People You’ll See In Hell

Wow, 5 years of house arrest. How can the judge live with himself for giving out such harsh sentences?

A Glen Burnie man who put together a list of local elementary school schedules and maintained a “victim list” of over 100 potential children before he was arrested was sentenced to 5½ years on house arrest for molesting a child a decade ago.

James Matthew Thomas, 29, told a therapist he was having thoughts about molesting and killing a specific 8-year-old girl who lived in his neighborhood. He also had written journals that graphically described sex acts with children, though police said they were apparently fantasies and there’s no evidence that he actually harmed any children after 1997.

Thomas confessed to molesting two children and was arrested in 1997, but prosecutors dropped the charges, saying the victims’ family wouldn’t cooperate. Charges were re-filed last year after Thomas’ therapist brought his disturbing new fantasies to the attention of police and the victims’ family agreed to go forward.

On Wednesday, a prosecutor urged Circuit Court Judge Philip T. Caroom to put Thomas in jail, calling him “a danger to the community.”

“I think that is the only way the court can ensure the defendant does not follow through on the various plans he has,” Assistant State’s Attorney Kathleen Rogers said during the hearing in Annapolis.

Judge Caroom said he understood the sentiment among some in the public that child molesters should be imprisoned for as long as possible.

“It seems to me that that would not make Mr. Thomas a person who was less likely to commit an offense again whenever he was released,” the judge said. “The treatment is more appropriate for that. … Sending him to the Division of Correction would in fact make him a victim due to his vulnerability.”

Judge Caroom said his comments were directed to “the gallery,” which included few people apart from Thomas’ family and a reporter.

Thomas pleaded guilty in January to second-degree sex offense, a felony with a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. He only pleaded in court to molesting the 5-year-old boy, but he admitted also abusing the boy’s 3-year-old sister. The abuse happened in Severn at the home of the children’s parents, who were friends of Thomas.

A slight man with short hair and glasses, Thomas sat nervously through most of the hearing, his leg shaking and his hands covering his face at times. He cried as he rose to speak just before the judge decided the sentence.

“I had some friends of mine and they had two kids,” Thomas said, apparently referring to the 1997 victims before his words became inaudible as he cried. He then added, “I would never … kill kids, never. I just need some help, that’s all.”

Judge Caroom imposed a 20-year prison sentence, but suspended all except a year, about half of which Thomas already has served in jail. He’ll be on house arrest for the last six months of that jail sentence, plus the entire five years he’s on supervised probation.

Judge Caroom said he wanted to impose the longest possible period of house arrest to protect children, and he warned Thomas that he’ll impose the full 20 years for any slip-up.

Thomas didn’t appear to understand the sentence, looking up at his lawyer later and asking, “Am I going back to jail right now?”

Thomas will live with his father and will be allowed to leave home only for counseling and work. He won’t be allowed to work or visit any place where children might be, like a restaurant or a store. Probation agents will randomly visit and search his home to see whether he’s compiling any more pictures or journals about children.

“If you do that again, I’ll lock you up,” the judge told Thomas.

Thomas’ father, James W. Thomas, told Judge Caroom: “I can be with my son 24/7 now that I’m retired.”

Russell Butler, executive director of the Maryland Crime Victims’ Resource Center, said he understood Judge Caroom’s reasoning and desire to help Thomas. But he said the only way to ensure that children are protected from a child molester is to lock him up.

“I would not want to be the judge who let someone out,” Mr. Butler said. “Think about what happens if this person goes out and abuses a dozen kids - or one kid.”

Mr. Butler said Thomas wouldn’t have had to be put in prison with normal prisoners; there are secure facilities for the mentally ill.

A court-ordered psychiatric evaluation found that Thomas had a personality disorder that included schizoid and antisocial traits and also paraphilia, a condition in which someone is aroused by socially unacceptable things. The evaluation found that he has a high risk of re-offending without treatment.

Thomas is a “functional illiterate” who was in special education classes for most of his upbringing and didn’t finish high school, said his lawyer, John J. Hammann. He’s been in treatment for years and gets $600 a month in public disability assistance, but has worked at menial jobs in a Weis grocery store and a McDonald’s, both in Glen Burnie, and a Wal-Mart.

Thomas’ mother said last year that he had been molested himself for years.

In October, Thomas checked himself into Johns Hopkins Hospital, reporting that he was having dreams about raping and killing young children. Concerned, a doctor at Hopkins called police and gave them Thomas’ journals, which contained a list of 100 children’s names, culled from a newspaper sports section.

Police searched Thomas’ apartment at 102 N. Crain Highway and his mother’s home in Severn and found more stories describing sex with children; opening and closing times of 17 local elementary schools; pictures of children nude or in diapers, including a shot of a 1-year-old boy; and a pair of girl’s underpants with the crotch cut out and suggestive writing on them.

Thomas also had cut innocent pictures of children out of magazines, then combined them with sexually explicit pictures of adults, in essence creating his own child pornography.

Click HERE for the story from the Maryland Gazette.