JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jarred Harrell will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing 7-year-old Somer Thompson in October 2009. Action News is learning more about the mind set of a sexual predator.
"Their perversion is coupled with a sex drive that makes them dangerous," said former FBI agent Dale Carson.
Carson spent years teaching local police officers about sexual criminality. Carson says the intensity Harrell brought to his horrific act is frightening. According to Carson, there are two types of sexual offenders; situational and preferential. Situational offenders do not search for children to abuse. Preferential offenders obsess and fixate themselves on finding a child to molest. Carson says Harrell is a textbook example of a preferential offender.
"If all you ever thought about was one thing, you'd be pretty good at it after 5, 10, or 15 years. What if that one thing was coupled with your sex drive and was coupled with sexuality? Think about the power you could pour into that," said Carson.
Carson says the sexual development of a preferential offender typically stops at an early age.
"They relate more readily and more easily toward someone who is at that same age and their preferential as to boys and girls and they are limited typically to a specific age range," said Carson.
Carson also adds that cases like this one have a chilling effect for male role models. It causes them to draw back from children in fear of being misinterpreted.
