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| Coalinga State Hospital |
Video Description:
Rudy Kirk was savagely beaten by three other prisoners in Coalinga State Hospital. He was left with permanent and severe damage as a result of this beating.
Kamis, 31 Oktober 2013
CA - Rudy Kirk Recounts Savage Beating In C.S.H.
Video Description:
Rudy Kirk was savagely beaten by three other prisoners in Coalinga State Hospital. He was left with permanent and severe damage as a result of this beating.
Rabu, 30 Oktober 2013
FL - Effective State Advocacy & Lobbying Strategies
Psychotherapists Eric Imhof and Suzonne Kline talk about their experiences talking to Florida legislators trying to educate them to the real facts about sex offender risk.
Moderated by Gail Colletta of the Florida Action Committee.
Recorded Friday August 30, 2013 in Los Angeles at the RSOL National Conference.
See Also:
UK - Pensioner shocked by child porn ransom threat
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| Jack Clark |
10/29/2013
A pensioner is warning other computer users to be vigilant after he was targeted by scammers trying to extort money.
Jack Clark, 74, of Fatfield, Washington, was shocked to see a message purporting to be from the police after his computer locked him out while he was researching his family history.
The message said his PC had been blocked after claiming it had been used to view child and animal pornography.
The ransomeware virus installed itself on his computer, and threatened that unless he handed over £100 to clean his PC, he could face a £250,000 fine or six years in jail.
Grandfather-of-two Mr Clark, married to Hilda, 73, said “I just couldn’t believe it.”
“I rang the police, and before I had finished explaining, the officer said ‘it’s a scam’. It was a good hour before my legs had stopped shaking.”
A police spokesman said: “We would always warn people of the dangers of anyone calling a number which pops up on their computer claiming there is a problem. Reporting anything suspicious to police is the right thing to do.”
“We always advise people never to give out any personal details – particularly bank details – out over the phone or online.”
“These are fraudsters who want to scam the owner out of cash or get access to personal details.”
He added that anyone with doubts about such calls or messages should contact the Office of Fair Trading.
OK - Local man's case illustrates complexity of sex offender registry after Supreme Court ruling
10/30/2013
By Malinda Rust
While officials with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections review whether over 7,000 criminals will remain on the state's sex offender registry following a July Supreme Court decision, one Comanche County man is protesting a conviction he received locally for violating the Oklahoma Sex Offender Act.
_____, 49, received a letter Oct. 7 stating he had been removed from the sex offender registry in Oklahoma after the DOC reviewed his case and determined he had been kept on the list longer than statute allows a process started after the June 25 decision in Starkey v. Oklahoma Department of Corrections. By Friday, _____ had filed three motions requesting a court-appointed attorney, free copies of court records, and permission to withdraw his guilty plea out-of-time.
Law enforcement officers and legal professionals have been anticipating the effects of the ruling in Starkey's appeal. Starkey moved to Oklahoma after pleading no contest to one count of sexual assault of a 15-year-old in Texas.
The sentence required him to register for 10 years following his release from prison, but in the years following his conviction, the laws related to sex offender registration changed several times. Starkey argued he was illegally kept on the sex offender registry for longer than 10 years like _____ when DOC applied new statutes to his case retroactively rather than subjecting him to the laws in effect at the time of conviction.
The court sided with Starkey and ruled that Starkey's registration period should have ended in 2008. Now, the DOC web site states that officials are reviewing each of the over 7,000 sex offenders in Oklahoma to remove those no longer subject to the Oklahoma SORA.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections Public Information Officer Jerry Massie said that as of Friday, a little over 1,300 registrants had been reviewed resulting in 679 offenders being removed.
"It's a slow process, and there's over 7,000 to perform," Massie said. "We have to look at each case and determine what laws were in effect at the time the offender was sentenced, when certain revisions to the law happened and how they might be impacted by the Starkey case."
Massie said one of the areas of most concern is how the review might play into cases in which a registrant has been charged or convicted for failure to properly register when he or she was not required to, like _____.
"I was illegally charged with a felony for not complying with Oklahoma Sex Offender Registration Act where none applied pursuant to new Oklahoma Supreme Court decision of Starkey v. Oklahoma Department of Corrections," he wrote. "Detective Nancy Lombardo of Comanche County acting with and for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections retroactively applied the 2007 amended scheme of OSORA to Mr. _____."
Dissenting Factions Withing the Internet Safety Community
10/24/2013
By Dr Rachel O'Connell
In a blog post entitled Beware of the Internet Safety Industrial Complex Larry Magid, highlighted the factions that have emerged in the Internet safety world.
On one side is the ‘Internet Safety Industrial Complex’ faction that includes representatives of companies that sell internet safety technologies, i.e. Internet filtering, monitoring and age verification technologies. Members of this faction also include internet safety experts who promote the idea that internet safety technologies, along with education and parental engagement are key factors in mitigating the risks to children and young peoples’ well-being online. Larry Magid urges readers to ‘beware’ because he alleges the ‘Internet Safety Industrial Complex’ faction exaggerates the nature, scale and extent of online risks to children and young peoples’ well-being online.
The other faction, of whom Larry Magid is one of the key figures, is the ‘Anti-Media Panic’ faction, relies on selective pieces of research, which serve to substantiate their position. The central tenets of the Anti-Media Panic faction is that the majority of children are not at risk online, and, in fact any perceived risk has its genesis in ill-informed media hype generated to a large degree by the Internet Safety Industrial Complex faction.
When and why did these factions emerge and what effect is it having?
Let’s start with the Anti-Media Panic faction, who, for more than five years, has been talking about the media coverage of online child safety issues and describing it in terms of “media panic”. This narrative can be traced back to the mid 2000’s, but it really coalesced in 2008, in the aftermath of the publication of a report by the Internet Safety Technical Task Force (ISTTF). The ISTTF was a multi-stakeholder Task Force convened in response to a request by the US Attorney Generals to explore whether or not the age verification solutions available on the market at that time were fit for purpose, i.e. could provide the global internet industry with scalable, commercially viable, proportionate, low-cost, privacy preserving, age verification methods that would augment the safety of children online.
