State declares this human trafficker a sex predator
A state board says yes; now a judge must made a decision
MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> The Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board has determined that an Upper Darby man sentenced to three to six years in a state correctional facility for human trafficking meets the criteria for a sexually violent predator.
Renell C. Quire, 23, was the first in the state to be charged, convicted and sentenced under tougher human trafficking laws after he entered a no-contest plea to trafficking of minors and corruption of minors last July.
Quire was arrested by Pennsylvania State Police Sept. 5, 2014, for trafficking and having sexual relations with two minors, aged 15 and 16.
Police said he and another unidentified male drove to the New Life Youth Center in Montgomery County where the victims lived on Sept. 3, 2014, and transported them to Quire’s mother’s home in Upper Darby. Quire had met the 15-year-old on a dating website and maintained contact with her through text messages and phone calls.
Once inside the residence, Quire told the 15-year-old to have sex with his friend while he had sex with the 16-yearold, then they would switch partners. The victim told authorities she was uncomfortable with the situation, but complied because Quire threatened to throw them out of the house. Quire also deprived the girls of food or use of the bathroom to coerce them into having sex, according to authorities.
Dr. Melanie Cerone, a consulting psychologist with the sex offenders board, told Judge James Nilon Thursday that Quire met a two-pronged diagnosis for sexually violent predators based on his behavior and a mental abnormality.
Cerone said she did not interview Quire, but reviewed records including a criminal history going back to age 15 that included robbery, theft and possessing an instrument of crime.
Cerone told Assistant District Attorney Pearl Kim that Quire met numerous factors for an antisocial personality disorder, including a failure to conform to social norms with regard to lawful behavior, aggressiveness, impulsivity and deceitfulness.
Defense counsel Nixon Teah Kannah also presented testimony from Dr. Steven Samuel, who agreed Quire’s behavior was predatory, but said he did not meet the criteria for antisocial personality disorder because he was never formally diagnosed with an underlying precursor called conduct disorder.
Samuel said that according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, there must be evidence of conduct disorder with onset before age 15. Samuel also equated the terms “evidence” and “diagnosis,” and said there had been neither in Quire’s records.
Nilon posited the hypothesis that if the notorious serial killer and rapist John Wayne Gacy was not diagnosed before age 15, he would not be considered a sexually violent predator under Samuel’s interpretation of the language.
Samuel agreed that would technically be the case because a clinician cannot infer a diagnosis from the records, but must personally observe symptoms to base an opinion upon.
“The behavior says yeah, there is something wrong here, but he doesn’t meet the criteria the board is using, and those are codified by law – not a clinician, it’s by the law, by the court,” said Samuel. “So Mr. Gacy and this fellow here today are clearly both problems, but the issue is, in this particular case, (Quire) doesn’t meet the criteria established by the law for the board.”
Cerone rejected Samuel’s interpretation of the conduct disorder guidelines, arguing “diagnosis” and “evidence” are not interchangeable terms. She said antisocial personality disorder requires only that the patient has a history of “some symptoms” of conduct disorder, not a diagnosis.
Cerone added that the diagnostic manual is not supposed to be used as an absolute and the manual itself notes it is to be used as a guide along with the judgment of a trained professional.
She also challenged a hard-edged demarcation at age 15 for conduct disorder, which she said does not make sense from a clinical standpoint. Quire’s first arrest came just 25 days after his 15th birthday, according to Cerone, but she said there likely would have been other behaviors that occurred before that.
Cerone pointed out that Quire’s offenses escalated to sexual assault and said she still would have diagnosed him with a more general personality disorder even without his juvenile record.
In addition to the prison term, Quire was ordered to serve five years of consecutive probation and will have to register as a sex offender for 25 years under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.
If Nilon accepts the sex offender board’s determination, Quire will have to register for life and will be subject to additional requirements including monthly counseling and active community notification. Nilon did not indicate when he might render a decision.