Michael McLaughlin

Judge Michael McLaughlin of El Dorado County, California made a decision of stunning stupidity that allowed a convicted child predator to escape justice entirely. Carl Cacconie had just been convicted of SIX FELONY COUNTS OF LEWD AND LASCIVIOUS acts against an 11-year-old girl! Abuse that spanned months. He was facing 18 years in prison. Shockingly, McLaughlin released him on bail pending sentencing anyway.

This is unforgivably dumb. A man convicted of sexually abusing a child, staring down 18 years in a prison system where sex offenders are well known targets, had every conceivable incentive to run. McLaughlin either failed to think that through or simply didn't care. He sent Cacconie home with an ankle monitor — a device that is essentially optional, as the District Attorney pointedly noted, and can be easily cut off.

That is exactly what happened. Eight days before sentencing, Cacconie cut off the monitor in San Francisco and vanished. He has been a fugitive for nearly a year. The 11-year-old girl he abused for months gets no sentencing, no closure, and no justice — and is now exposed to a lifetime of fear — while her abuser remains free and dangerous to other children.

Judge Michael McLaughlin should be removed from the bench for his unforgivable stupidity.