The Task Force was comprised of representatives from industry, law enforcement, child safety advocates and technical experts and it met several times over a one-year period. The meetings were convened and hosted by the Berkman Institute at Harvard University. The circumstances that prompted the US Attorney Generals to ask for this Task Force to be convened were that Myspace – remember them? – had used the Sentinel solution to scrub their database of users against a data set of known sex offenders. MySpace found approximately 40,000 sexual offenders and there were some procedural delays in handing over this information to the appropriate authorities. The Attorney Generals were not happy about this situation and felt that industry could be called upon to do more to protect vulnerable children and young people online and so the ISTTF was convened.
TN - 'Operation Blackout' to protect children from sex offenders
They make it sound like this affects all ex-sex offenders, but we are willing to bet that this affects only those on probation / parole only.
10/28/2013
By Lauren Squires
MEMPHIS - This Halloween, thousands of children will take the streets and their safety is key. If the Tennessee Department of Corrections has anything to do with it, sex offenders will not be anywhere near them.
No candy, costumes, decorations, or front porch lights are only a few of the rules given to sex offenders on Halloween for Operation Blackout.
Safety is always top of mind for parents this time of year.
"All our children should be kept safe, not just mine, but everybody's," stated mother Adrinne Akpan.
This is why hundreds of families flocked to trunk or treat at the Highland Church of Christ Sunday night.
"This is so much easier and more fun. We're members here at Highland Church of Christ and we love coming to trunk or treat," stated mother Anna Fagala.
Fagala and her family, dressed as three little pigs and the big bad wolf, are making events like the one at Highland Church of Christ the new norm.
"I think that, over the years, trick or treating in neighborhoods has kind of gone by the wayside because of safety issues," explained Fagala.
But, this 2013 year, law enforcement is taking notice and cracking down on sex offenders. The department of correction is teaming up with other agencies and the US Marshals to keep your kids safe.
- Not really, it's just the yearly mass hysteria and PR campaign so the police can come out and pretend they are actually doing something, but, not a single child has ever been harmed by a known or unknown sexual offender on this night! It's fear-mongering and panic based on emotions and not facts. The fact is that kids are more likely to be hit by a car than anything else.
"Well, we might go trick or treating after all. We've never done it before," said Akpan.
Law enforcement officials will make random visits to make sure sex offenders are following strict guidelines. They include the following:
- Remain inside home between hours of 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
- Leave porch lights off on Halloween night
- Do not open doors for trick-or-treaters
- Only open doors for law enforcement officers (If you are not on probation / parole, then you don't have to open your door to anybody!)
- Do not display fall decorations, wear costumes, or dress in disguises
"Maybe foster a new time of people to maybe go trick or treating in their neighborhoods again. (It) was always fun when I was a kid," exclaimed Fagala.
Many residents are hoping extra enforcement will be the trick to making this holiday a treat.
The Department of Correction is warning sex offenders, if any of these rules are violated, they could face more charges.
However, TDOC officials are asking for your help as well. If you see anything suspicious, report it immediately.
HI - Your reputation and standing are protected liberties
This article is about sex offenders, so click the above link to read the entire post.
10/28/2013
By Will Bassler
A person’s reputation and standing in the community are a protected liberty interest as described by United States Supreme Court rulings as laid out in the Hawaii Supreme Court decision in State of Hawaii v Bani. Below is an excerpt from the Hawaii Supreme Court decision.
The United States Supreme Court has previously recognized that a person’s reputation is a protected liberty interest under the federal due process clause. Wisconsin v. Constantineau, 400 U.S. 433 (1971) (hereafter “Constantineau”); Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564 (1972) (hereafter “Roth”).
In Constantineau, the State of Wisconsin authorized the posting of a notice prohibiting the sale or gift of liquor to any person who “‘by excessive drinking’ produces described conditions or exhibits specified traits, such as exposing himself or family ‘to want’ or becoming ‘dangerous to the peace’ of the community.” On appeal, the Constantineau Court recognized that “[i]t would be naive not to recognize that such ‘posting’ or characterization of an individual will expose him to public embarrassment and ridicule.” 400 U.S. at 436. The Court therefore held that a protectible liberty interest is implicated “[w]here a person’s good name, reputation, honor, or integrity is at stake because of what the government is doing to him [or her.]” Id. at 437.
One year later, the Court again recognized a person’s liberty interest may be implicated by damage to his or her reputation. See Roth, 408 U.S. at 573. The plaintiff in Roth, a university professor, alleged that “the failure of University officials to give him notice of any reason for non-retention and an opportunity for a hearing violated his right to procedural due process of law.” Id. at 569. The Roth Court reasoned that in declining to hire the plaintiff, the state had neither advanced “any charge against him that might seriously damage his standing and associations in the community” nor “imposed on him a stigma or other disability that foreclosed his freedom to take advantage of other employment opportunities.” Id. at 573. The Roth Court noted, however, that “a different case” would have been presented had the state either damaged the plaintiff’s reputation or imposed a stigma on him. Id. at 573-74.
However, in Paul v. Davis, 424 U.S. 693, reh’g denied, 425 U.S. 985 (1976), the Court clarified that “reputation alone, apart from some more tangible interests such as employment, is [n]either ‘liberty’ [n]or ‘property’ by itself sufficient to invoke the procedural protection of the Due Process Clause.” Id. at 701. The plaintiff in Paul alleged a deprivation of liberty without due process of law after the circulation of flyers publicizing his conviction for shoplifting and labeling him an “active shoplifter.” Id. at 712. According to the Paul Court, because the plaintiff’s harm was not accompanied by the alteration of “a right or status previously recognized by state law,” there was no deprivation of a protectible liberty interest. Id. at 711-12.
Senin, 28 Oktober 2013
OH - Sex offender compliance check in Miami County
All they need to see is your license and possible a rent stub or similar to prove you live there and nothing more, and DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING!
You can ask a lawyer and I am sure they will tell you the same thing, but, I am not a legal expert.
You will also notice they use PINK slips just like the Nazi's did during Hitler's reign.
AL - Sex offender speaks out against Alabama bill that would regulate sex offender clusters
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| Community Notification Flyers |
10/28/2013
By Mike Cason
MONTGOMERY - A registered sex offender is doing what he says few other offenders will do, speaking out against a bill that would further restrict where they can live.
Derek Logue opposes a bill that would make it illegal for sex offenders to live at the same residence without a live-in monitor and a license from the sheriff. Legislators and a prosecutor in Autauga and Chilton counties say the licensing and monitoring are needed to protect the public from having large numbers of offenders in one place.
