Convicted sex offender with good grades sues college for kicking him out

By: Barry Leibowitz
Topics: Daily Blotter

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(CBS) DEARBORN, Mich. - Thirty-eight-year-old Michael Branch is a convicted sex offender who served his time, and was attending college and earning excellent grades.

Now, according to CBS Detroit, Branch is suing Henry Ford Community College, which expelled him when it learned about his criminal past.

Branch says his rights were violated when the Dearborn school kicked him out last year.

Branch's parole officer had no problem with him attending the school if he stayed away from a campus day care facility. Branch is now off parole.

He served a prison sentence for having sex with a 15-year-old girl in 2004. He said he believed she was older.

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by mamahobbs August 1, 2012 3:02 AM EDT: Ok, i would get it if we were talking about a little child, but come on! I have seen 15 year olds that look thirty, crows feet and all. Girls that age LIE. even about their age. I was a 15 year old girl before, and my "boyfriend" at the time was 24. once my parents found out, it was next to impossible to get them to believe me that I lied to him and told him I was 19. After he found out I was 15, he was terrified. I have never seen so much fear on anybodys face before in my life. Because of MY stupidity, he could have ended up having to register as a sex offender and having people like you judging him for the rest of his life. And don't go there saying he should have known better. I was going to clubs with him and going to places that were only 18 and over because I had a fake ID. He had NO reason to think I wasn't. Thank God my parents didn't report him. I don't know how I would live with myself today knowing I would have ruined a persons whole entire life. Basically what I'm trying to say is, Just because a person has Registered Sex Offender after their name, does not mean they are dangerous sex fiends. Some people are just dealt a bad hand. how about the two 17 year olds that were dating, and on his 18th birthday the girls mom reported him for statutory rape and he is now a sex offender for the rest of his life. Or the guy who got caught peeing (don't judge, you all do it) outside, and just so happened to have a woman walk by and was so full of herself she automatically thought he was trying to show her his *****. My step-dad is a registered sex offender because the under age boy across the street flashed him. No joke. Because he saw the kids junk, he is now a registered sex offender. Now, the guy having sex with his picnic table in his backyard where kids playing at the school could see him? He deserves to be an offender; Reply to this comment


by Shelly-Stow July 24, 2012 5:55 PM EDT: Campus day care?? Problem waiting to happen?? He had sex with a 15 year old, not a toddler or even a 10 or 12 year old. What he did was illegal but not perverted or deviant. Do you straight, normal males find an attractive, 18 year old girl sexually appealing? Well, then you also find an attractive, 15 year old girl sexually appealing. They look just alike. Does that make you a pervert? I taught them for years. There were freshmen girls who looked 20 in every class, and half of them were 14, not 15. Who is made safer if this man is denied a college education and a chance to redeem his life? Or are you so judgmental that you don't think he should have a chance at redemption? "Let he who is without sin...."; Reply to this comment


by otimus July 24, 2012 1:00 PM EDT: SORRY CANT FORM AN OPINION WITH THE LIMITED INFORMATION FROM THIS ARTICLE; Reply to this comment

by twmat311 July 24, 2012 11:09 AM EDT

PArole officer says he's OK to attend, as long as he stays away from the campus day care center. Anyone see a problem just waiting to happen here?

Sorry, but his rights got tightened up with that conviction. Post his registration (hopefully he's registered) in the school.

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by audemus July 24, 2012 1:56 PM EDT: So, you're in favor of making it practically impossible for anyone to turn their life around. If you go to jail in this country, good luck finding employment when you are released, and evidently you are not allowed to pursue an education at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, Michigan if you are a convicted sex offender who has served his time....even if you're doing really well academically....and we wonder why there is so much recidivism if you are convicted in our criminal justice system. We continue to make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for someone to turn their life around in this country....and that's not only wrong, but stupid.

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