A disturbing case out of Pennsylvania is raising alarms about how far loopholes in family law can go, and what that means for the safety of children.
Brandon Keith Riley-Mitchell, a 39-year-old convicted sex offender, recently celebrated his baby’s first birthday with his husband, Logan Riley.
Videos of the celebration spread online quickly, but what shocked many viewers wasn’t the balloons and cake: it was the revelation that Riley-Mitchell is on Pennsylvania’s sex offender registry for crimes involving children.
The couple, who crowdfunded thousands of dollars to pursue surrogacy, bypassed traditional adoption rules that would have flagged Riley-Mitchell’s very dark criminal past, per Newsweek.
In adoption, a person with their record would never have been allowed to bring a child into their home. But surrogacy, a booming and lightly regulated industry in comparison, gave the sexual predator a new opportunity.
A District Attorney in Pennsylvania, Tim Barker, admitted his hands are tied in the case.
Current Pennsylvania law allegedly does not prohibit a registered sex offender from becoming a parent through the use of a surrogate couple.
That means Riley-Mitchell’s prior conviction for child pornography and solicitation of a minor didn’t disqualify him from gaining full custody of a newborn baby.
“Pennsylvania law currently does not, in and of itself, prohibit a registered sex offender from becoming a parent through surrogacy…Given this fact, no one presently has brought forth to my office an allegation of a criminal violation being perpetrated by Mitchell in York County. Accordingly, my office lacks any legal basis to act on this matter,” Barker said, while also urging lawmakers to review the situation.
More than 17,000 people have already signed a petition demanding that the baby be removed from Riley-Mitchell’s custody. Many who have signed the petition argue that while there is no direct evidence of harm so far, the very idea that someone convicted of sexually abusing children is now raising one, thanks to a legal loophole, should be enough to spur reform in the system.
The surrogate’s husband admitted he knew Riley-Mitchell said he “had ‘something in my past’ but had gone through the court system.” The surrogate’s husband allegedly did not dig deeper or ask any further questions about the predator’s criminal history.
Riley-Mitchell’s defense attorney, Peter Kratsa, reportedly argues that he served his time, went through counseling, and did nothing illegal in becoming a parent this way.