- If you want to prevent a large number of offenders from living near each other then remove the residency restrictions that are creating the clusters in the first place!
Logue says it’s already hard enough for them to rejoin society after leaving prison. They can’t live or work within 2,000 feet of a school or daycare.
“There’s not a lot of hope for us,” Logue said. “But transitional housing at least gives people some stability. What you want is to have a chance to reintegrate back into society.”
Logue said they need stability during the first couple of years after prison and said that's when they are more likely to commit another crime. He said the bill would effectively block halfway houses and group homes that could help offenders and reduce recidivism.
Officials in Chilton and Autauga counties say their priority is public safety.
C.J. Robinson, chief deputy district attorney for Autauga, Elmore and Chilton counties, said 49 sex offenders have lived at the same Chilton County address since 2010. An average of about 10 live there on most days, Sheriff Kevin Davis said. They live in trailers behind a small church. It’s not in a dense neighborhood, but there are houses scattered along the two-lane highway near Triumph Church, which is outside Clanton.
- And how many new sexual crimes have been committed by these folks? Apparently none or we are sure they would have mentioned it!
Robinson said nothing in state law prohibits such a concentration of sex offenders. Laws pertaining only to Birmingham and Jefferson County restrict sex offenders from living together there.
Robinson compiled his numbers from notices the district attorney's office receives when a registered sex offender moves into the county. He points out that only two of the 49 men committed their crimes in Chilton County.
More than half of the 49 were convicted of rape. Most of their victims were minors, including many who were children.
Sheriff Davis said the men have not caused a problem. Robinson said he doesn't want to wait until they do.
- If you look at the facts and not your own emotions, you'd see the recidivism rate is already very low, so the chance of someone committing a new sex crime is very slim to none!
“I don't have the luxury to morally sit and wait until we have a child or a woman victimized by one of these men,” Robinson said in an email. “They have no ties to Chilton County and I would like to see them return to from where they came. We will take our troubled souls back, other counties should tend to their own as well. This community wants to send a message that we are not a landfill for the rest of the state to dump their sexual predators on.”
- We're sure if you had a large number in your own county you'd be saying you didn't want them either!
Ricky Martin, pastor of Triumph Church, declined an interview request from AL.com.
Logue said he doesn't know Martin or know about the program, but says the fact that the men haven't caused a problem seems noteworthy.
"Despite how they may feel about this group of people, it seems like the program is pretty successful," Logue said.
Bill pre-filed for January
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| Rep. Paul Beckman |
- And how much is the license going to cost? Surely this will be knocked down by the courts?
In addition to the place in Chilton County, Beckman said multiple sex offenders live in trailers on a piece of land in Autauga County.
“We’re right now trying to protect the public,” Beckman said. “And the public is saying to us right now in Chilton County and in Autauga County, ‘We don’t want to take care of other people’s sex offenders.’”
- If no crimes are being committed, then how are you protecting the public?
Wallace proposed a similar bill during this year’s legislative session, but it failed.
- And surely this one will as well?
Logue spoke against that bill at a public hearing. He plans to return to speak against the new bill next year.
“Most registered citizens are too afraid to speak out,” Logue said. “Somebody has to be a voice because so few of us are willing to speak out.”
Logue pleaded guilty to first degree sexual abuse in 2001 in Franklin County. His victim was an 11-year-old girl. He was released from prison in 2003 and lives in Cincinnati.
Logue operates a website called Once Fallen.com and advocates for reforms of laws that limit where sex offenders can live and work. He supports punishment for sex crimes but says punishment should not continue after an offender has served his time.
Proponents of HB21 say sex offenders living together could negatively influence each other and make it more likely they will commit another crime.
- And that is strictly based on emotions and not facts. Do they think ex-offenders are going to plan some mass molestation or something? Give us a break! Other offenders want to stay clean and so they keep each other in check, not the other way around.
"I don't like the idea that like minds are all together," Beckman said.
- Like in congress?
Logue takes issue with that and says sex offenders are not a homogeneous group.
“We’re not all pedophiles,” Logue said. “We’re not all rapists.”
Proponents of HB21 say they would not oppose sex offenders living in facilities that effectively counsel or treat them, although they say they know of no such program. The bill would authorize the Alabama Department of Mental Health to promulgate rules for residential sex offender clusters.
- Sounds like a conflict of interest to us.
David Jackson, chief operating officer for the department, said it does not certify treatment programs for sex offenders.
Concern about unintended consequences
A lawyer for a nonprofit organization that advocates for criminal justice reforms said there could be unintended consequences of restrictive laws that make it hard for sex offenders to find homes and jobs.
“First and foremost, I don’t think anyone disagrees that our first priority as a society should be to protect our children,” said Ateeyah Hollie, who works for the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta. “While I appreciate the lawmakers attempt at doing so, my main concern is that they do so in a practical manner that won’t further endanger our community.”
"The more restrictive we get with these residency and employment restrictions, the more likely we’re going to increase recidivism, which I don’t think is the lawmakers’ intent.”
- Well we think that is their intent, so they can keep the prison system raking in the money!
Hollie said instability in residency and employment are key factors in recidivism.
Hollie spoke against the bill Wallace proposed during this year’s legislative session. She has not read the new bill.
Registration and residency restrictions on sex offenders gained national attention in the 1990s. Congress and states passed what were called Megan's Law, named after a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was assaulted and murdered by a neighbor who was a convicted sex offender.
A 2012 report funded by the National Institute of Justice, "Sex Offenders: Recidivism and Collateral Consequences," examined the effect of sex offender registration and notification laws on recidivism.
The researchers found that the laws had limited effect on recidivism. The report said sex offenders have an overall low rate of recidivism but that some are high-risk, and that laws would be more effective if they targeted the high-risk offenders instead of all sex offenders.
Logue said some of the restrictions on residency and work amount to continual punishment after a prison sentence ends.
“When a person has served his time and they get out they should be given an opportunity to become a productive member of society,” Logue said. “We don’t treat murderers the same way. We don’t say murderers can’t live within 2,000 feet of another human being. That would be silly.”
Logue said there are effective rehabilitation programs.
"If we're really serious about trying to prevent reoffending, we should be doing things that we know work," Logue said. "Rehabilitation is not popular, but it's the right thing to do."
