Teen fighting sex offender status after dating app tryst

The story begins like many other accounts of modern dating.

An Elkhart 19-year-old met a girl on a dating app. There are dozens out there. He used one called “Hot or Not.”

Zachery Anderson says the girl told him she was 17. The two made plans to meet, and they had sex.

But the girl was 14. Anderson said he had no idea.

The girl’s mother called police in December, the night of the teen's meeting with Anderson, when she grew nervous after her daughter hadn’t returned to their Niles, Mich., home on time.

In Michigan, the age of consent is 16.

Anderson pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor sex offense, hoping the ordeal would end with a probation term, mitigated by a Michigan statute that allows leniency for some youthful offenders, his lawyer Scott Grabel said.

The girl’s mother even asked the judge for leniency, saying her daughter admitted that she lied about her age, Grabel said.

But when Berrien County District Judge Dennis Wiley handed down the sentence in April, Grabel said it was like a punch to the 19-year-old’s gut.

Anderson would spend 75 days in jail, serve five years of probation and register as a sex offender for 25 years. He can’t continue with his computer science degree because he is not allowed to use the Internet, Grabel said.

“He certainly understands he made some mistakes here,” Grabel said. “But all the things a normal 19-year-old can do, he can’t do.”

Anderson’s case was first reported by the South Bend Tribune and has since captured media attention across the country.

The case has brought the fairness of some statutory rape laws into question, particularly highlighted by the differing laws of Michigan and Indiana.

Wiley had admonished Anderson at his original sentencing for how he met the girl on a dating app and what transpired.

“That seems to be part of our culture now,” Wiley said, according to a transcript of that hearing. “Meet, have sex, hook up, sayonara. Totally inappropriate behavior. There is no excuse for this whatsoever.”

Berrien County Prosecutor Michael J. Sepic said prosecutors did the right thing, and he points out that in Michigan a victim lying about his or her age is not a valid defense.

Sepic said prosecutors carefully evaluate statutory rape allegations on a case by case basis to ensure the process is fair.

But in this case, Sepic said, a self-reported age on an online forum should be suspect.

“She apparently lied in an online profile, and if that isn’t suspicious all by itself, I don’t know what is,” Sepic said.

Yet in Indiana, the law allows someone accused of statutory rape to argue a victim lied about his or her age, called a mistake of age defense.

Grabel said he wonders if Anderson and the girl, who live about 20 miles apart, met up in Indiana rather than Michigan, would the teen’s fate be different?

Anderson is out of jail, facing decades on the sex offender registry, forecasting years of trouble with jobs, residency and his ability to finish his chosen degree.

“I think he’s just emotionally drained and beaten on this thing,” Grabel said.

Grabel declined to make Anderson available for an interview while they await the judge's decision.

But a sliver of hope still remains for Anderson.

Grabel is asking the county to assign a new judge to resentence Anderson. The attorney argued in a hearing on Wednesday that prosecutors violated the plea agreement by arguing that the Michigan law that would allow leniency shouldn’t apply in this case.

Wiley has not yet ruled on the motion.

Sepic said he could not comment on that issue because it is still pending.

“Some of the consequences that occurred to the defendant are extremely unfortunate, but he made his choices,” Sepic said. “And he decided to plead guilty.”

If Anderson wins another sentencing, Grabel said he will argue that Michigan's Holmes Youthful Training Act, known as HYTA, should apply, which would keep Anderson off a sex offender registry.

Grabel also noted that the Michigan Supreme Court is weighing a similar case. He said he may argue that the sentencing be stayed in case the state’s statutory rape laws change.

Grabel said 20 other states, including Indiana, have provisions that allow a defendant to launch a defense that seeks to prove a victim lied about his or her age and that the defendant reasonably believed them to be over the age of consent.

Most provisions have some caveats, such as a clean criminal history, and a lack of coercion or force in the sex act.

Grabel said the girl has not alleged force or coercion.

“I do not think is this a fair result,” Grabel said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Call Star reporter Madeline Buckley at (317) 444-6083. Follow her on Twitter:@Mabuckley88.