Perhaps one of the oldest dating tricks in the book is exaggerating personal details or lying to get sex. But a New Jersey legislator believes this kind of deception can be so harmful that is should be a crime.
The bill - introduced by Assemblyman Troy Singleton – would criminalize “sexual assault by fraud,” which he defines as “an act of sexual penetration to which a person has given consent because the actor has misrepresented the purpose of the act or has represented he is someone he is not.”
The proposal came about after New Jersey resident Mischele Lewis was duped into paying $5,000 to her boyfriend, William Allen Jordan, for what he claimed was a security clearance. Jordan was claiming to be a British military official, but in reality he was exposed as a scam artist who was regularly cheating on women. Prosecutors tried to charge him with sexual assault by coercion, but a grand jury refused to indict
Singleton explains that the bill emphasizes the heavy impact fraud has on consent between individuals to have sex.
“I truly believe that we have to look at the issue of rape as more than sexual contact without consent. Fraud invalidates any semblance of consent just as forcible sexual contact does.”
The discussion goes over details of the proposed measure, and explores the arguments of critics and legal difficulties that could arise if the bill becomes law.
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