Wallace and Beckman said their bill would allow Alabama counties flexibility on how to handle sex offender clusters because it would be up to sheriffs to decide whether to license them.
- And we are sure nobody would get a license also.
"Until somebody comes up with a program that can be sanctioned by the state that proves we can improve the frequency of these guys reoffending, I'm just going with what I say is common sense," Wallace said.
- You already have a ton of studies that show recidivism is low already, in the single digits, so what else do you want? You are just exploiting the issue for your own political gain, in our opinion.
Halloween Sex Offender Hysteria Pure Horror Fiction
10/28/2013
Focus should be on documented dangers, not myths
In the midst of nationwide coverage on Halloween safety tips, those who study sex offender laws are frustrated with what they call “a myth-based approach” on the supposed dangers posed by registered former sex offenders to trick-or-treaters on Halloween night.
Many places have enacted bans and special requirements targeting former sex offenders. The laws vary from prohibiting registrants from decorating their homes or wearing costumes, to placing police-issued warning signs on their doors, to keeping all house lights off until 12 AM November 1.
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| Halloween Crime Statistics |
“We agree that parents and children alike should exercise caution and be vigilant to potential threats on Halloween, just like any other day,” said Shana Rowan, Executive Director of USA Families Advocating an Intelligent Registry, a group founded by family members of sex offenders and promoting evidence-based policies. “However, disproportionate focus on sex offenders is unfounded. There is not a single record of a child being sexually abused by a registrant by means of a Halloween ritual, however other risks such as vehicle-pedestrian accidents are highly elevated on Halloween. In fact, Dr. Jill Levenson of Lynn University in Florida found in her 2009 study, “How Safe are Trick or Treaters?” that child sex abuse by a stranger accounted for less than 0.2% of all Halloween crimes, but theft, property damage, and assault were markedly higher than other days of the year.”
Ms. Rowan emphasized that most former sex offenders have families and children of their own, another reason she says Halloween laws increase the chance of violence on the offender’s family members. “Given the propensity for property and violent crimes on Halloween night, I can speak for many family members with a loved one on the registry when I say that we genuinely fear for our safety in our own homes.”
To help illustrate just how unlikely it is that a child will be victimized by a sex offender on Halloween, Ms. Rowan created the following graph using data from Dr. Levenson’s report (PDF).
MD - Is the sex offender registry providing incorrect info?
Of course it is, the data is entered by humans who are prone to making mistakes. But, it only shows you where they sleep for a couple hours per night and doesn't prevent crime or really protect anybody, it only opens people up to vigilantism.
10/22/2013
By Joce Sterman
ABC2 INVESTIGATORS UNCOVER A FLAW IN HOW THE STATE'S SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY TRACKS INMATES IN CUSTODY. THE MISTAKES WE'VE UNCOVERED SHOW NOT ONLY IS THE STATE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR NOTIFYING WHEN OFFENDERS ARE RELEASED FROM LOCAL JAILS, BUT THAT THE FAILURES TO UPDATE THE REGISTRY PUT PEOPLE AT RISK.
In September people looking for convicted sex offender _____ wouldn't think they’d have to look hard to find him. The Maryland Sex Offender Registry said he was in jail. But ABC2 Investigators discovered the registry you rely on was wrong .
_____ himself helped us confirm the registry was incorrect. During a visit to his house in Glen Burnie, _____ told us, “I’ve been home. I haven't been locked up."
_____ had been living at home since records show he was released from the Anne Arundel County Detention Center on May 21. But that jail is exactly where the Maryland Sex Offender Registry said he was still living three and a half months later.
_____ is one of many sex offenders found on the streets and undetected on the registry. The news was disappointing to Anne Arundel’s Pat Parrish. She says she checks the state registry twice a week, looking for potential offenders in her neighborhood.
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| Paranoid person |
The retiree is so familiar with the registry that over the summer she used it to identify and turn in a sex offender she saw taking a boy into the woods by her home. As Parrish scrolls through the pictures, she says she only takes comfort when she spots one word next to an offender: incarcerated.
"That person is in jail, so we don't have to worry about them," Parrish said.
But ABC2 Investigators found reason to worry, finding dozens of sex offenders whose registry pages were wrong about where they lived. Some of the offenders were listed as behind bars although they had actually been out of jail for weeks or months.
_____ is one example. He was convicted of a third-degree sex offense and was listed as living at the Prince George’s County Detention Center. But multiple records show he was actually free.
The profile for _____ was also incorrect. _____ a convicted rapist who will be on the registry for life, was listed in the Baltimore County Detention Center as of early September. But we found he’d been on the street since his release in July.
_____ is a lost inmate who still hasn't been found. The registry shows there’s now a warrant for his arrest. He’s been labeled as an absconder.
We took our findings from cases like _____ and _____ to Lisae Jordan, the Executive Director of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
- So why them and not the police?
“With the registry, the errors you've uncovered here, we're grateful that you found them because that's really a problem," Jordan said.
It’s a systematic problem ABC2 News discovered by putting a sampling of Maryland's 1,500 incarcerated offenders through various government databases. The state's registry may have listed them as being in jail, but we used the Maryland Inmate Locator, Maryland Judiciary Case Search, the victim notification service VINE and even individual phone calls to detention centers to determine offenders we believed were no longer in custody were in fact out on the street.
"When we tell the public here's information about where these sex offenders are, that information should be correct and it's really appalling that it's not," Jordan said.
Russell Butler, the Executive Director of the Maryland Crime Victims’ Resource Center, says he was disturbed by our findings. He believes the failure to give victims, and the public, current and correct information about offenders could put people at risk.
“If this is a person who has harmed you, they may want retribution," he said. "They may want to re-victimize you, so you need to know they are out on the street."
Jordan also expressed confusion as to why it was so difficult to keep track of offenders, telling ABC2, "I don't understand why this is happening. These are people who are in state custody. We should know where they are."
In the sample group we supplied to the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, 20 percent of the inmates we found were actually on the street had been in state facilities, so there should have been little problem updating the registry.
UK - Man wrongly accused of being pedophile burned alive
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| Stephen Norley & Lee James |
This is more proof of why the online hit-list (registry) should be taken offline and used by police only!
10/28/2013
BRISTOL - A man wrongly accused of being a pedophile was beaten unconscious, set on fire, and killed by two neighborhood "vigilantes."
