You know well that you can land on the sex offenders list if you have sex with someone who is underage, and it’s not something you’re ever interested in doing. That said, you don’t always ask people for ID in advance, so you take them at their word when they tell you their age. But what if they lie? Could that create legal problems for you when the truth comes out?

It may. In one famous case, a man from Indiana drove into Michigan to meet up with a girl he had met online. He was 19 years old. She told him she was 17 years old. After their time together, he found out that she’d lied, and she was only 14. That made the conduct they engaged in together illegal, and the young man was forced to register on the sex offender’s list.

He argued that he should not have been on the list because he did not know the girl’s age at the time and did not think he was breaking the law. Eventually, he did win that case and had his name removed from the list, but it took time and his story was all over the news channels in the Midwest. It was not an easy process for him, even though both the young girl and her mother sided with him and told the court they didn’t think he should have to face charges.

As you can see, one event can change your life forever. These types of charges are very serious, and you absolutely need to understand all of your legal options.