Sex Offender Chooses 'Walk of Shame' as Punishment
By: Jordan Vandenberge
Updated: February 8, 2013
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Tick after tock and step after step, Larry Bass learned what it feels like to be ostracized.
As part of his sentence for charges stemming from buying alcohol for a teenage girl, he paced around the Pike County Courthouse wearing a sandwich sign which said, 'registered sex offender who bought alcohol for kids.'
"It was something that [Bass] apparently brought up with his attorney," said Pike County Prosecutor Darrin McDonald. "When they brought us the idea, we started working through it and it seemed like a reasonable solution."
A conviction earned Bass the title of sex offender. A violation of probation earned him an hour's worth of public humiliation.
It's like the 'Scarlet Letter' but bright orange.
"With financial times being tough, people are really frustrated with the amount of money they're paying to put offenders in prison," said McDonald. "This is a decent alternative."
An hour will earn bass six-months.
The street-side spectacle will reduce Bass' stint in a work release program by six months. It's a deal Bass' attorney and the prosecutor's office agreed upon.
"Hopefully [Bass] goes back and he decides when he's in work release and he's done, he doesn't want to come back here," said McDonald. "That's the hope. We think jail isn't getting that message across."