Investigators say the brutal violence in the Bristol, England neighborhood appears to be the result of a vicious rumor mill and a misguided police investigation.
According to the Daily Mail, 44-year-old _____ was arrested in July after being accused of taking "inappropriate" images of neighborhood children.
But after an investigation, police determined that _____ was actually taking pictures of kids he suspected of vandalizing his prized garden.
Despite being released by police with no charges, the Daily Mail reports that two neighborhood men decided to enact their own justice against the disabled _____.
Just two days after his release, _____ was viciously beaten by two 24-year-olds. The two suspects then dragged the unconscious _____ outside, where they set him on fire and killed him.
One of the attackers has pleaded guilty to murder, while the other has admitted his role in helping in on the attack. Both are awaiting sentencing.
Investigators say there was no evidence that _____ was doing anything wrong and was ultimately the victim of viscous rumors and misguided hostility.
See Also:
Is there any help for an offender being harassed/threatened?
By RS:
My fiance is a sex offender. He was 17 & charged with sex with a minor (she was 14) and he was emancipated by his dad. He got in a lot of trouble stealing cars, etc... so he got 2 yrs. in county and 10 in prison. Served his time and got out march 31,2010. Has not been in any trouble. We stay to ourselves. Anyways, the little town we stay in is becoming a lot of trouble for us. Being harassed by locals all hours. Constant knocking, threats of death and more. Of course we want to move but no money. The sheriffs dept has failed us. More or less has refused help. Says we need to catch them ourselves. Says we are making it all up. Tells us to shut up. As soon as they know it is us calling they take 1 or more hours to show up or not at all. Is there any help out there for my fiance and me?
IL - Man freed in rape case mistakenly arrested for not registering as sex offender
If he was exonerated, then isn't the crime in which he was accused of off his record? If so, why did the police think he was unregistered when he didn't need to in the first place?
10/28/2013
By Cynthia Dizikes
A man who was exonerated last month in an alleged 2002 rape at the Daley Center was briefly jailed Sunday because police thought he was an unregistered sex offender, according to his lawyer.
Russell Ainsworth, who represented _____ in his wrongful conviction case, said the Berwyn Police Department held _____ for about two hours, until Ainsworth was able to get to the station and provide documents proving the conviction had been thrown out.
"He is not required to register as a sex offender because he is not a sex offender," Ainsworth said.
It was not clear Sunday why _____'s name shows up on the Illinois sex offender registry website. His status was listed as noncompliant for failing "to maintain accurate registration records as required by law."
The registry is maintained by the Illinois State Police. Spokeswoman Monique Bond said she could not immediately comment on the specifics of the case. Berwyn Police Cmdr. Joe Santangelo said the arrest was made as part of a routine sex offender compliance check. He said he planned to review the arrest Monday but believed the situation involved a records glitch.
_____'s sister, _____, said her brother and she were getting ready for church when Berwyn police officers knocked on her door a little before 8 a.m. _____, who spent years trying to prove her brother's innocence, said the police told her they were looking for _____.
"When I opened the door, they busted past me and then walked through the home to the kitchen," _____ said. "(My brother) just had on his pajama pants drinking his coffee, and they had him in handcuffs."
She said she tried to explain to the police that her brother's conviction had been vacated and that she had the paperwork to prove it, but they arrested him anyway.
_____, 58, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for an alleged May 2002 rape of a county employee at the Daley Center. But last month, Cook County prosecutors made the stunning announcement that they doubted the credibility of the woman who brought the allegations against _____ and no longer believed the sexual assault even took place.
_____, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and has a low IQ, was released from prison Sept. 10 after 11 years in custody. Since that time, _____ has been living with his sister and her daughter in west suburban Berwyn.
Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state's attorney's office, said Berwyn police contacted the office about _____'s case after they arrested him Sunday.
The state's attorney's office told police that _____'s conviction had been vacated and that he was not required to register as a sex offender, said Daly, who added that she did not know how _____'s name ended up on the site. The state's attorney's office is not required to notify state police of exonerations, she said.
- And that is a problem that needs to be fixed!
"He shouldn't have been on the (sex offender) website," Daly said.
Ainsworth said the Berwyn Police Department told him that _____ had been caught up in a sex offender sweep because he showed up as unregistered.
Police released _____ around 10 a.m. and notified all Berwyn police officers of the situation, Ainsworth said.
_____ said that since her brother's release, they have been trying to adjust to his life at home and his medication schedule and that the arrest Sunday did not help.
"We didn't think that every time we turned around and opened our door, there were going to be police there," _____ said. "I mean, come on, when is it going to be over?"
See Also:
- Exonerated man's name pulled from sex offender website (Video Below)
TX - Compliance checks (User submitted)
By Anonymous:
I have a question concerning compliance checks. I am a RSO in Texas and every Halloween the local law enforcement shows up at my house to do a compliance check. I am no longer on any kind of court ordered supervision and I understand my rights as far as answering any questions they ask during a compliance check. Basically, I tell them that I am not going to answer any of their questions and that my registration is up to date. I do all of this from inside of my doorway, as I understand that I lose a lot of my rights when I step outside of my doorway.
My question is this: If they are JUST doing a compliance check and they do NOT have either a search warrant or arrest warrant, can they order me to step outside of my house during the compliance check? How should I handle this? Thanks...
FL - Audit finds low recidivism, critiques reliance on inflated Static-99 risk estimates
 |
| Fragile Flower |
10/27/2013
By Karen Franklin, Ph.D.
Dan Montaldi’s words were prophetic.
Speaking to Salon magazine last year, the former director of Florida's civil commitment program for sex offenders called innovative rehabilitation programs "fragile flowers." The backlash from one bad deed that makes the news can bring an otherwise successful enterprise crashing down.
Montaldi was referring to a community reintegration program in Arizona that was derailed by the escape of a single prisoner in 2010.
But he could have been talking about Florida where, just a year after his Salon interview, the highly publicized rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl is sending shock waves through the treatment community. Cherish Perrywinkle was abducted from a Walmart, raped and murdered, allegedly by a registered sex offender who had twice been evaluated and found not to meet criteria for commitment as a sexually violent predator (SVP).
