An editorial from the Parkersburg News and Sentinel:
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — Thank Heaven someone finally noticed something was wrong when a 52-year-old Charleston man made multiple trips to Sardis, Ohio, to pick up a 14-year-old girl – then took her back across the Ohio River to a New Martinsville motel, where the the pair had sex.
Last week the man, Mark Loring Dawson, was sentenced to as much as nine years in prison.
New Martinsville police and the FBI deserve praise for their good work in apprehending Dawson. U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld and his staff are to be commended for successfully prosecuting him.
But the episode raises questions about how Dawson was able to victimize the girl so easily and for so long…
