What one assistant district attorney calls “a legal loophole that needs to be fixed” might prevent officials from prosecuting felony charges against a popular music instructor who allegedly did not report job and name changes after being convicted of molesting a student.

However, if the allegations are true, 64-year-old Don Rasely of Butler still could face further punishment.

Rasely was accused in 2007 of assaulting a teenage boy who was in his home for singing lessons. He reportedly told investigators he gave the boy a massage to help the boy’s singing voice.

Rasely pleaded guilty to indecent assault, corruption of minors and furnishing alcohol to minors. In 2007, he was sentenced to 3 to 6 months in prison and 8 years of probation.

In December, state police charged Rasely with eight felony crimes, alleging that he failed to register three places of employment, including the Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Warren, Ohio, Sail Care in Ford City and private music lessons in his home.

He also allegedly failed to register two e-mail addresses and an alias of D.J. Raisley, which had a misspelling of his last name, police said. He used that alias at the church in Ohio, police said.

However, in Butler County Court Thursday, Rasely’s defense attorney, Michael Jewert, argued the charges should be dropped because Rasely never should have been subjected to the registration requirements in the first place.

Rasely was not declared a sexually violent predator, which would have triggered a lifetime registration requirement. Instead, his conviction triggered limited registration requirements.

But in March, the laws regarding sexual offender registration changed, and those changes were applied retroactively to cases already in the system.

Under the federal Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, indecent assault still is an offense that requires registration. And, a felony count of corruption of minors still requires registration.

But by the time investigators learned of Rasely’s jobs, the portion of his sentence specifically earmarked for the indecent assault conviction had expired.

He still was serving the portion designated to represent the corruption of minors charge. But when he entered his plea that charge was graded a misdemeanor of the first degree, and the new law states that registration requirements are not triggered by misdemeanors.

Under the new law, the same crime would be a felony.

County Assistant District Attorney Ben Simon, who is prosecuting the case, in court said he “reluctantly agreed” the circumstances call for dismissing the charges.

“It’s a legal loophole that needs to be fixed,” Simon said after court.

County Judge William Shaffer, who heard the argument to dismiss the charges, said he will rule later in writing.

Meantime, Rasely remains in the county prison. If the charges are dismissed, Rasely could face up to 5 years of additional supervision if it is determined his actions violated the terms of his probation, which still was ongoing when the allegations surfaced.

About two dozen people attended Thursday’s hearing. The spectators made no statements in court.

The victim, now 24, did not attend the hearing, but members of his family represented him.

“If he would have come here today, he would have been sick,” said the victim’s mother.

The family said in the seven years since this case concluded the wounds caused by the assaults did not heal. The victim still suffers self-doubt and anxiety. And the community has not accepted the resolution.

“We cannot go anywhere without people making comments about how we ruined Don’s life,” the mother said. “He ruined our lives. He didn’t plead guilty to save us from the pain of a trial. He pleaded guilty because he is guilty.”