UT - Utah police officer who killed family and himself had ‘secrets’

Joshua Boren & Family

Original Article

Remember, those who scream the loudest, or those who hate another person or group, usually have something to hide and/or see themselves in those they hate.

07/07/2014

By Jessica Miller

Lindon police Officer Joshua Boren had secrets.

In a green notebook police found in his bedroom in his Spanish Fork home in the days after he shot and killed his family and then himself, he numbered them:

"Secret 1. I live the typical normal person’s life."

"Secret 2. I have a sex addiction."

The list goes on.

"Secret 6. I’ve always hated sex offenders and their behaviors. I’ve publicly humiliated them."

"Secret 7. I have been sexually abusing my wife for several years."
- And he himself, if he were still alive, would be a sex offender!

While some of Boren’s secrets were known to the circle of family and friends who had watched his marriage to Kelly Boren unravel, everyone who knew the couple were shocked to learn that on Jan. 16 Boren had shot and killed his estranged wife, his mother-in-law and his two young children before turning his handgun on himself.

On Monday, Spanish Fork police Lt. Matt Johnson said the Utah state medical examiner’s office confirmed detectives’ initial conclusion that the deaths were a case of multiple murder-suicide.

Johnson also confirmed that the 34-year-old Boren used his department-issued Glock 40-caliber semi-automatic pistol in the slayings of his 32-year-old wife, Kelly; the couple’s two children, Joshua, 7, and Haley, 5; and Kelly Boren’s mother, 55-year-old Marie King.

"Toxicology tests reveal the absence of any drugs or alcohol in the bodies of the victims or Joshua Boren," Johnson added.

In an investigative report obtained Monday through an open-records request, friends and family detailed to police the volatile relationship between Joshua and Kelly Boren, which centered around the man’s issues with sex, and apparently stemmed from when he was physically and sexually abused as a child.

Boren’s wife had confided to several friends that her husband had drugged her — putting Ambien in her protein shakes — then videotaped himself having sex with her while she was unconscious. She had discovered the tapes, friends told police, and had asked Joshua Boren to leave their house.

Investigators never found the video tapes, but the day before the fatal shootings, text messages show that Kelly Boren confronted her husband about them, telling him their marriage was over.

"You [expletive] raped me," she texted him, following up with four more messages consisting of a single word: "Raped."

Another text from the woman said, "You killed a part of me."

Friends who knew the police officer through work told investigators after the shootings that they knew the Borens were contemplating divorce, but also that they had a very "up-and-down" relationship.

Buck Bufton, who met Joshua Boren through the Utah County SWAT team, told investigators that he urged Joshua Boren to seek professional help.

"Buck advised that Josh Boren needed help 20 years ago," an investigator wrote. "With whatever happened to him as a kid, he needed help 20 years ago. Buck said Josh was able to fool a lot of us. Buck said Josh was a good officer and deputy. Buck said he knew Josh had problems, [but] he never imagined it was this horrible and that Josh was so far gone."

Friends of Kelly Boren told investigators that she had been having an affair for a few months before her death with a man she met at her gym. That man told police that he didn’t believe that her husband was aware of the affair, and that his phone number was saved in her phone as "Jana." They had exchanged nearly 13,000 text messages, he told police, and on the day before her death, he had exchanged messages with her throughout the day.

At one point, she texted him that "Josh is ‘starting crap’ again."

Read the rest of the story

AL - Man (Jay Maynor) charged with killing sex offender in Cullman Co.

Jay Maynor

Original Article

06/09/2014

By Melynda Sides

BIRMINGHAM (WBRC) - A man suspected of killing a registered sex offender in the Berlin community has been charged with murder.

The Cullman County Sheriff's Office identified the victim as _____, 59. The suspect in the case, 41-year-old Jay Maynor of Cullman, is charged with _____' murder.

Court documents indicate Maynor is a relative of the child _____ pleaded guilty to sexually abusing in 2002. _____ was convicted in an incident involving an 8-year-old girl.

Sheriff Mike Rainey said the first shooting happened at the Berlin Plaza Quick Stop on Highway 278 shortly after 7 p.m. Witnesses told deputies a man drove up on a motorcycle and fired shots at the store's window, Rainey said.

"After the would-be victim was able to elude the shooter, the suspect then drove off and went to the residence of _____," Sheriff Rainey said.

The sheriff's office said on Monday they don't know the full extent of the details, but confirmed _____ was shot at his home in the 4300 block of U.S. 278 East.

A state trooper who responded to the scene saw Maynor pull out onto the road from _____' home and took him into custody, according to the Sheriff's Office.

"At this time we are still investigating both crime scenes, the one at the store and at Mr. _____' residence," Sheriff Rainey said in a release. "We just ask that the public stay patient as our investigators work to piece together the events which took place Sunday night."

_____ was convicted of first degree sex abuse of an 8-year-old girl in August 2002 and has been a registered sex offender since then.

Sheriff Rainey would not comment on whether or not _____' sex abuse conviction had a role in the shooting.

"We are investigating all aspects of this case and cannot comment on a motive at this point. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim's family," the sheriff said.

Maynor was booked into the Cullman County Detention Center for one count of murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of shooting into an occupied dwelling.

Stay with this story for more information as it becomes available.

See Also:

• Sex Offender Killed, Abuse Victim Speaks (Video Below)
• Ala judge to consider bond in sex offender slaying

IL - Sex offender murder in Parkfield Terrace draws Major Case Squad

Original Article

02/08/2014

By CAROLYN P. SMITH

The murder of a registered sex offender Thursday night in the Parkfield Terrace neighborhood led to a call for help to the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis.

