Butler County Judge George Hancher dulled the teeth of Megan's Law by allowing a 15- to 30-month state prison sentence he issued to convicted child molester Jerry Valecko to run concurrently with a four- to eight-year molestation sentence, rather than begin after that molestation sentence is completed.

Compliance with Megan's Law should be regarded seriously by the courts, unlike the message Hancher delivered in dealing with Valecko's failure to report his move to Cranberry Township from Center Township. Valecko has been required to report his address to state police since 1999, when he was first declared a sexual predator for fondling a 12-year-old boy.

The four- to eight-year sentence Valecko is serving in state prison stems from his molesting four Center Township-area boys.

Valecko, who asked for leniency on the Megan's Law violation because he has three children and still someday wants to get out of prison and provide for them, should have thought about his children's welfare before committing his crimes. Instead, Valecko, who once told a therapist he had molested at least six more boys for which he was never prosecuted, still faces at least one more criminal case — in Lawrence County — for allegedly molesting an 11-year-old boy after he moved to Cranberry Township.

Valecko's attorney, Al Lindsay, told Hancher his client simply "wasn't careful enough" when he filled out a state police address worksheet on which he listed his Center Township address, rather than the Cranberry address. According to Lindsay, Valecko listed the Center Township home because he considered it his primary address and still received mail there.

Under the circumstances, Valecko should have asked questions to ensure that the worksheet was filled out properly. He deserved no leniency.