Former University of Michigan professor Stephen Shipps was a nationally renowned violinist and a sexual predator. Shipps, 69, of Ann Arbor, was sentenced last Thursday to five years in federal prison for having sex with a 16-year-old student in 2002. He was also ordered to pay a victim $120,000 in restitution.
I’m glad the judge in this case saw through this U-M professor’s attorney’s argument that this predator be allowed home confinement or probation due to his alcoholism and alleged remorse and deep shame. You know the argument really was–hey, here is another old, successful, white guy predator who deserves special treatment.
And I’m glad the Kalamazoo County sheriff takes child predation seriously:
Sheriff Richard Fuller stated: “It was made painfully clear to me that people of all working ranks are involved in [attempts to have sex with children].”
You don’t have to read too far into the record of the OCCK case to know that all working ranks include a state senator, an architect, an art dealer, a physician, a philanthropist, police officers, and GM executives, among many other “types.”