'Romeo' not cleared, gets life on list

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - He was a poster child for what was wrong with Michigan's sex offender registry -- a teen on the list for a one-night stand with an under-age girl.

Then, the state passed sweeping reforms to the sex offender list, and it appeared Rick McQuillin's name would be erased, and his life would change.

A year later, Target 8 found his life has changed -- for the worse.

Not only is McQuillin still on Michigan's public sex offender registry, but he now is listed as a Tier 3 offender -- the worst of the worst.

=====

Interactive: Michigan Sex Offender Registry Tiers

===

"He looks like a dangerous predator because he's on the list, and he's on this very high tier," said Barb Lester, a crime-prevention organizer in Grand Rapids who opposes the list. "That would give you the impression that this man is dangerous to the general public."

McQuillin, now 30, said he is "baffled."

"I was astonished that it changed to a Tier 3," he said. "I was like, 'This can't be right. I haven't done anything since then; I haven't gotten into any trouble.' It just makes no sense to me."

And, instead of being on the list for another 10 years under the old law, he's now on it for life.

"You always get those glances, like, oh my God, he's a Tier 3. Stay away from him."

Mcquillin says it all started with a one-afternoon stand with a girl he'd just met and who got pregnant.

"I was 17; she was 15," he said.

Records show she claimed he "somewhat forced her" to have sex at her parents' home, and that he claimed it was consensual. But nobody had to prove force. She was too young to legally consent. It got him 2 years probation.

Before the sex offender law changed, the victim's stepfather told Target 8 McQuillin didn't belong on the list. Even the judge back then called it unfair.

"Almost to the point of being cruel and unusual, cruel and unusual punishment," Kent County Circuit Judge Paul Sullivan said at the time.

So what went wrong?

While the law says that "new" Romeo-Juliet cases will no longer make the list, it requires existing Romeos to petition a judge to get their names removed.

Raquel Olivo, an attorney at Legal Aid of Western Michigan , has helped three or four men off the list locally, but couldn't help McQuillin.

"It isn't an automatic right," she said.

They have to show they were less than 4 years older than the victim, and that the victim was between 13 and 16 -- no problem with this case.

Then, they need to prove the sex was consensual -- and often that means reaching out to the victim. The burden is on the offender.

"That is the problem that he's facing is finding that evidence to show there was a consensual relationship, that there was no force or coercion at the time," Olivo said.

Since the new law passed, the sex offender registry has shrunk by about 8,000 names, but it's likely only a small number were Romeo-Juliet cases. The state doesn't keep track that way.

Last August, the judge denied McQuillin's request.

"When I got out of the courtroom, I actually started crying, because I had my hopes up too high," McQuillin said.

He says he's tried to reach his victim, who is now in her late 20s.
 
"I sent her a message on Facebook. I found her on Facebook, and didn't get any response back."

When Target 8 reached her on Facebook for last year's story, she told us she didn't want to get involved. She didn't respond to our recent Facebook post.

"She's moved on; she don't care," McQuillin said. "Sucks for me, but what can you do?"

As for McQuillin, he was recently forced to move from a friend's house, because it's too close to a school. He's now living with his parents.

He says the list has kept him out of the military, cost him jobs, and kept him out of his kids' schools.

"No matter where I go, no matter what I do, I have to register," he said.