Montaldi resigned amidst a witch hunt climate generated by the killing and a simultaneous investigative series in the Sun Sentinel headlined "Sex Predators Unleashed." His sin was daring to mention the moral dilemma of locking up people because they might commit a crime in the future, when recidivism rates are very low. Republican lawmakers called his statements supportive of "monsters" and said it made their "skin crawl."
 |
| Black Swan |
The Sun Sentinel series had also criticized the decline in the proportion of paroled offenders who were recommended for civil commitment under Montaldi's directorship. "Florida's referral rate is the lowest of 17 states with comparable sex-offender programs and at least three times lower than that of such large states as California, New York and Illinois," the newspaper reported.
Audit finds very low recidivism rates
 |
| Fear Mongering? |
Three independent auditors -- well known psychologists Chris Carr, Anita Schlank and Karen C. Parker -- reviewed data from both a 2011 state analysis and an internal recidivism study conducted by the SVP program. They also reviewed data on 31,626 referrals obtained by the Sun Sentinel newspaper for its Aug. 18 expose.
All of the data converged upon an inescapable conclusion: Current assessment procedures are systematically overestimating the risk that a paroling offender will commit another sex offense.
See Also:
Minggu, 27 Oktober 2013
GA - Two Georgia students face charges in alleged sex act at cafeteria
10/26/2013
By Nick Valencia
Two teenage high school students in Georgia face misdemeanor public indecency charges after a sex act allegedly was performed during lunch in the school cafeteria, a school official told CNN.
- And if the roles were reversed it would be a felony for the male.
The alleged incident occurred October 10 at Etowah High School in Woodstock, nearly 35 miles north of Atlanta.
"A female student allegedly made a sexual offer to a male classmate during lunch," Barbara Jacoby, a spokeswoman for the high school told CNN in a statement Wednesday. "The male classmate later told administrators that he thought this offer was a joke, but when the female student began to act upon it, the male student said he stopped her," Jacoby said.
The incident was recorded on the cell phone of at least two students, according to Jacoby, who said there is no evidence to suggest the video was shared or viewed by other students.
CNN spoke to an unidentified student at the school who said the video was shared and viewed beyond the group involved.
At least seven boys and one girl were involved, with one of the boys "daring" the girl to perform the act, the student said.
But Jacoby said the students who recorded the incident on Wednesday reiterated to authorities that they deleted the video "after realizing they might face charges for possessing it and did not distribute it."
She also told CNN that talk of distribution of the video was rumor.
School officials who were present in the cafeteria at the time of the alleged incident became aware that something had happened after students began talking among each other about what happened, the student told CNN.
Jacoby said students sitting at a cafeteria table "blocked other students and staff from witnessing what occurred."
"[School officials are in the cafeteria] but they usually just stand in the middle to make sure nobody leaves the cafeteria, but I guess they don't really monitor," one Etowah High School student told CNN affiliate WSB-TV.
"Appropriate school disciplinary action will occur for all students; the details of that action cannot be disclosed due to student privacy laws," Jacoby said.
- But let one of those students be on the sex offender registry and all the "privacy" rules go out the window!
UK - Young mother (Ashleigh Loder) jailed for making two false rape claims within hours after getting drunk and sleeping with friend's partner
 |
| Ashleigh Loder |
10/27/2013
By MIA DE GRAAF
A young mother has been jailed after she made two different false reports of rape within hours after drunkenly sleeping with her friend's partner.
The man only proved his innocence because he filmed the sexual encounter on his mobile phone and the footage showed she was a willing and active participant.
Ashleigh Loder, 25, wasted at least 100 hours of police time and subjected the man, who has not been named, to police questioning after inventing the two attacks in Bideford, North Devon.
She first contacted police - drunk on vodka - saying she had been dragged to the ground and raped in an alleyway by two strangers.
But when forensic tests seemed to disprove the story, she fabricated a new one - accusing a man of date raping her at home.
A friend of the man's partner, Loder admitted she fabricated a story fearing the consequences of sleeping with him.
She spread her claims about him around Bideford and he was forced to stay inside, becoming a recluse for two weeks to avoid reprisals, Exeter Crown Court was told.
Loder, of Bideford, admitted perverting the course of justice and was jailed for six months by Judge Phillip Wassall.
He told her: 'The man was branded a rapist locally and it caused him considerable distress and suffered threats within the local area and lost time off work.'
'One can only imagine what it is like to be accused of a very serious crime which could carry a sentence of around six years.'
'There are some offences so serious that the court has no option other than immediate custody.'
'There must be a clear message to anyone who invents a serious allegation, particularly one such as this which carries such a stigma.'
Jonathan Barnes, prosecuting, said Loder called the police on the night of December 1 last year and initially claimed to have been raped in an alley near her home as she left for a night out.
But after changing her account of events, her friend's partner was forced to take time off work for police questioning.
He proved his innocence with images of their affair and a text Loder had sent him claiming to have been raped in an alley.
Mr Barnes said: 'The allegations had a considerable effect on him. They were bandied about the area and he had to live like a recluse for two weeks. He lost two stone of weight through the stress and had problems sleeping.'
Greg Richardson, defending, said: 'Her life was a complete dream and she convinced herself she had been raped. Who knows what was going on in her mind but she believed something within her had said no.'
'She says the situation she got into was rock bottom. She wishes to apologise sincerely to the man.'
Sabtu, 26 Oktober 2013
IA - Offender’s Home Vandalized
We modified the title, we all know how the media likes to add the "pedophile" word to the title. The media has no clue what that term truly means, they seem to think sex offender = pedophile, which is not true! You can email the reporter using the link below, and tell him the difference.
10/25/2013
By Aaron Brilbeck
A convicted sex offender moved into the small Marshall County town of Liscomb and quickly learned he was not welcome.
_____ was greeted with smashed windows and the word “Pedophile” spray-painted on his garage. “We got spray paint on our garage last night around midnight. And the window got broken,” _____ said, pointing to the damage.
We couldn't find any neighbors who admitted to doing this but we also couldn't find any who felt bad about it.
- Of course they don't, but a crime is a crime, and the police should do their jobs and investigate the crime!
“For the simple fact what’s on his garage lets everybody know who he is, where he lives,” says neighbor Joe Robinson. “I don’t know. I’m not upset about it.”
- The online registry (hit-list) is for that, but apparently someone used the registry to target this family for vigilantism, and by the police not investigating it further, they are condoning it!