_____, 26, of Parkfield Terrace, was found dead on the ground after the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department was called at 9:26 p.m. Thursday, Lt. George Mokriakow said. _____ appeared to have died after being shot near 159 Amelia Drive.

_____ was a registered sex offender convicted of felonies for failing to report a new address and for aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a 15-year-old victim when he was 20. His registered address was 179 Amelia Drive.

Parkfield Terrace is an unincorporated neighborhood between Centreville and Cahokia with a decades-long history of drug violence and other crime. The St. Clair County Sheriff's Department has primary responsibility for investigations and patrols of the area.

Anyone with information about the murder should call the Major Case Squad at 618-825-5200 or 618-825-5201.

OR - Third sex offender death in Oregon state prison probed

Original Article

02/05/2014

Oregon State Police are investigating the third death of a sex offender in as many months inside the state prison in Umatilla.

The Oregon Department of Corrections said a 31-year-old inmate at the Two Rivers Correctional Institution was found shortly before midnight Tuesday night and pronounced dead just after noon Wednesday at an area hospital.

No other information was released.

_____, 31, was serving a sentence for four counts of rape, two counts of sex abuse and one count of child sex for cases in Clackamas and Washington counties. His sentence began in June 2010 and his earliest possible release date was March 2015.

"As with all unanticipated deaths of state prison inmates, the Oregon State Police Criminal Investigation Division is conducting an investigation," said a news release from the Department of Corrections.

The prison houses 1,800 medium and minimum security male inmates. It opened in 2000.

Last month, a 39-year-old inmate was found unconscious in his Umatilla prison cell.

_____ was pronounced dead at a hospital almost an hour after he was found. He was serving time for sex abuse and sodomy convictions and had been in prison since July 2005.

In early December, a 67-year-old man serving time on marijuana and sodomy convictions died after he was found unconscious in his cell.

Prison staff found _____ alone in his cell at the Two Rivers Correctional Institution about 10 p.m. He had been in state custody since April 2010.

DOC officials did not release a cause of death in any of the cases.

See Also:

• Sex offender safety in question after deaths at Oregon prison

MD - Chief of U.S. Senate staff arrested on child porn charges found dead one month later

Video Description (Excerpt):
Senator Lamar Alexander's Former Chief of Staff has been found dead after committing suicide while awaiting court proceedings on child pornography charges.

See Also:

• Chief of staff (Ryan Loskarn) for Sen. Alexander arrested over child porn charges, fired
• Former Alexander aide (Ryan Loskarn) commits suicide

In memory of all the ex-offenders, family members & children who have been murdered due to the online sex offender hit-list!

Click here for more info

MD - How Kirk Bloodsworth, wrongfully convicted for a crime he didn't commit, escaped death row

Original Article

01/29/2014

Kirk Bloodsworth spent two years on death row and lost a decade of his life after being wrongfully convicted and jailed for a crime he didn't commit.

The former US marine had, in just eight months, gone from an average citizen with a job and new wife to being found guilty of the brutal rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl and sentenced to death.

Despite having an alibi and not matching the police sketch issued at the time, prosecutors were determined to prove he was the man who had taken the life of an innocent girl.

Dawn Hamilton was found naked from the waist down in woodland near her Maryland home in 1984 in a crime which shocked America. She had been raped, beaten and killed.

"Witnesses described someone tall, with curly hair, a bushy moustache and tanned skin," Mr Bloodsworth said.

"I had hair as red as an apple and couldn't tan."

He remembers the shock he felt when he was arrested and how he turned around to look for someone else when police said "that's him" as he was put in handcuffs.

He also remembers the anger and disbelief he found after he was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to death in Baltimore County, Maryland, the following year.

It would take almost 10 years and DNA evidence to secure his innocence and freedom.

But it wasn't until 2003 that the taunts of being a child killer finally stopped and the real offender was charged with the crime.

Speaking exclusively to news.com.au from his Maryland home, Mr Bloodsworth said he can still hear the prison doors shut if he thinks hard enough and gets chills whenever he hears metal keys jiggle.

He said he tries to put it into words what he felt when he was told he was going to die, and just can't describe it.

"I guess it's like a doctor telling you you're going to die from cancer and nine years later saying 'sorry we've made a bad mistake'," he said.

The real green mile

Read the rest of the article

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MO - The tragedy of placing juveniles on the sex offender registry

Original Article

01/29/2014

By Pamela Dorsey

The Missouri Legislature overwhelmingly passed legislation last year that would remove many juvenile offenders from the public sex offender registry, which is posted on the Internet. It would not have lessened the punishment for any offender. Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed the legislation and then launched a misleading campaign in which he highlighted some of the worst offenders on the registry.

Let me tell you my son Zach’s story, as it gives a very different perspective. It shows how harmful the sex offender registry can be for juveniles who should not even be classified as sex offenders, much less be on a public registry for the world to see.

Zach was a typical boy. He loved playing baseball and even made the all-star team with the American Legion. He loved hunting with his dad, being with his friends, playing video games and so often making us laugh. He was a kind-hearted, life-loving spirit.

At age 14, Zach was coming into his sexuality. Like many of his friends, he searched the Internet for girls his own age. But girls his age in sexually explicit pictures are classified as child pornography. When he downloaded them, he had no idea he was breaking the law. He believed that if something was readily available on the Internet, it must be OK.

