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He raped an 11-year-old girl who got chlamydia and received no jail time.

He raped an 11-year-old girl who got chlamydia and received no jail time.
Joseph Meili via Alik / Twitter

Joseph Meili

In 2018, Upworthy reported on a disturbing story out of Alaska where a man kidnapped, strangled, and masturbated on a woman and received no jail time.

In August of 2017, Justin Schneider picked up a native Alaskan woman who needed a ride. Later, he pulled over to the side of the road, and told her to get out of the car so he could load some things. Then, he tackled her to the ground, strangled her until she was unconscious, and then mastrubated on her.

A grand jury indicted Schneider on four felony counts including kidnapping, assault, harassment, and "offensive contact with fluids." However, in a grave miscarriage of justice, Schneider struck a plea deal, and Anchorage Superior Court Judge Michael Corey sentenced him to a two-year suspended sentence and gave him credit for the year he served under house arrest.

Essentially, as long as Schneider keeps up with the terms of his probation, he serves no time behind bars.


Although Schneider got away with a heinous act, the judge didn't fare so well. In November 2018, Corey was voted off the bench by the people of Alaska.

Now, another white man has struck a plea deal that keeps him out of jail after a heinous act against a female.

Joseph Meili, a 22-year-old Missouri man, plead guilty to molesting an 11-year-old girl, but will receive no jail time.

In 2017, Meili began chatting with the girl over a dating app she accessed on her mother's phone. A few weeks after they began chatting, Meili picked her up and took her to an apartment. According to a probable cause statement, he took off the girl's clothes and raped her.

While the girl was being raped, there was a search party looking for her. She returned home that night and later tested positive for chlamydia and traces of Meili's semen was found in her underwear.

Meili was charged with with child kidnapping, statutory rape, and statutory sodomy. His attorney claimed the girl looked of age and that his client was "catfished" by the girl. "But to actually see her in person... he knew and just decided to go along with it anyway," Elizabeth Fax, the Greene County Senior Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, told HuffPost.

Prosecutors recommended that Meili be sent to prison for a 120-day sex offender program. But that didn't happen.
Instead, Meili struck a deal with Judge Calvin R. Holden in which he admitted to the crime, but will only serve five years of supervised probation. The charges of kidnapping and statutory rape were dismissed.

Holden has a history of leniency against child molesters.

According to The Washington Post, over the past three years, in three similar cases involving minors between the ages of 8 and 16, Holden gave out five-year probation sentences.

"I feel horrible for the victim in this case," Meili's attorney told The Washington Post. But he believes the sentence was fair because, "he's going to be a sex offender for the rest of his life. He's never going to escape this."

What about the girl who was raped at the age of 11?

What you permit, you teach. And the sentence handed down by Judge Holden is a permission slip to would-be rapists to prey upon women because they will be supported by the justice system. It is also a statement that, in the state of Missouri, it's open season on girls because their lives are less important than those who sexually assault them.

One can hope that Judge Holden receives the same fate as Judge Corey of Alaska for being lenient on sexual predators.

Planet

Easy (and free!) ways to save the ocean

The ocean is the heart of our planet. It needs our help to be healthy.

Ocean Wise

Volunteers at a local shoreline cleanup

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The ocean covers over 71% of the Earth’s surface and serves as our planet’s heart. Ocean currents circulate vital heat, moisture, and nutrients around the globe to influence and regulate our climate, similar to the human circulatory system. Cool, right?

Our ocean systems provide us with everything from fresh oxygen to fresh food. We need it to survive and thrive—and when the ocean struggles to function healthfully, the whole world is affected.

Pollution, overfishing, and climate change are the three biggest challenges preventing the ocean from doing its job, and it needs our help now more than ever. Humans created the problem; now humans are responsible for solving it.

#BeOceanWise is a global rallying cry to do what you can for the ocean, because we need the ocean and the ocean needs us. If you’re wondering how—or if—you can make a difference, the answer is a resounding YES. There are a myriad of ways you can help, even if you don’t live near a body of water. For example, you can focus on reducing the amount of plastic you purchase for yourself or your family.

Another easy way to help clean up our oceans is to be aware of what’s known as the “dirty dozen.” Every year, scientists release an updated list of the most-found litter scattered along shorelines. The biggest culprit? Single-use beverage and food items such as foam cups, straws, bottle caps, and cigarette butts. If you can’t cut single-use plastic out of your life completely, we understand. Just make sure to correctly recycle plastic when you are finished using it. A staggering 3 million tons of plastic ends up in our oceans annually. Imagine the difference we could make if everyone recycled!

The 2022 "Dirty Dozen" ListOcean Wise

If you live near a shoreline, help clean it up! Organize or join an effort to take action and make a positive impact in your community alongside your friends, family, or colleagues. You can also tag @oceanwise on social if you spot a beach that needs some love. The location will be added to Ocean Wise’s system so you can submit data on the litter found during future Shoreline Cleanups. This data helps Ocean Wise work with businesses and governments to stop plastic pollution at its source. In Canada, Ocean Wise data helped inform a federal ban on unnecessary single-use plastics. Small but important actions like these greatly help reduce the litter that ends up in our ocean.

Ocean Wise, a conservation organization on a mission to restore and protect our oceans, is focused on empowering and educating everyone from individuals to governments on how to protect our waters. They are making conservation happen through five big initiatives: monitoring and protecting whales, fighting climate change and restoring biodiversity, innovating for a plastic-free ocean, protecting and restoring fish stocks, and finally, educating and empowering youth. The non-profit believes that in order to rebuild a resilient and vibrant ocean within the next ten years, everyone needs to take action.

Become an Ocean Wise ally and share your knowledge with others. The more people who know how badly the ocean needs our help, the better! Now is a great time to commit to being a part of something bigger and get our oceans healthy again.

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The hobby has caught the attention of law enforcement and government agencies because urban waterways are a popular place for criminals to drop weapons and stolen items after committing a crime. In 2019, a magnet fisherman in Michigan pulled up an antique World War I mortar grenade and the bomb squad had to be called out to investigate.


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