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RaVen Blackehart

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SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. -- A child rapist who admitted to preying on nearly 20 children is now a free man. Kareem Merthie was released during a hearing in Seminole County Friday morning.

Merthie's mother collapsed in the hallway outside the courtroom. Deputies were unable to revive Ruth Merthie, and she was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Before collapsing, Ruth Merthie was in the courtroom while a psychiatrist testified about her son's improvement. She got up and walked out but collapsed several minutes later.

"Excuse me, I need to get to hospital to see my mother," Merthie said.

SLIDESHOW: Child Rapist In Court

Kareem Merthie was convicted when he was 16-years-old. He was locked up in juvenile detention for more than 4 years and spent another five years in a state mental hospital for violent sex offenders.

The 26-year-old preacher's son admitted to preying on children as young as four years old. He told investigators he raped them at his father's church in Sanford.

Kareem Merthie had nothing to say to reporters when he left the Seminole County Courthouse. Circuit Court Judge O.H. Eaton Jr. ruled that Merthe be released from a state mental hospital for violent sex offenders.

Three different psychologists testified in the case and each with a different opinion on Merthie's mental state. One doctor still says he's a threat.

"Are you testifying that he is safe to be released?" asked State Attorney Anne Perrin.

"No, I am not testifying that he is safe to be released," replied a doctor.

"The two other doctors say he doesn't meet the criteria anymore," said Defense Attorney Tom Summerville.

In the end, the judge's decision came down to state law. By definition, Merthie no longer meets the criteria of a violent, high-risk sex offender.

He is free to go live with his uncle in a neighborhood on Alexander Avenue in Sanford.

Kareem Merthie does have to register as a sexual predator so neighbors will know he is living there. Neighbors say they are not happy about it.

"Yes, we don't want him around here, too many children round here," said neighbor Anthony Robinson. "Sooner or later, you did it once; you did it 20 times, you're going to do it again."

http://www.wftv.com/news/19471875/detail.html
 
I wonder if it was the shock that he would be let out that did it. Knew it would be bad karma. I hope HE thinks so.
 
The mother's death, a definite omen. Surely there was someone clever enough to figure a way to keep this guy locked up.
 
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[...]
She had been sitting by herself in the back of the courtroom then walked out. She went to the ladies room then emerged and sat down on a hallway bench . She never got up.

Her husband, the Rev. Ronald Merthie, was in the courtroom at the time of her collapse. A deputy tried to block him from leaving to give rescue personnel room to operate.

"That's my wife," Rev. Merthie said twice.

He made it to her side. By then, she was on the floor.

Deputies had rushed to aid her. They tried to revive her with a defibrillator, yanked from its box down the hall. Paramedics then arrived, and rescuers performed CPR as they wheeled her through the downstairs lobby and out to the ambulance.

She was taken to Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford, where she was pronounced dead.

Back upstairs, a deputy passed a note to the judge, and he temporarily stopped the hearing. It resumed a few minutes later.

It's not clear whether Merthie knew before he left the building that his mother had died.

Merthie is a "Jimmy Ryce" offender. That's the name given to sex offenders who served their time but are then locked up in a state mental hospital in Arcadia because they are still dangerous.

Merthie wound up there because he preyed on children as young as age four, according to court records. He raped many of them at his father's Sanford church, New Life Word Center. In three lawsuits, the victims' families alleged that Merthie took them to the bathroom or up a set of stairs to a dark, remote part of the church.

Merthie admitted to abusing 20 children.

According to court records, the rapes began as early as 1992. Law enforcement authorities did not get involved until 1998, when one of the victim's mothers went to Sanford police. Merthie, then age 16, was arrested in 1999. He was locked up at a juvenile facility in 2000 after pleading no contest to victimizing two boys.

But that did not end the abuse. While in a Jacksonville facility for underage sex offenders, he sexually abused a 15-year-old boy, according to court records.

Mental health experts for both the state and defense agreed that Merthie is a very different person than when he was admitted to the state hospital in Arcadia, that he's undergone intense therapy, that he's been cooperative and that there's nothing more the mental hospital can do.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...apist-mother-collapses-051509,0,2598516.story

Scary shit - but what are they to do?
 
While in a Jacksonville facility for underage sex offenders, he sexually abused a 15-year-old boy, according to court records.

I'm with Donegaveup -- surely they could have found SOME way to keep this guy behind bars.

It's just a matter of time....
 
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