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The law says it was a crime when his girlfriend, then 13, got pregnant. Now they are married, but he still faces charges.
By CARY DAVIS
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 15, 2001
NEW PORT RICHEY -- Denise Weaver was 13 when she started dating Chris Boudreau more than three years ago. Boudreau was 17. One thing led to another, and before her 14th birthday, Denise was pregnant.
Instead of ducking his responsibilities as a father, Chris proposed to Denise. Together, he promised, they would raise a family and make the best of a difficult situation.
But a crime had been committed: Denise, the law said, was too young to be having sex with Chris. Denise didn't feel like a victim. And parents on both sides, though not crazy about the situation, gave the couple their blessing after the teens made a commitment to stay together and raise the baby.
However, after Denise gave birth to a baby girl, Adrian, in October 1999, the health department notified authorities. Denise told a Pasco sheriff's detective she didn't want her husband prosecuted, but it was too late.
The case was in the system now, and prosecutors weren't going to turn their backs. Last year, the Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney's Office filed a lewd and lascivious battery charge against Boudreau.
"I'd like to know what they are going to accomplish by prosecuting him," said Chris' mother, Laura Anderson. "If my son had gotten her pregnant and run away from the baby, I'd be the first one to turn him in. But he's a great father. I'm so proud of him."
The case is similar to a recent one in Pinellas County that has turned the public spotlight on the issue and the wisdom of the law: Two teens have sex, she gets pregnant, he gets charged with a crime that could make him a felon and an inmate.
State Attorney Bernie McCabe's office charged Joey Stellini in Pinellas last month with a lewd and lascivious act on a child under 16 for having sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend, who gave birth April 3 to the couple's son. Stellini, now 17, who said he stood by his girlfriend during the pregnancy, is scheduled to stand trial May 24.
But the case against Chris Boudreau contains some new twists: He and the so-called victim are now married and expecting their second child this summer.
The law governing sexual activity with minors is as clear as the evidence against Boudreau -- 18-month-old Adrian -- is strong. But reality, in this case and the growing list of others like it, is much more complicated.
Jack Levine, president of the Center for Florida's Children, said Boudreau's case is a "blatant misinterpretation" of a law that was designed to punish older men who take advantage of teenage girls.
"At no point should we be looking at the issue of teen-with-teen consensual sex as a felonious act," Levine said. "Prosecuting fathers and imprisoning them is certainly not preventing anything. It only destroys families."
Despite the possible consequences of the case -- Boudreau, who is charged as an adult, faces up to 15 years in prison -- McCabe said his office has a job to do.
"You've got an underage girl," McCabe said. "That violates the law. If we can prove a case, we prosecute."
As far as Denise Boudreau is concerned, the state is prosecuting a family, not just a 20-year-old man.
"They're going to be tearing a family apart," said Denise, now 16. "He's going to go to jail, and I don't know what's going to happen to us. "I'm afraid he won't get to see his (second) baby born. We need him around."
Denise, who is being home-schooled, plans to earn her diploma later this year, and she hopes eventually to become a medical technician. Her husband dropped out of Ridgewood High School after 10th grade to become a mechanic, the job he holds today. He is the family's sole source of income.
For $155 a week, the family rents a single-wide mobile home across the street from the West Pasco Judicial Center -- where, in a courtroom next month, Boudreau is scheduled to stand trial.
When a reporter visited the home last week, the inside was clean, Adrian's toys were neatly arranged in a corner and figurines of angels bought at a flea market filled shelves in the living room. Under her parents' watchful eyes, Adrian played with the family's Chihuahua puppy, Spot.
Denise wishes prosecutors would visit the home so they could see for themselves what's at stake. "But I really don't think they care," she said.
Adrian was an accident, but the couple have no desire to turn back time.
"I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world," Denise said, though a conversation reveals the sacrifices of becoming a mother so young. Ask her if she has any hobbies, and she says, "Well, I take care of Adrian, cook, clean, stuff like that."
The couple's problems began after they went to the Pasco County Health Department to get baby formula for Adrian. When sheriff's Detective William Davis showed up later at the family's mobile home asking about the circumstances of Adrian's birth, Denise didn't want any part of the investigation.
"I think the law stinks," she said. "They're prosecuting Chris and saying I'm a victim. But I'm not a victim. He didn't rape me. It was consensual, and I'm his wife."
Her mother feels the same way.
"We just wish (the authorities) would leave them alone," said Cindy Leftwich. "They made a mistake, but is this any way to make them pay for it?"
A Florida Supreme Court decision last week could signal the arrival of a softer stance on sex crimes involving a consenting victim. The high court ruled that judges can order shorter sentences for adults convicted of statutory rape if the minor agreed to the sex.
Prosecutors filed the formal charge against Boudreau last August. Six weeks later, after Denise turned 16, the couple exchanged vows. Their new baby, a boy, is due in August.
With money tight and so much going on in their young lives, Denise said, Chris' charge looms over the family like a volcano poised to erupt. If Chris is sent to prison, the family will have to go on welfare, Denise said.
"We're worried about it every day," she said. "I thought for sure they'd dismiss it."
Prosecutors, however, aren't interested in dropping the charge.
Assistant State Attorney Scott Andringa indicated in court on Wednesday that he would be willing to offer a deal if Boudreau agreed to plead out. But that's not likely to happen. Andringa said the state wouldn't reduce the charge to a misdemeanor. And Boudreau, according to his public defender, Michael Tewell, won't plead guilty to a felony because he doesn't want to be labeled a sex offender for life.
Tewell advised Boudreau not to comment for this story.
McCabe said his office sometimes elects not to prosecute a case, but this isn't one of those situations.
"Nobody has to go to prison. That's a judicial decision," he said. "But people have to accept consequences for their actions. Sometimes you just have to hold them accountable.
"Have we gotten to the point where we say this kind of behavior is not a problem? I'm not willing to say that."