A Mobile police officer's relationship with a 16 year old girl may not have been illegal, but some say it's just plain wrong.
Marshall Freeman, 44, resigned last week from the Mobile Police Department after he admitted to having sex with a girl twenty-eight years younger.
The 16 year old consented to the relationship, according to Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson, so Freeman will not face criminal charges.
"Can a 16 year old think in the capacity of someone who is 25 and old," questioned Chandra Brown of Life Lines Family Counseling.
In Alabama, Mississippi and thirty other states, 16 is the age of sexual consent, but at least two states, Connecticut and Maryland, raise the age to 18 when someone with "authority" is involved.
"The relationships are not equal," said Pat Guyton, Director of Mobile County's Child Advocacy Center, who wants Alabama to hold people in power to a higher standard. "Anyone in that position should not be having sex with anyone under 18, and the legislature needs to look at that."
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