A 20 year-old American man who was ordered to spend 25 years on a state sex offenders register has been resentenced to two years of probation.
Zach Anderson of Indiana was jailed earlier this year after he met a 14-year-old girl on dating app Hot or Not, who claimed to be of age, and had sex with her.
He was originally sentenced to register as a sex offender and remain on the Michigan and Indiana state registries until 2040.
He also spent 75 days in jail after pleading guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.
However in a ruling last month, a Michigan judge voided the sentence, ruling that the prosecutor in the initial case “did not fulfil and significantly undercut the plea agreement.”
Berrien County Judge Angela Pasula confirmed the new sentence at a hearing in Michigan earlier this week, and he has now been removed from the Michigan sex offenders list.
His father, Les Anderson, described the resentence as a “big, big victory”, and although his son still remains in the Indiana state list, his legal team are preparing to challenge this.
Under the probation terms of his original sentence, Anderson was banned from entering any place that sells alcohol, could not use the internet or have a smartphone, and had a strict curfew of 8pm.
But given his change in sentence, some of the restrictions have been relaxed – he is now allowed to use the internet for education purposes, his father told Nightline.