Through the years he randomly viewed his downloaded library. One of the videos Zach downloaded was tagged by a federal agency that tracks child pornography. A few months after Zach turned 18, in 2008, St. Charles County deputy sheriffs were at our door to confiscate his computer. He was later called to the sheriff’s office for an interview. He went willingly and without a lawyer, thinking he had done nothing wrong.

At 6:30 on the morning of Jan. 7, 2010, our nightmare began. Federal agents knocked on our door with an arrest warrant for Zach. My husband and I hired a lawyer, who informed us Zach was facing four to 10 years in prison. We were in complete shock. On July 1, 2010, Zach was sentenced to 40 years of supervised release and a lifetime on the sex offender registry.

Zach was also ordered to take sex therapy. The therapy was more harmful than helpful. Part of his treatment was being forced to say he received sexual gratification from watching children have sex, which he did not. If he refused, he was threatened with being kicked out of class. That would have landed him in prison.

Zach became depressed and felt hopeless. He was prescribed anti-anxiety pills by his doctor. The doctor told me he believed Zach’s anxiety was caused by the treatment he was getting from his mandated sex therapy classes.

Zach would often sit in his room, a prison of its own. He felt like a freak, an outcast and completely powerless. I can only imagine what it is like knowing all your friends are at the first wedding ever in their circle of friends, dancing and celebrating at an occasion you should be part of but are not allowed.

Those on the sex offender registry cannot go anywhere where children might be present. Not to a friend’s wedding. Not to their grandmother’s funeral. Not to a baseball game. Not even to McDonald’s for a hamburger.

Zach was working for our family’s roofing company but was told he couldn’t work on a roof that housed children or had play equipment in the yard. He attempted to find employment elsewhere because children are in almost every home on which we work. But no one wanted to hire a registered sex offender.

Zach tried to look happy and calm for me, but I saw the fear and panic in his eyes. It was a hopeless situation for a 20-year-old boy who made a mistake when he was just a child. On Nov. 4, 2010, I lost my son. The autopsy report deemed his death an accidental overdose. Those of us who knew him well thought he just wanted to escape his pain.

The laws are terribly flawed. Those in Zach’s situation are dealt a “one size fits all” punishment. The laws need to be changed. What happened to Zach and our family should never have to happen to others.

MD - Former Alexander aide (Ryan Loskarn) commits suicide

Ryan Loskarn

Original Article

01/24/2014

By Walter F. Roche Jr. and Ledyard King

Ryan Loskarn had been arrested in December on charges of possessing, distributing child pornography.

WASHINGTON - A former chief of staff to Sen. Lamar Alexander charged last month with possessing and distributing child pornography, was found dead in his parents' Maryland home, law enforcement officials said Friday.

Ryan Loskarn was found hanging at about noon Thursday, and the Maryland state Medical Examiner said Friday that Loskarn's death, initially reported by Politico, had been ruled a suicide.

"Carroll County Sheriff's deputies responded to a private residence ... for a report of an unconscious male, believed to be deceased," the sheriff's office reported Friday morning. "Family members reported finding 35-year old Jesse Ryan Loskarn unresponsive in his basement where he'd been residing with family since this past December."

Federal agents arrested Loskarn last month on charges that he possessed and intended to distribute child pornography. The arrest came as agents executed a raid on his southeast Washington residence.

Loskarn was accused of placing an external computer hard drive, later found to contain explicit videos, outside his second-floor window. Alexander, R-Tenn., fired him the same day.

The former aide had worked for Tennessee Republicans for more than a decade in several roles and became the senator's chief of staff in late 2011. He earned about $169,000 for fiscal 2013, according to records compiled by LegiStorm.

Loskarn made a rapid rise through the staff ranks in Congress, and the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call called him "one of the Senate GOP's top strategists and aides." The newspaper also had included him on its list of "Fabulous 50 Movers and Shakers."

He was born near Baltimore and graduated with honors in 2000 from Tulane University. That same year, he started in the office of Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif., before joining the House Rules Committee in 2001.

In 2003 he became communications director for Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., a position he held until 2007.

His next move was to become communications director for the Senate Republican Conference, then headed by Alexander. The conference was charged with promoting GOP policy ideas and legislation.

Alexander stepped down as chairman of the conference in late 2011 and named Loskarn as his chief of staff in his personal office.

"For everyone involved, this is a sad and tragic story from beginning to end," Alexander said Friday in statement.

Prosecutors had delayed an indictment of Loskarn, hinting at a possible plea agreement. He had been released to the custody of his parents in Sykesville, Md., about 40 miles north of Washington, where he was ordered not to use the Internet and to wear an ankle bracelet.

In an unusual ruling issued in the case late last year, U.S. Magistrate John M. Facciola defended his decision to release Loskarn to his parents, citing measures taken to ensure that he would not have access to the Internet.

Officials believe that between November 2010 and March 2011, Loskarn made several purchases from a website offering child pornography DVDs. Loskarn also was accused of offering child pornography files for download from his home computer.

"I have prohibited the defendant's use of the Internet," he wrote in the two-page ruling. "I concluded, therefore, that the risk of his resuming the downloading of child pornography is not great."

The memorandum did not mention the risk of suicide. Previously, authorities had worried that Loskarn was a flight risk.

He faced a potential maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment on the charge of possessing child porn. The distribution charge carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years.

