Kareem Merthie, who is 26, is set to be freed from the Florida facility which locks up child sex offenders even after they have completed their prison sentences. Under the Jimmy Ryce Act, the state can civilly commit certain individuals who a judge agrees are sexual predators. At the treatment facility in Arcadia - which has received widespread criticism - they are supposed to be rehabilitated.
Merthie appeared before a judge in Seminole County. Both the state and Merthie's defense counsel acknowledged that Merthie has changed significantly since he was committed to the facility in Arcadia. The judge agreed to release Merthie, as the state can no longer hold him if he does not meet the legal definition of a sex offender who remains a danger to the community. He has reportedly cooperated with his treatment, which included significant therapy, and that the state hospital cannot treat him further. Merthie hopes to enroll in a community college and move back to Sanford, his hometown.
Merthie was arrested in 1999, when he was just 16 years old. Since as early as 1992, he allegedly sexually abused children at the church, New Life Word Center, where his father was the minister. He is believed to have abused as many as 20 children there. He was sent to a juvenile detention facility in 1999 after he pleaded no contest to sexually abusing two young boys. Later, while serving time in a facility in Jacksonville which treats and detains teenaged sex offenders, he apparently abused another boy at the center.
Merthie's parents, Willie Ruth Merthie and the Rev. Ronald Merthie, attended the hearing in which the Circuit Court Judge ordered their son's release. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Merthie collapsed in the hallway. Paramedics attended to her, administering CPR, but she was pronounced dead after an ambulance took her to a nearby hospital.
If you have been arrested for or accused of committing a sex crime, contact the criminal defense lawyers at Musca Law as soon as possible.
