Sex Offender Challenges his Status, Saying|the Cop Who Caught him Wasn’t a Minor

BALTIMORE (CN) - A man who was convicted of sexual solicitation of a police officer posing as a minor says he should not be forced to register as a sex offender because the victim of his crime was not really a minor.

Maryland wants plaintiff David Fazer classified as a Tier II sex offender, and wants him to register as such for 25 years, instead of the 10 years originally imposed on him, according to his Circuit Court complaint.

Fazer says a 2010 state law bolsters his argument. He claims the 2010 Maryland Sex Offender Registry and Notification Act, which explicitly states that the victim of the crime he had committed has to be a minor, "swept away" previous sex registry laws.

Fazer says he solicited a police officer posing as a minor, not an actual minor, so under the new law he should not have to register at all.

After the law passed, Fazer says, Maryland notified him that he would have to register as a Tier II sex offender for 25 years. He says that when he sent "a letter with exhibits and an accompanying memorandum of law" to the Criminal Justice Information System, which includes the Maryland Sex Offender Registry, he was denied.

"As applied to plaintiff, the sex registry laws of 2007-2008 have been swept away by the Legislature as if they never existed. Thus, the plaintiff cannot be subjected to sex registry in Maryland, either now or in the past," according to his complaint in city court.

Fazer was convicted in 2008, and was sentenced to 5 years in prison, suspended. He says the new law retroactively covers crimes committed before its enactment.

Fazer sued Secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Gary Maynard, the Director of the Criminal Justice Information System Carole Shelton, and the Manager of the Maryland Sex Offender Registry Elizabeth Bartholomew.

He seeks a declaration that he cannot be considered a Tier II sex offender, and an injunction ordering the state to remove him from its Sex Offender Registry.

He is represented by Timothy Davis.

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