This summer, my 28-year-old son was chatting in an adult chat room. One of the people there -- with whom he'd had only one chat, and that one completely nonsexual -- invited him to move to a chat app on his phone and talk with her. The app was rated 17+, but once there she said that she was 14. Of course, my son didn't believer her, especially as she talked like an adult and responded to his questions with remarks like "I'm not affiliated with the police." Over a period of weeks, they chatted, and as so many have seen, talking about normal things he liked (games, movies, etc) resulted in lots of "you're boring me" and short conversations. But gradually the conversation was steered toward more and more sexual topics, which always got lots of "tell me more," smiley faces, and encouragement. At first my son suspected it was someone in the class he is taking, since some things he said in class popped up in the conversation. Gradually he became convinced it wasn't someone just engaging in a fantasy, but someone out to get him. He said repeatedly things like "I don't want to do anything wrong" and "it would be wrong to even touch you." And he put the app away, even deleted it. But she contacted him again, restarted the conversation, and he joined in again. He resisted several invitations to get together, saying "you could be anyone." Finally, he agreed to meet at a public spot -- a quick trip.He had been told to bring condoms and wine cooler. He didn't. He expected someone to extort him, demanding money to not tell his fiance about what he had said. He went in, bought a Snapple, approached no one, and got back in his car to leave. Naturally at that point the police stopped him. It was two days before we even knew where he was, since they took his phone and no one would tell him how to make a call. They took his glasses, leaving him essentially blind. He had no attorney, and was in such shock he kept saying "just shoot me, I wish you would shoot me" over and over. He signed everything they put in front of him -- including a three page statement (which we haven't seen) and turning over his phone and computer. We finally got him out and hired a good attorney, but we worry that -- with the way these laws are written -- even Perry Mason couldn't get him off. He's in complete shock, and so are we.

My son is involved in emergency medicine. He's working hard to save people. He's a good student, a good worker, a good son, a good person. He's never had so much as a traffic ticket before. Doesn't drink. Never took drugs. He's engaged, and his fiance is sticking with him.

We're just at the start of this long, awful journey. And in Missouri, the MINIMUM sentence is 5 years with no possibility of parole. Should we have any hope?