A status conference in the case had been scheduled for Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

UK - (Daniel Martin) 10 years for killing sex offender

Daniel Martin

Original Article

11/08/2013

A man who admitted killing a convicted sex offender in a flat fire in Worcester has been jailed for 10 years.

Daniel Martin, 25, set fire to a wheelie bin and pushed it up against the front door of _____'s flat in the early hours of December 14, 2011, sparking a rapidly spreading and ferocious blaze in which the 52-year-old was killed.

Sentencing Martin for manslaughter at Birmingham Crown Court, Mrs Justice Thirlwall said the crime was "shockingly stupid".

She said he had intended "to do something so frightening, it would cause him to move away from the area where he had lived since 2001".

"You say you threw stones at his window to try and wake him and say you saw a light come on," she added.

"Whatever you did, it was too little too late."

"You say your intention was only to frighten the victim and the prosecution accept you did not intend to kill or attempt to cause really serious harm."

She added she was "not satisfied" Martin was a danger to the public, but he "was a liar and thoroughly anti-social", with a lamentable record of previous convictions, albeit not for similar offences.

Mrs Justice Thirlwall also accepted Martin had expressed genuine remorse for his crime.

She also heard prosecution evidence indicating Martin had an IQ in the lowest percentile.

Mr _____ died of smoke inhalation in what the judge said must have been a "terrifying experience", in which he would have known he would almost certainly die.

Mrs Justice Thirlwall added the fire spread quickly, burning through the door and up Mr _____'s stairway into the Chedworth Close flat.

His burned body was found by firefighters slumped against a radiator.

The victim, who was openly gay, had five convictions for gross indecency and indecent assault in the 1980s and 1990s against teenagers aged between 14 and 17 in Leicester and Birmingham, with his last conviction in 1999.

The former doorman moved from Birmingham to Worcester in 2001.

Martin, formerly of Canterbury Road, Worcester, was separately jailed for six months and two and a half years respectively for two burglaries, carried out before his arrest for Mr _____'s killing in October last year.

He was further imprisoned for six months for assaulting another man in the street in Worcester, with all the sentences ordered to run concurrently.

Afterwards, Mr _____'s sister _____ said his death had had a devastating effect on the health of their parents, who were unable to come to terms with what happened.

"Both of my parents passed away without having an answer to their only son's death, and before Daniel Martin admitted his guilt (in June)," she said.

She welcomed the outcome as "some comfort" for the family's grief.

"Despite what Andrew did in the past he did not deserve to die in such a cruel way," added Ms Charleson.

UK - Sex offender and partner murdered by victim and his brothers (Martin, Niall, Christopher & Stephen Smith) in massive inferno, court told

House burned down

Original Article

11/07/2013

By CHRIS KILPATRICK

Four brothers sat side-by-side in a courtroom dock as their trial for the murder of a man who abused one of them as a child and the sex offender's girlfriend got under way.

_____ (33) and his partner _____ (21) died having suffered horrific injuries at their remote cottage in Co Armagh seven years ago.

They were set upon by a masked gang armed with hammers at their home on the Foley Road, near Keady.

The property was then doused with petrol and set alight, the court was told.

Mr _____ and Ms _____ suffered 80% burns to their bodies.

Martin (40), Niall (37), Christopher (33) and Stephen (31) Smith appeared together in the dock of Armagh Crown Court yesterday charged with their murders.

Those in court heard that Stephen Smith was one of three young boys abused by Mr _____ in the late 1980s.

Mr _____ – who was around 17 when he committed the offences – was later convicted and given probation for his crimes.

All four brothers deny murdering the couple.

They also deny charges of arson with intent to endanger life on November 6, 2006.

Ms _____'s father and other family members were present in court for the first day of the trial, which is expected to last for six weeks.

Prosecution barrister Toby Hedworth QC told trial judge Mr Justice Weatherup he would be making the case the brothers "intended to kill" Mr _____ and Ms _____.

Harrowing accounts of the night of the attack were heard in court yesterday.

The jury was told the couple had a visitor to their home at around 5pm on the day of the attack who was helping them to fix their central heating.

When they heard a noise at the rear of their property at 9pm that evening they presumed it was their neighbour returning to carry on with that work, the court was told.

However, a masked gang burst into the property armed with hammers.

Minutes later another neighbour of Mr _____ and Ms _____ said there was loud thumping at his door.

His daughter opened the door and erupted into hysterics.

The neighbour said Ms _____ had no top on and her trousers had been almost completely burnt off.

Her hair was burnt and she was unable to see.

He said Ms _____ told him five or six men had come into the house.

She said they had called Mr _____ "a paedophile".

The neighbour ran to the couple's property which had flames coming through the roof.

Mr _____ was lying on his back outside. The neighbour said that Mr _____ was "unrecognisable", with his face covered in blood.

Other neighbours raced to the scene when they saw the blaze.

Mr _____ had blood round his mouth and appeared to be missing teeth.

A post-mortem examination noted he was missing four teeth and had sustained a fractured skull and numerous lacerations to his body.

Ambulance crew treating Ms _____ said she spoke calmly when relaying details of what had happened. She also gave similar details to police at the scene.

On the same night the four brothers also sustained burns, the court was told.

The prosecution alleges the injuries were sustained in the same incident.

The brothers went to Louth County Hospital in Dundalk, said the prosecuting lawyer, claiming they had been trying to "escape to the jurisdiction of the Republic of Ireland".

At the hospital the four presented with burn injuries and burnt clothing, but claimed they had been hurt in a car crash at some unknown location.

