Sex Offender Opts For Castration

Having tried everything else to escape the urge to expose himself to children, convicted sex offender Michael Piper of Ketchum said he opted for voluntary surgical castration.

The 33-year-old Piper was convicted in 1992 of sexual abuse of a child for exposing himself in front of two girls. This year, he violated his 10-year probation sentence by allegedly lurking near children, according to court records.

Piper told a judge he had already spent himself “into the poor house” with counseling and female hormones.

Experts say castration rarely cures exhibitionists.

The offender’s behavior is learned and has nothing to do with hormone levels, said psychologist Gary Horton, an executive board member of the American Association of the Treatment of Sexual Abusers.