Zach Anderson will not be going to Florida for the holidays.
The Elkhart man who was sentenced in a controversial underage sex case in Berrien County had hoped to be released from the rest of his probation term this month.
The South Bend Tribune reports his family felt that the judge had a good chance of erasing an extra six months that was tacked because he came in contact with two underage people when he was ordered not to.
But a Berrien County judge didn’t see that way, meaning Anderson is still on probation until at least April.
Anderson was convicted of having sex with a 14-year-old Niles girl three years ago who lied about her age and claimed she was 17 at the time. He was given a harsh sentence that included jail time, probation, and 25 years in Michigan’s sex offender registry.
After public outcry and an appeal, Anderson was ordered off the sex offender registry and was given a revised sentence of just probation for two years.
Still, his family told the South Bend Tribune that his probation hasn’t been a cakewalk. He lives by himself near where his family’s business, where he works because he can’t be too close to a school or daycare. He can’t live with people who have computers or smartphones, has a strict curfew, can’t leave Elkhart County without permission and can’t encounter anyone under the age of 18 unless it’s his younger brother.
Those are Indiana’s requirements and his family feels Indiana is too harsh on Anderson and that the system should be “reformed.”