Along with items seized from a silver BMW they went to hospital in, their clothes were seized and forensically examined with Mr Hedworth telling the court that each item was connected with other items of burnt clothing found at the scene of the fire.

Mr Hedworth said a search of the BMW uncovered a receipt for the purchase of four balaclavas from an outdoor activity store in Dublin dated October 21, 2006.

This finding, he declared, "allows the prosecution to submit that the attack had been planned for more than a fortnight".

A car said to have been used by the gang who attacked the couple was found burnt out at a quarry the day after they were targeted, the court was told.

Turning to the forensic examination of the bungalow itself, the jury heard there were estimates that up to 75 litres of petrol had been spread around every room in the property with the exception of the bathroom and that when it ignited, the explosion was of such force that it "lifted the roof off" and blew the back door into bits.

Anyone who had been inside the bungalow or close to the explosion would have sustained burn injuries and burnt clothing, submitted the lawyer.

In conclusion, Mr Hedworth told the jury: "We will submit to you that the evidence of the fire, the arrival of the defendants at the hospital with burn injuries and connections between what they were wearing and what was discarded at the scene, make an overwhelming case that these four defendants were all inside that house when the petrol that they had distributed was ignited."

Describing the attack on Mr _____ as "deliberate and brutal", the lawyer further submitted that the defendants did not only intend to cause him really serious harm but that "the evidence suggests that the intention was in fact to kill".

The trial continues.

Update:

• Four brothers guilty of killing Armagh couple

UK - Man wrongly accused of being pedophile burned alive

Stephen Norley & Lee James

Original Article

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:

• Man accused of being paedophile and murdered for photographing garden vandals

CANADA - Father killed with one punch after being mistaken for a pedophile by Francis Belanger

Francis Belanger

Original Article

10/18/2013

By MICHAEL NGUYEN

MONTREAL - The Crown wants a six-year prison sentence for a 21-year-old man who killed a Montreal father with a single punch.

The victim, _____, was simply trying to bring his wayward teen daughter home but other teens attacked him, thinking he was a pedophile.

A judge will decide Francis Belanger's fate in December following sentencing hearings that ended this week.

_____, who was in his fifties, had followed his teen daughter through south-end Montreal on April 8, 2011, believing she had gone out with two friends without permission.

The friends joined a larger group of teens and said a pedophile was chasing them.

_____ tried to flee but was accosted by two people, including Francis Belanger, who punched him without warning. _____ died and Belanger was arrested and later pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

As his relatives sat in the public gallery Thursday, Belanger told the court he regretted his actions.

"I learned from my mistakes," he said in a timid voice, reading from a prepared statement.

The Crown wants Belanger to be sentenced to six years in prison. The defence asked Judge Linda Despots for two years less a day to be served in the community.

Lawyer Clemente Monterosso told the court Thursday that his client has expressed "sincere remorse" and "empathy for the victim."

"It's closer to an accident than a murder," Monterosso argued.

But Crown attorney Jean Sebastien Bussieres pointed out that Belanger has been charged three times with violating bail conditions since his arrest.

RUSSIA - Neo-Nazi ‘Pedophile Hunter’ Blamed for Tatarstan Stabbing

Maxim Martsinkevich

Original Article

We all know that those who scream the loudest are usually trying to divert attention away from themselves! We wonder what these vigilante thugs are hiding?

10/14/2013

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) - A female member of a notorious far-right group that targets people it identifies as pedophiles and gays and subjects them to degrading abuse, has been fatally stabbed in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan, reports said Monday.

The body of Yelena Gorbushkova, 30, was found in the local city of Naberezhnye Chelny on Sunday. She had been stabbed more than 20 times, including to the face and neck, Chelny-Izvest.ru local news website said.

The woman worked as a private guard at a local mall, and was a far-right activist in her spare time, the report said.

Gorbushkova, known as “Alyona SS,” also had a 10-year-old daughter, Moskovsky Komsomolets daily said.

A 27-year-old local welder pleaded guilty to the attack, the Investigative Committee’s local branch said in a statement Monday.

The statement gave no further details and cited no motive for the murder. However, a source at the Committee told RIA Novosti, on condition of anonymity, that the suspect was a local activist involved in the far-right “pedophile hunter” group Occupy-Pedofilyai.

The group’s Naberezhnye Chelny branch saw a series of defections last year, when members left to join the nationalist Russian All-People’s Union party. There have since been street clashes between the two groups, the source said, with those who left, including Gorbushkova, also being accused of being police informants.

Occupy-Pedofilyai was founded by Maxim Martsinkevich (Wikipedia), a former neo-Nazi skinhead and active nationalist who has served two prison terms for race-hate crimes.

The group targets alleged child abusers, setting up fake online profiles of minors advertising for paid sex to lure offenders out on “dates.”

The suspects are then interrogated on camera, as well as threatened, beaten up and, in many cases, doused with or made to drink urine.

Martsinkevich, 29, told Lenta.ru news website last year that he charged people a fee to take part in these child abuser-hunting “safaris.”

The group was also reported to have targeted teen gays, subjecting them to similar kinds of abuse.

Occupy-Pedofilyai has to date largely avoided police attention, which critics blame on victims’ reluctance to come forward. However, Sverdlovsk Region police searched the apartments of several group activists in the Urals in August, seizing weapons including axes, knives, nunchaku and shuriken.

Vigilante nationalism was again in the media spotlight in Russia last weekend, when a crowd of at least 1,000, including ultranationalists, rioted in Moscow over a murder they blamed on migrant workers.

