release from jail. Plummer requested any computer use be monitored by another adult, a move the judge said was not possible.

"That's like telling somebody to go to church every Sunday and they can't smoke," Brown said. "I don't know if I can do that or that I want to even try do that."

Source: Holland Sentential 31 Oct 2002

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