AA member William Peterson of South Bend Indiana finally sent to prison after 4 yr court battle for molesting a 6 year old girl

William Peterson the former bank president of St. Joseph-based Edgewater Bank who was arrested and convicted for molesting a 6 year old girl in May of 2011 is finally going to prison for 2 years for violating his probation. Despite chanting Bill Wilson and going to 12 Step Rehabs to stay out of jail, St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Jane Woodward Miller has finally had enough with Mr. Peterson and sent him to two years behind bars July 27, 2012. For the last year William Peterson was mandated to the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous in South Bend, Indiana.

SOUTH BEND INDIANA A.A.
Michiana Central Service Office
814 E Jefferson Blvd
South Bend IN
574 234-7007

http://www.michianasober.org/

Please note the links at the above AA site to the "International Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous (ICYPAA)" which is open to all members and they actually bid on who will get first crack at indoctrination young people into the cult of Alcoholics Anonymous. William Peterson could have easily have been a participant in this prospect hunt for young people because there are no security checks or accountability in these groups.

http://www.michianasober.org/incypaa.html

Former bank president sent to prison

DAVE STEPHENS South Bend Tribune

4:24 p.m. EDT, July 27, 2012
SOUTH BEND — Saying he had exhausted his chances to stay out of prison, a judge ordered former bank president William Peterson to two years behind bars today, despite his pleas to remain in treatment for alcoholism.

It has been more than four years since Peterson was accused, in May 2008, of sexually molesting a six-year-old girl — the daughter of a family friend — after the child’s mother found Peterson with his hand in the sleeping girl’s pants.

Peterson, then the president of St. Joseph-based Edgewater Bank, was fired from his position in late 2008, after prosecutors filed charges in the case.

In May 2011, Peterson pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery as part of agreement under which he did not have to register as a sex offender.

Among other things, the agreement required that Peterson have no contact with the victim, attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, continue psychiatric counseling, abstain from alcohol and report to probation.

If Peterson abided by those terms, he would be sentenced in 2014 on just the one count of misdemeanor battery, the agreement stated.

But in March of this year, Peterson was accused of violating terms of his probation, including missing appointments and testing positive for alcohol.

At a hearing in April — where Peterson was convicted of violating his plea agreement — he even admitted to St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Jane Woodward Miller that he drank alcohol just two days before.

“I swear to God, Mr. Peterson,” Miller said in April, “you have the florid face of an active alcoholic.”

According to Peterson’s mother, Kathleen Peterson, who testified on her son’s behalf, the April hearing was a turning point in her son’s battle with alcoholism.

Although Peterson had previously received treatment and attended AA meetings, the threat of jail time seemed to make him realize how bad things had become.

“He was severely depressed, he was a severe alcoholic,” his mother said. “We really thought he was going to die.”

In June — with his parents’ financial help — Peterson began treatment at an inpatient facility in Minnesota.

Kathleen Peterson said her son returned from the 28-day program a different person, one who realized that life was worth living. Two weeks ago, as part of his ongoing treatment, she said, her son enrolled in an intensive outpatient program in Chicago, where he lives in a “sober house” and continues regular treatments and meetings.

“I know I’m prejudiced,” Peterson’s mom told Judge Miller, “but I don’t think that prison will help Bill. He needs to have employment, he needs to feel good about himself.”

Peterson, too, told Miller about how treatment has made him realize his inability to control his alcoholism and that because of it, many lives have been destroyed.

“I made some huge and terrible mistakes,” Peterson said, destroying not only the family of his victim but also his own family.
Peterson’s attorney, Tony Zappia, said his client’s commitment to treatment would only be damaged by prison time and wasn’t necessary in the case.

“In the four years this case has been pending, he has never been a danger to the community,” Zappia said of his client.........

Copyright © 2012, South Bend Tribune

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