Similar riots have taken place in recent years in several other regions in Russia, which is estimated to have at least 3 million illegal migrants, including many from the impoverished ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia, who do not need visas to enter Russia.

See Also:

• Russian neo-Nazi ‘Occupy’ group tortures LGBT youths (Video)
• Russia's new neo-Nazi sport: terrorizing gay youth online
• Nazi-linked Russian vigilantes busted in bullying footage probe

AL - Streaking student facing possible sex offender registry commits suicide

Original Article

10/06/2013

By Robert O'Hara

On the evening of Friday, September 27th in the small town of Harvest Alabama, a community of just over 5,000 souls, a fifteen year old boy took off his clothes and ran naked across a football field where the Sparkman High School Senators were playing against a rival teem in front of a large crowd. His friends cheered, old women blushed, young children pointed their fingers and asked “Mommy why is that kid running around naked?” leaving parents flustered while trying to hold back their laughter. Someone had even recorded a video and placed it on Youtube. By the end of the night Christian Adamek had become legend by pulling a prank performed by countless pranksters before him on countless playing fields in front of countless millions in the past.

Last week, on Wednesday October 2nd, Christian hung himself and it was announced Friday morning in AL.com that he had died from his injuries.

Adamek’s suicide followed a public statement made by Sparkman High School Principal Mike Campbell on Tuesday of last week to WHNT News 19, the local Television Station, in which he stated the incident could bring Adamek major repercussions. Adamek had been disciplined by the school district, though details of that discipline were not made public, and he faced legal charges. School administrators recommended that Adamek have a hearing in the Madison County court system to determine if formal charges would be filed, WHNT reported. “There’s the legal complications,” Campbell told the news station. “Public lewdness and court consequences outside of school with the legal system, as well as the school consequences that the school system has set up.”

The “legal complications” Campbell was referring to included having to register as a sex offender.

When asked if this was nothing more than a simple prank Campbell responded: “This situation was totally different, something not related to that at all.”

Adamek’s sister indicated on Twitter that her brother was facing expulsion.

The publicizing of his troubles with the school and the legal system were orchestrated by Campbell before any legal hearings were scheduled and shortly after administrative actions by school officials. It is not known now to what extent the family had been involved in preliminary hearings or to what extent they were even informed at all about the length to which Campbell would take the case before he spoke to the local press.

Campbell is new to the school, having only started work there on July 1st. However, he has been in secondary education for over thirty years with most of that time being spent in Fairfax County, Virginia. He started in athletics coaching basketball, football and girls softball before going into administration. Last year he left Centerville High School, a large school in Northern Virginia given high marks by the Virginia Department of Education. It was the second ranked school in Virginia by Newsweek in 2011.

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AL - Authorities suspect suicide pact involving 4 deaths in Double Springs

Original Article

10/03/2013

By Trent Moore

Double Springs - Police believe the four dead bodies found in a car in rural Double Springs were killed by one another in either a suicide pact or murder-suicide at some point Wednesday.

Three males and one female body, all Caucasians ranging from mid-20s to early 50s in age, were discovered in a car on a county road in northern Alabama, and investigators spent Thursday trying to piece together details of the bizarre case.

At least two of the victims were reportedly facing child pornography and molestation charges in their native Tennessee; and at least one was scheduled to be in court this week, according to Winston County Sheriff Rick Harris.

Authorities say the victims all hail from Tennessee, and all but one were related. The names of the deceased have not been released, pending family notifications.

Harris said gunshot wounds appear to be the cause of death for every victim, noting all the shots seem to have come from inside the vehicle. Authorities say a suicide pact, or murder-suicide, seem to be the most likely scenarios based on the evidence.

“They all died of gunshot wounds, and at this point we’ve ruled out any type of hostile drug takeover, a drug deal gone bad, or anything like that,” Harris said. “We’re exploring the possibility of some self-inflicted suicide, or murder-assisted suicide between the four. Forensics is doing a trajectory investigation now.”

Harris said his team, along with investigators from the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, have no reason to believe a killer is still at large in the area.

“Whatever started in Tennessee seems to have ended in Winston County,” he said. “We absolutely do not believe there is anyone dangerous still running around in our county.”

A passer-by noticed the vehicle off County Road 327 on her way to work Wednesday morning and called authorities when she saw it in the same place on her way home.

Dozens of law enforcement officers were at the scene just south of the Double Springs area of Black Pond early Thursday morning.

Harris said investigators have yet to find any tangible reason to explain how the four Tennessee residents ended up in Winston County — though he believes they may have been staying in some area hotels around Alabama the past week.

More details could come Monday, Harris said, pending some additional forensic work.

The predatory justice of juvenile sex-offender laws

Original Article

01/20/2013

By Michael Zoorob

When lawmakers crafted laws to combat sexual violence, they probably never expected that children as young as 10 would end up on public sex offender registries. Law enforcement probably never expected that they would have to notify neighbors that a 13-year-old sex offender lived nearby. Yet that is the reality of America’s sex offender registration laws: Though the judicial system tends to distinguish between youth and adult offenders, 35 states subject minors convicted of sex crimes to the same registration, notification and restrictions as adults. Seven states require juveniles to stay on the registry for life. These crimes aren't always violent, either: A recent Human Rights Watch report notes that teens have found their way onto sex offender registries for benign acts like sexting, public urination and consensual sex with other teens.

