Letters From the Issue of Thursday, February 8, 2007

What do you want the boy to do?: For the first time since living in Arizona, I'm truly afraid. After reading the story of how Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his thugs rat-fucked (as the Nixon Administration used to say) Dan Saban and got away with it ("Boob's Tube," Paul Rubin, January 25) and the story on how County Attorney Andrew Thomas went after that teenage boy because he had a spybot on his computer that imported some kiddy porn ("Doubting Thomas," Sarah Fenske, also January 25), I've got to agree with my many liberal friends that we are living in a jackbooted fascist county, if not state.

For Arpaio and his cretin number two, David Hendershott, to try to destroy a political candidate with a false rape story from a person who appears to be a certifiable fruitcake is bad enough. But what Andy Thomas did is truly despicable! Trying to get a 90-year sentence against a boy for looking at kiddy porn (even if he did it) would be reprehensible for Thomas' Nazi prosecutors to attempt. Come on, a kid looking at pictures of another kid.

But this Matt Bandy didn't even do that. Some perv planted the pix on his computer, which could happen to anybody who opens the wrong e-mail. And the almighty Thomas still tries to prosecute this boy, even when this is established to his investigators. See, he's tough on kiddy porn (more like he's tough on little kids).

I looked at the original 20/20 report on the Thomas case, and pasty little Andy said the boy needed to be taught a lesson. Why? Because he looked at naked women on adult porn sites? Because he took a Playboy magazine to school? See, it's apparently a serious crime [for a minor] to take a Playboy to school in the idiot state of Arizona.

Andy, I hesitate to think what you were looking at when you were a horny teenage boy, but I'm around to tell you that there's nothing abnormal, much less criminal, about a teenage boy wanting to look at pictures of naked chicks.

Old buzzard Arpaio is beyond redemption (there's a hot corner of Hell waiting for him), but, Andy, repent before it's too late! You're a young man. If you don't, the two of you may be Hell-mates for eternity.
Name withheld by request

How dare he look for work?: The article you had about Matt Bandy is like what my fiancé and I are going through. My fiancé went in October 2006 to apply at the Department of Corrections as an officer. As part of the application process is a lie detector test. He never actually got one; the office just asked him questions. One of the questions was: Have you ever watched child pornography?

During the summer while he was downloading music on a Web site, one of the songs came with a video of kiddy porn. As soon as he figured out what it was, he deleted it and went throughout his computer and deleted anything that it might have gotten into. He told the officer, thinking he had to tell the truth.

Well, soon after, police went to his house and took his family's computer and his dad's laptop. After that, about a month went by and nothing was heard. Then, at the beginning of November, he was arrested on one count of child pornography. He was released on bail, but now he has to wear an ankle detector. He had to hire a lawyer and has had four court meetings, and nothing's changed.

We just had a baby at the end of September, and my fiancé has missed important doctor's appointments because his probation officer won't let him have the time. This whole situation is very frustrating, because of how long it's been drawn out. Prosecutors are delaying because they can't find enough evidence to convict him of anything.
Name withheld by request

Save yourself, Andy: I'm sorry, I'm all for stamping out horrible kiddy porn, but what County Attorney Andy Thomas' office did cannot be tolerated in a free society! The way these prosecutors went after Matt Bandy, a young teenager, for something he didn't even do should land these county pigs in deep shit. Somebody should organize a recall of Thomas.