Failure to register as sex offender charge dropped

A charge of failure to register as a sex offender has been dropped against Joshua Moolhuizen.

Prosecutors agreed to dismiss a failure to comply with sex offender registration charge against a Williamsburg man Monday afternoon.

Kentucky State Police Trooper Dackery Larkey arrested Joshua M. Moolhuizen, 37, of Williamsburg, on Sept. 15 in connection with a May 18 arrest warrant, according to an arrest citation.

“Joshua Moolhuizen is a registered sex offender from the state of Michigan (who) has a listed address of 244 S. Second Street, Williamsburg, Kentucky. Joshua Moolhuizen has never lived at this address in violation of KRS 17.510(11),” Larkey wrote in the warrant.

The Kentucky Sex Offender Registry lists Moolhuizen as a move-in offender from Michigan, whose original conviction was for third-degree attempted criminal sexual conduct. The victim’s age was seven years old, according to a flier that can be printed from the registry’s website.

Bradley Fox, an attorney representing Moolhuizen, said in a Sept. 23 letter to prosecutors that Moolhuizen shouldn’t be required to register as a sex offender under Kentucky law.

His conviction occurred in 1993, which was two years before a Michigan law passed requiring people convicted of such crimes to register. Also, the 1995 Michigan law only required people, who were at least 14 years old at the time of the commission of the offense to register, and Moolhuizen was only 13 years old when his Michigan case was adjudicated in juvenile court, the letter stated.

Because of these factors, Moolhuizen doesn’t meet Kentucky’s definition of a “registrant,” Fox wrote.

Fox’s court filing also included a May 4, 2006, letter from a Michigan prosecutor, whose office declined to authorize a charge of failure to register as a sex offender.

“Pursuant to Michigan Compiled Law 28.723 conviction was before October 1, 1995, and was a juvenile adjudication. Therefore, Mr. Moolhuizen does not have to register,” Huron County Prosecuting Attorney Mark J. Gaertner wrote in the letter. “The decision to charge an individual must be based on legally sufficient evidence. This decision must also take into consideration what is in the best interest of justice.”