In fact, 36 percent of all sex offenders who victimize children are themselves juveniles — and more than half of these juvenile offenders are 14 years old or younger, according to a recent study commissioned by the Department of Justice. It is understandable that laws should be created to curb sexual violence — but imposing the stigma of longtime and sometimes lifelong sex offender registration on juvenile offenders creates unnecessary harm both to them and their families. Juvenile offenders often experience emotional problems, difficulty securing employment, social ostracization and difficulties at school. There are, incredibly, cases of teens being barred from attending school due to their presence on sex offender registries because they sexted, the act of which the law considers child pornography. As adults, these offenders can expect restrictions on their residency, employment and mobility, and a significant minority will be fired, harassed, assaulted or even murdered because of their sex offender status.

Registration may also hinder crime rehabilitation of youth offenders. Depriving juvenile offenders of access to education, employment, religious services and healthy relationships — all common consequences of sex offender registration — could actually raise the probability that these children become lifelong delinquents. Unfortunately, registration requirements may deter families from reporting sex crimes committed by their child against a sibling for fear of the legal consequences, thus denying access to rehabilitative services.

Registration of juveniles has also been shown not to reduce sex crime. Studies by Elizabeth Letourneau of the University of South Carolina have found that registering juvenile offenders neither reduced overall rates of offenses nor reduced recidivism. This makes sense. It’s hard to argue, for example, that public safety was enhanced by the eviction of a 26-year-old married woman from her home in Georgia because a daycare center opened nearby. Her crime was that she had oral sex with a 15-year-old when she was 17.
- The same applies to adults.  Sex laws do nothing to reduce recidivism.

Moreover, juvenile offenders are distinct from their adult counterparts. Children who commit sex crimes, even violent ones, usually do so as a way of “acting out,” not because they eroticize aggression. Consequently, psychologists have found that rehabilitation is very effective for juvenile sex offenders, and very few juvenile offenders re-offend as adults. Most studies find the recidivism rate of juvenile sex offenders to be less than 5 percent.
- Recidivism rates are the same for adults as well.

Sex offenders deserve special opprobrium in our society. But we shouldn't let our visceral disgust with sex crimes bar us from making sensible public policy. Children are not miniature adults, and the law should not treat them that way.

Senate passes version of Jessica's Law

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Legalized murder. I do not believe in the death penalty for anyone, regardless of their crime. Murder is murder.

04/24/2007

AUSTIN — The Texas Senate on Tuesday passed its version of "Jessica's Law," a get-tough measure on sexual predators that includes a possible death penalty for those who are twice convicted of raping children under 14.

"I can think of no more solemn duty than the protection of our most innocent and vulnerable citizens," said Sen. Bob Deuell, the Greenville Republican who sponsored the measure.

The bill creates new categories of sexually violent offenses against children under 14, breaking out new categories for crimes committed involving kidnapping, date rape drugs, deadly weapons and cause serious bodily injury. Such crimes, or any aggravated sexual assault on a child under 6, automatically carry a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison.

A second offense carries life in prison or the death penalty.

The bill also enhances punishments for most sex crimes against children and extends the statute of limitations for prosecution.

"We want to deter people. We don't want victims. But if a crime happens, we want to give our prosecutors the tools to make convictions," Deuell said.
- When will people ever realize no matter how tough on crime, all the zero tolerance, all the registries in the world will not prevent a murderer from murdering, a thief from stealing, a dealer from dealing, a user from using, a rapist from raping....accusations on any sex crime, child abuse, or domestic violence will literally nail your butt to the wall! No DNA has to be present, No violence has to be present..... HEARSAY ALONE IS LITERALLY NAILING THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TO THE WALL BECAUSE THESE LAWS ARE BIASED.

The bill is named Jessica's Law after Jessica Lunsford, a Florida girl who was abducted and killed. More than a dozen states have passed versions of Jessica's Law to crack down on sex offenders, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry deemed passage of a child sex offender bill a legislative emergency.

Texas' version would make it the sixth state to allow some child sex offenders to be sentenced to death.

Critics have questioned whether the death penalty is constitutional in cases where the victim does not die. In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the death penalty in a Georgia rape case. Louisiana has one inmate on death row in a child sex crime, but the case is still subject to appeals in state and federal courts.

Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, the only dissenter in the 30-1 vote, questioned whether the state should expand death row at a time when post-conviction DNA testing has exonerated people who went to prison for crimes they did not commit.

Just two weeks ago, the Senate hosted two men who served 27 years in prison for sexual assault but were later cleared by DNA testing.

"All of us have to make tough choices, but at some point we have to decide where do we draw the line on something that's politically right but morally wrong," Ellis said. "I'm for the death penalty, but I think it would be nice if we had a system where we got the right one."

The Texas House passed a different version of Jessica's Law last month that also includes the death penalty in some child sex cases.

The House bill allows broader use of the death penalty for two convictions of a newly classified crime, "continuous sexual abuse of a young child," defined as more than one sex act committed against a victim younger than 14 over a period of 30 days or more.

The Senate bill creates the same crime but would carry a sentence of up to life in prison after a second offense.

Victim advocates have warned that the death penalty could do more harm than good if they lead perpetrators to kill victims who may be the only witness to the crime.

They also warn that long minimum sentences could make it harder for prosecutors to get victims to cooperate if the perpetrator is a family member. Most sex crimes against children are committed by family members or friends, victim advocates say.

A statement issued by the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault said the longer sentences are unlikely to serve as a deterrent against sex crimes.

