LEWISTON – Now that the man who molested their daughter is behind bars, Rick and Julie Johnson plan to use their experience to fight for changes in Maine’s laws.

The Johnsons, whose young daughter was sexually abused by the family’s nanny, believe the current laws do not go far enough to protect victims of sex crimes.

The Johnsons’ former nanny, Robert Baird, was convicted of eight counts of unlawful sexual touching and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Although the Lewiston couple is satisfied with the outcome of the criminal case, they are angry about how long it took to get there.

“I’m very unhappy with the process. It’s so screwed up, it’s not even funny,” Rick Johnson said.

The couple’s biggest complaint is that Baird was able to remain free on bail for more than a year after they first reported him to police. During that time, he made several attempts to contact the family. He also was caught hanging around a group of young girls, a bail violation for which he served only seven days in jail.

The Johnsons want to change the law so that an accused sex offender who violates his conditions of bail is forced to remain in jail until his trial.

“What were they waiting for?” Julie Johnson said. “For him to kidnap my daughter and kill her?”

They also believe that someone accused of a sex crime should be barred from having any contact with the people who made the allegations. Currently, police warn suspects to stay away from the victims. But a victim’s best protection is to pay a small fee for a protection from harassment order.

The Johnsons didn’t know that until months after they reported Baird to police. By then, Baird had shown up at their house and sent them two letters. They feel that the protection from harassment order should be automatic.

Lapse of judgment

Police say that Baird’s case was typical in that he was close to the family. The case of the total stranger approaching a child in a playground is rare, said Lewiston Detective Sgt. James Minkowsky.

The Lewiston Police Department doesn’t keep specific statistics on the relationships of sex offenders and their victims. But, Minkowsky said, many incidents of child sex abuse occur when parents leave their children in the care of someone else – a baby sitter, a relative or a neighbor.

“A fair number of cases involve a lapse of judgment on the part of the parent,” Minkowsky said. “No parent intends for their children to get abused. But sometimes they take shortcuts, and those shortcuts lead to disastrous results.”

Despite the Johnsons’ frustration with the process, local police and state prosecutors described Baird’s case, including the amount of time it took from the initial report to the day of sentencing, as normal.

Most sex-abuse cases involving children take a long time due to several factors, they said, including the lack of physical evidence, such as blood and semen, and the sensitivity required when interviewing both the young victims and the suspects.

“I can empathize with the victims and their families. They feel powerless,” said Minkowsky. “They don’t realize it’s a juggling act.”

Minkowsky encouraged the Johnsons to work with their local legislators to improve the process.

“Our laws are evolving all of the time,” he said, pointing out that decades ago Maine had one law protecting children from abuse: the Child and Animal Welfare Act.