“If it’s true they got what came to them,” adds neighbor Alex Draft. “I live right over here and I got a younger sibling, she’s about 14 years old and she’s kinda been scared to come out here lately.”
Police understand the neighbors’ frustration. Afterall, _____ molested a five year old girl back in 2005. But authorities say he did his time and he has to live somewhere.
“The bottom line is these individuals are in our society,” says Marshall County Sheriff Ted Kamatchus. “We can’t victimize those people based on something that they’re legally doing.”
- So why aren't you investigating the crime? That is you job isn't it?
_____’s wife says the couple just wants to live at the home in peace, “We just want to be left alone so we can live our life without all the hassles that they give to pedophiles and stuff.”
Neighbors say they know the _____ have to live somewhere just not in their town.
“It makes my gut wrench,” Robinson says glancing at the _____ on their front porch. “Especially to watch him sit there watching those kids. Is it going to continue? I don’t want him to be here to continue.”
Police say _____ could face charges for failing to report his change of address.
- And what about the criminals who vandalized his home?
MN - VOICE FROM INSIDE: Minnesota may release 'ticking time bombs'
10/25/2013
By Tom Lyden
An offender who knows many of the men who may soon be released from the state's sex offender treatment centers says some being considered are "ticking time bombs."
Thomas Evenstad (Blog, Google+) knows several of the civilly-committed sex offenders that may soon be freed by the state of Minnesota or the federal court considering their case, and he candidly said they may also be the most-likely to reoffend.
"You can't change the pathology of a sex offender," he said.
- We totally disagree with this statement!
According to Evenstad, those who are the most likely to be released know how to work the system. Men like _____, who has committed more than 90 sex offenses and is now 70 years old.
"_____ isn't the least dangerous," Evenstad said of those being considered for release. "He's one of the most dangerous. Same with Mr. _____."
- And are you a sex offender expert?
_____ was convicted of raping a 17-year-old girl at knifepoint after he was released from a prison term he was serving for another rape.
Both _____ and _____ are among the 700 men and one woman who are so-called "patients" in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program at the facilities in St. Peter and Moose Lake. Only one patient has ever been released, but in light of a federal lawsuit, a task force has been set up to find a way to release some of them.
"There are hundreds of low-risk sex offenders, but they're selecting the most dangerous sex offenders in the state," Evenstad insisted.
Evenstad knows them because he himself has been there. Fox 9's Tom Lyden first met him 15 years ago when he was convicted of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old girl he met on a dating chat line. Evenstad has always maintained his innocence, but he served 8 years in prison.
Days before he was set to be released, Hennepin County prosecutors filed a petition to have Evenstad civilly committed as a sexual predator. That effort failed.
"The psychologists in Minnesota are susceptible to political pressure," he said. "If you didn't commit, you were bounced off the panel."
As a voice from inside, Evenstad said he believes there are many patients who would be ideal for release, such as men who committed their crimes as juveniles or those who wouldn't be considered Level 3 offenders in the criminal system; however, he said the patients who are successful in the program are some of the most dangerous to the public.
"These people become very cunning, able to con and manipulate," Evenstad continued. "_____ is one of the top candidates in the program -- would graduate to murder."
The state's task force considering the issue has created a rough draft of proposals for dealing with sex offenders. It includes a sex offender court to determine which offenders should be selected for civil commitment and who should be released, a higher standard of proof for civil commitment and a panel of experts to be involved in screening.
UK - Vigilante paedophile hunters (Kieren Parsons & others) ruining lives with internet stings
These vigilantes are hampering what the police should be doing and by them not arresting these vigilantes, they are basically condoning what they are doing.
10/25/2013
By Robert Booth
Police say the actions of the vigilantes can be damaging to abuse victims as well as innocent people wrongly suspected
In a motel room 100 miles from home, a middle-aged man using the name Peter counts the cost of one of the internet's latest trends: paedophile hunting.
"I have lost everything apart from my life. I have lost my job, I've lost my home, I've lost family, friends. I am a shell of a man. I am completely broken," he told the Guardian.
In May, this married former member of the armed forces was the target of a vigilante using the name Daemon Hunter (Facebook), part of an online subculture in which members of the public pose as children to lure men to meetings where they accuse them of grooming children for sex. The filmed encounters are then posted on YouTube for all to see, and after one such encounter, Peter is in hiding.
It is a form of rough justice that has the power to expose the guilty – but also to wreck the lives of the accused regardless of whether there is evidence of a crime. The "hunter" phenomenon has been fuelled by the ever increasing speed and reach of online social networks and an undercurrent of public concern that police are struggling to trap online sex offenders. Hunter groups have been active in the Midlands and some targets have been convicted, but police want it to stop.
- Well stop it then! If you don't arrest these vigilantes then it will continue!
The Daemon Hunter vigilante who targeted Peter in Staffordshire used the slogan "Public against paedos". He pretended to be interested in his target on an adult dating site and they arranged to meet in a branch of Costa coffee. Peter thought he was meeting an 18-year-old, and insists he is not a paedophile or child groomer. Only when he was waiting in the cafe did a text come through saying "she" was 15 and that he immediately got up and left.
It was then that Daemon Hunter accosted him in the street, accused him of trying to meet a 15-year-old for sex, and chased him through town filming him. Peter told the Guardian: "He said: 'I think we need to talk because you're a f****** paedophile.' I said: 'What do you mean mate? She's 18, that's what I was told. I've just had a text message up there saying she's 15 and that's why I've walked away.' Next thing I know he got his phone up filming me, calling me a paedophile, asking her age. I was shocked. He started shouting I was a paedophile in the middle of town. I thought 'I am going to get a kicking here' so I just legged it."
Within hours, the vigilante uploaded footage of the sting on to the internet along with Peter's mobile number. That night his phone was jammed with abusive texts and voicemails, which he said included death threats.
- He should have contacted police then and reported these vigilantes!
So he fled north in his car, only returning when he thought the worst was over. Later, he said his house was hit with bricks and that his wife tried to kill herself with an overdose of pills. He was so scared he was reduced to hiding in a cupboard when the doorbell rang.
Staffordshire police reviewed the evidence and concluded there was no case for any prosecution, but the damage was done. More than 5,000 people viewed the film and Peter has now moved to the other side of the country, cut off from family, friends and work.