"In reality, sex offenders are some of the most manipulative, intelligent and predatory of all violent criminals. Harsher punishments will not prevent Texas children, men or women from falling victim to sexual violence," the group said, adding that lawmakers should spend more money on victims' services. "The Legislature's work on sexual violence is not complete."

Where Victims' Rights Go Wrong

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04/23/2007

Since 1981, the Justice Department's Office for Victims of Crime has dedicated a week in April to recognizing crime victims' rights. The week -- this year's observance began yesterday -- is usually marked by rallies, candlelight vigils and other activities intended to promote victims' rights and to honor crime victims and those who work on their behalf.

Victims deserve the recognition that this week provides, and they deserve sympathy and compensation for their losses. But I am increasingly concerned about what I believe they do not deserve, which is the right to serve as de facto prosecutors, a practice that is quietly insinuating itself into the legal system.

Our desire to increase victims' rights is closely related to our national obsession with being "tough on crime." While this mantra makes for good political rhetoric, it often leads to illogical and irrational criminal justice policies. Being "tough on crime" has led to harsh mandatory minimum sentences in federal drug cases that have disproportionately punished minorities. It has resulted in first-time offenders serving life sentences even though their crimes involved no weapon and resulted in no physical injuries; in 6-year-olds being arrested for tantrums at school; and, worst of all, in innocent people on death row.

Courts have increasingly become more cognizant of the rights of victims. In 1996, restitution became mandatory for a variety of federal crimes. In 2002, Congress provided the victims of violent crimes and sexual abuse the right to speak at a defendant's sentencing, even though courts already had latitude in any kind of case to permit victims to speak at sentencing or to receive information from victims before sentences were imposed. And last year, the issue reached the Supreme Court in a murder case in which the victim's supporters had attended the trial wearing buttons that displayed a picture of the victim (the court avoided addressing whether such conduct is prejudicial).

The latest manifestation of our "tough on crime" policy comes in the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which will implement the 2004 Crime Victims' Rights Act. One U.S. district judge ruled that the statute renders victims "independent participant[s] in the proceedings" and "commands that victims should be treated equally with the defendant, defense counsel, and the prosecutor."

Under the act, victims have the right to be heard in court on questions of bond, plea agreements and sentencing, and they have the right to confer with prosecutors about a case. If victims are unhappy with how a prosecutor or trial court has treated them, they are permitted to seek relief in the U.S. Court of Appeals, and the appellate court must rule on their application within 72 hours (an unprecedented remedy).

Thus, under the act, victims at a minimum become a member of the prosecution team and, indeed, have significant leverage over the professional prosecutors. The president and many in Congress support an amendment for crime victims' rights that would incorporate several of these points into the Constitution.

While we may support the notion that victims' rights should be at least as strong as those of defendants, within the context of the criminal justice system these rights are mutually exclusive. Any rights provided to the victim must come at the expense of the rights provided to a defendant. Indeed, providing the victim with a role in the prosecution assumes a crime has been committed, despite the bedrock constitutional proposition that the accused is presumed innocent.

When we turn victims into members of the prosecution team, we distort a process, so carefully constructed more than 200 years ago, that eschewed vigilante justice or prosecution for personal ends in favor of prosecution by the sovereign with significant rights afforded to the accused. We expect prosecutors to make decisions about whom to prosecute and what types of sentences to seek based on myriad considerations, including, but far from limited to, the interests of victims. Where victims play a controlling role in the prosecution, the consideration of those factors no longer focuses on what is best for society but rather on what victims need or want as "justice."

I sympathize with individuals victimized by criminals. I understand their anger, outrage and desire for vengeance, particularly when faced with the kind of malevolence displayed last week at Virginia Tech. Securing assistance and compensation for victims is an unquestionable priority, and we need to promote healing to the greatest extent possible.

But the criminal justice system cannot focus on the victim; rather, it must follow its rich tradition of protecting society as a whole, ensuring that justice is achieved in accordance with the Constitution. As we appropriately focus on improving the plight of crime victims this week, let's not forget about the plight of the falsely accused or of the criminal justice system itself.

Where should sex offenders live?

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04/23/2007

Tampa, Florida - Judy Cornett's says her son was molested, and she wants a tighter leash on sex offenders. Following the death of Jessica Lunsford and the arrest of John Couey several local governments increased the barriers where sexual predators can be and live. Cornett says the child molesters and the pedophiles need to have as many restrictions as possible to save our children.

However, the State has a different view. The Secretary of the Department of Corrections says sexual predators have right to live somewhere. He adds while local governments are trying to protect the most vulnerable people by adding further restrictions where the sexual predators live, it actually makes it harder to keep track of them.

The Regional Director of the Department of Corrections, Cliff Rowan says no one is being soft on them, but they have to stay somewhere otherwise they will disappear.

Rowan says it is already happening. Just look at the Department of Corrections sexual predator web site and see how many are listed as absconded, meaning no one knows where they are.

And then there is the situation in South Florida where this probation officer is checking sexual offenders who are forced to live under a bridge because restrictions makes it impossible for them to live anywhere. State Senator Dave Aronberg says it doesn't make sense. Aronberg they are desperate, they are angry and they hang out with other sexual predators and feed on each others anger. Aronberg says he doesn't see how this helps public safety.

And as things get worse expect more of them to disappear. But as sexual predators continue to prey on children and continue to be arrested as they were in a Polk county sting earlier this month, victims and their parents continue to push for more restrictions.