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Forum helps protect kids from sexual offenders

Police and parents who've been there offer parents information to keep kids safe from sexual predators.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published August 3, 2005

The subject at last weekend's forum was grim - sexual offenders who prey on children. But it was also timely, coming on the heels of child abductions and slayings earlier this year and the reports of sexual predators and offenders living in area neighborhoods.

The goal of the Community Forum on Sexual Predators/Offender Awareness and Internet Safety for Youth, sponsored by the Florida Regional Community Policing Institute and St. Petersburg College, was to prevent more abductions and killings by educating parents about the dangers and ways to protect their children.

In addition to law enforcement officers, the parents of two victims sat on the dais and captivated the audience with their stories.

"There's a lot of disbelief," said Mark Lunsford, whose daughter Jessica was kidnapped from her home and slain in February. Sex-offender John Couey has been charged with the crime and is tentatively scheduled for trial in February.

"It's all so confusing," Lunsford said of his emotions while officers and volunteers searched for Jessica.

"You panic. You're on a roller coaster ride you don't want to be on," he said.

Then, when your child's body is found, the pain is "unbelievable," he said.

Judy Cornett was luckier.

Her son was abducted in 1992 at age 11. He was raped, but he survived. Cornett said she decided to act when the perpetrator, Kevin Kinder, was released from jail six years into a 17-year sentence.

"He only served six years," Cornett said. "My son got a life sentence."

Cornett became Kinder's shadow. She followed him when he moved, handing out fliers to inform neighbors of his background.

Eventually, Kinder violated his probation on a sex charge and received a 60-year sentence, thanks, at least in part, to Cornett's activism.

Cornett, now a private detective, opened a company called Safety Zone Advocacy Inc.

While audience members were transfixed by Lunsford's and Cornett's stories, they occasionally gasped or growled at presentations by two deputies and a probation officer.

The statistics presented were stark:

There are 1,200-1,300 sexual offenders in Pinellas County.

About 50 of those are sexual predators.

Between 1996 and 2000, there was a 1,264 percent increase in the number of Internet-related child-pornography cases nationwide.

But parents can take four steps to protect their children, Pinellas County sheriff's Deputy Kelly Griffin said:

Be informed.

Be aware of their child's surroundings - that includes knowing the neighborhood and the neighbors.

Always supervise their children.

Keep lines of communication open with their children.

[Last modified August 3, 2005, 00:36:17]