System Too Light On Sex Offenders

Howard Steven Ault was dangerous enough to be declared a registered sexual predator. He was dangerous enough for his picture to appear in a Florida Department of Law Enforcement book of sexual offenders.

He was dangerous enough to be prohibited from unsupervised contact with children under 16. He was dangerous enough to be required to attend counseling sessions at a sex offender clinic.

He was guilty enough to be required to check in with a probation officer six times a week.

So why wasn’t he in jail? It is not for lack of incidents. The 30-year-old Ault’s rap sheet tells the story of a dangerous man:

Convicted in 1986 of aggravated battery. Convicted in May 1988 for attempted sexual battery and burglary of an occupied dwelling. Convicted in March 1994 for the kidnapping and sexual battery of a 6-year-old girl. Arrested in May 1995 for aggravated battery on his pregnant wife.

All those things happened before he was arrested last Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale for allegedly sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl in his home last New Year’s Eve. The child told police he tried to choke her and told her: “Tell somebody about this. It was a bad thing that I did.”

And that was before last Wednesday, when Ault led police to the bodies of sisters Alicia Sybilla Jones, 7, and DeAnn Emerald Mu’min, 11. Police say Ault strangled both girls and sexually assaulted the older sister.

Ault’s rap sheet tells the story of a dangerous man. But it also tells the story of a lucky man.

For his 1986 battery conviction, he got three years’ probation, which he never completed because he was re-arrested two years later.

After his 1988 convictions, for which he was sentenced to seven years in prison, he served just three years and nine months.

In the 1994 case, in which the 6-year-old victim told police Ault drove her to a park and sexually assaulted her, he received just three years on community control, which were to be followed by eight years of regular, less strict probation.

He was spared in the case involving his wife when the state attorney’s office dropped the charges.

In the New Year’s Eve report of sexual battery on a child, a report that was filed immediately, Ault wasn’t arrested for 11 months.

Little Alicia Jones was not even born when Ault was convicted of aggravated battery. Her older sister was just a year old.

This man did not come out of the wild on a random afternoon to allegedly strangle them. He came into their lives with a revolting past. His crimes were not simply isolated instances. They were gusts of momentum in an intensifying storm.

By the time Ault walked into Circuit Judge Robert Tyson Jr.’s courtroom, facing charges for sexual battery on a child, his violence was tried and true. The young victim’s story was alarming: Ault slapped her, threatened to kill her, sexually assaulted her.

But Ault was allowed to walk away with three years probation. The state attorney’s office made a deal because they viewed the victim’s testimony as inconsistent. She was 6.

Regardless of the light sentence, the gravity of Ault’s profile was not lost on the judge, who declared him a sexual predator.

So why wasn’t Ault in jail? It is not for lack of incidents.

Perhaps it is for lack of respect. Each time Ault entered a courtroom, his victims were barely regarded.

This case needs to force a change of priorities in the system. We don’t need any more lucky predators. We need a universe of lucky children.

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