- This is exactly why these vigilantes continue, because the police condone it and do not arrest them!
Sam, from the West Midlands, said he was beaten to the ground near his home after a prolific Nuneaton-based vigilante known as Stinson Hunter posted a video that appeared to show him travelling to meet an 11-year-old girl. Stinson Hunter's real name is Kieren Parsons, a 32-year-old who has been working on stings for almost four years with a small group of friends. He has previously told how he was partly inspired by the American TV programme To Catch a Predator, in which reporters pose as children to entrap child groomers.
Sam's story began when he was talking to a person on the dating site Badoo. After a while someone told him she was 11 and asked if it put him off. He said it did but he didn't mind chatting from time to time.
"I knew she wasn't an 11-year-old because she sounded so mature and when her picture was up I said to her that's a picture of a 17- or 18-year-old, I think I am being fooled here. She said no, I'm 11." Later they had an adult exchange in which she asked about sex. "I discussed slowly what happens," he said. "After, I said: 'I don't think you are 11.' An 11-year-old would not respond to me in this nature."
Soon, "she" asked to come and meet him. He made excuses to avoid it, but shortly afterwards, Stinson posted Sam's picture and number online and accused him of grooming. Hate messages poured in. "Kill threats, you're a paedo, you're this you're that," he said. "I was panicking, I couldn't eat." Sam went to the police and said he had been talking to someone he didn't believe was a child.
Then Stinson called. "He said if you think you are not a vile person, come and see us and we'll have a chat with you and leave it at that," Sam said. Stinson gave him a contact at Nuneaton police station who he said had previously handled his cases. According to Sam, the officer told him not to go because of the risk that a film shaming him would be broadcast. But it seemed a chance to clear his name and he went.
"Straight away the camera was on my face," he said. "There were about four people in there. Straight away all the bad questions. I just started crying thinking what the hell have we come into. He has made the nation believe that me and my friend had actually come to meet the 11-year-old."
Detective Inspector Chris Hanson, of the West Midlands police public protection unit, said Stinson's video sting on Sam had been thoroughly investigated by specialist child abuse investigation officers who also made their own extensive inquiries and found no evidence of any sexual offences. But Sam said that came too late to prevent social workers asking him to move away from his children temporarily and his life being threatened by strangers.
- So why didn't you arrest the vigilantes for harassment and taking the law into their own hands? You are basically condoning their actions in our opinion.
When approached by the Guardian to comment about his activities and Sam's claims, Stinson Hunter declined to comment.
Despite their belief that they have been unfairly pilloried in public, Peter and Sam feel they are lucky. The family of Gary Cleary can only grieve. The 28-year-old killed himself four days after he was arrested and was released on police bail following a sting by a Leicestershire group, Letzgo Hunting, in which they posed as a 14-year-old girl. They have denied any responsibility for his suicide.
Police admit they have been torn over whether to embrace or reject the morally fraught method that may secure useful evidence but also risks the destruction of vital evidence and the safety of children if genuine paedophiles are discovered before the police can intervene.
There have been convictions. _____, 23, was jailed for child sex abuse after a girl's mother approached Letzgo Hunting worried about what he had done to her daughter. Nottinghamshire police, however, said the sting played no role in the conviction. _____ 66, pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted sexual grooming following a sting by Stinson Hunter in which he posed as 15-year-old girl and they arranged to meet at a park.
Police say some hunters have exposed people whose potential child grooming behaviour was previously unknown, but that in the majority of cases examined the targets do not reflect any sexual interest in children.
Stinson Hunter has even admitted as much."Guys that I catch generally aren't paedophiles," he told supporters in an online broadcast in August. "A massive percent of them are guys that have been lonely and someone has paid them attention and they've jumped on it."
In an anonymous interview with the BBC in the Midlands last month, one of Letzgo Hunting's leaders insisted it always made clear early to targets that they were talking to someone underage, and never prompted meetings themselves. "The fact that we have caught 11 people trying to meet children for sex in one area of the country says the police aren't doing enough," he said.
But Letzgo Hunting declined to comment further for this article, saying: "There are no more operations. The group's activities are over."
- So they say!
A significant problem for police is that the tactic of posting the videos online before approaching the police allows genuine criminals time to destroy evidence. "We are spending lots of time and effort with these cases and finding lots of deleted material that we can't access or even a computer-shaped hole in the suspect's bedroom," one police source said.
Now the targets of stings who have spoken to the Guardian say they are considering legal action. But police are cautious about the prospect of securing criminal convictions in the case of wrongly accused people.
Peter Davies, the Association of Chief Police Officers' lead on child protection and the head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection agency, said that was only possible if it could be established there was "criminal causality between the actions of the vigilante groups and the harm that came to anybody" and that prosecutions could follow in extreme cases.
Civil action may be an alternative. "I will be taking legal action against this person, because they just can't do that," said Peter. "I have consulted some people and I will be taking civil action against him. I have lost a £45,000-a-year job. I was a womaniser. That's what I've done wrong, but I have been accused of being a paedophile when I was completely innocent."
Sam said he had already spoken to solicitors about the possibility of bringing a defamation case, but was worried about the cost.
Davies said the vigilante tactics were "hugely inadvisable – to victims, to suspects and also to innocent people who may wrongly be suspected".
"If someone is wrongly accused of this in a hugely public way that makes people who live with them, live near them, work with them assume they have committed the offence. The temptation to take themselves out of it [kill themselves] may be just as great even if they are innocent and that is an appalling consequence to contemplate," he said. "Vigilante groups like this should not continue because they are taking risks they don't understand."
He said there were at least 5,000 police officers trained and accredited in child protection and urged parents who are concerned that their children are being targeted to contact the police and not vigilantes. "I can guarantee that if a parent thinks their child is being targeted on line they will get a far better response from the police or Ceop than from any other way," he said. "The risks of allowing this kind of vigilante behaviour to continue are immense. It is hugely risky for the child, and other children who may be being abused by the same person, to do anything else."
See Also:
- Anti-paedophile group Letzgo Hunting closes down
- Man hangs himself after vigilantes (Letzgo Hunting) accuse him of being a paedophile
- We don't need the paedophile hunters
- Paedophile vigilantes terrorised us for daring to criticise them: Sisters left in fear after challenge to gang who outed online suspect
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