IA - The people's voice is angry: Outcry over sex offender's release fires up social media — but when does the fire get out of control?

Original Article

08/08/2014

By Sarah Tisinger

MUSCATINE - When a 23-year-old Muscatine man convicted of lascivious acts with a child was released from prison after serving four years of a 15-year sentence, the People of Muscatine exploded.

The outrage began after a July 30 post that appeared on the People of Muscatine Facebook page began taking on a life of its own. The post by the page's administrator was asking about the release of _____ from prison. Howard was sentenced to prison in 2010 after being found guilty of sexually abusing his girlfriend's baby son.

It didn't take long before responses to the post included death threats, graphic descriptions of bodily mutilation, and even jokes about _____'s arrest. The anger wasn't directed entirely at _____. One post said that the child's mother should be "stomped." Another person, who posted a defense of _____, was the target of outrage: "I guess Jessica needs to have her baby molested by this [man] to feel different."

The original post, and others after it, generated several hundred comments, nearly 50,000 views, and attracted the attention of KWQC-TV, who reported on _____'s release under the headline, "Child sex offender released early from prison."

What got lost in the public's outcry was the fact that _____'s release wasn't really early. He was released exactly when the law allowed.

Rest of the story

IA - Police pleased by expansion of DNA requirement

Original Article

If DNA is so good and helping solve crime and freeing innocent people, then how come they do not take DNA from birth and also force everybody else to submit a sample even if they've not committed a crime?

02/01/2014

By NICK HYTREK

SIOUX CITY - As forensic investigation techniques get more advanced, police investigators are finding them ever more useful in solving crimes. A new law set to take effect in Iowa later this year could help law enforcement officers even more.

Beginning July 1, offenders convicted of most aggravated misdemeanors in Iowa's courts will be required to submit a DNA sample. Current law requires felony convicts as well as sexually violent predators and sex offenders to submit DNA samples.

When he signed the bill into law in May, Gov. Terry Branstad said it will help police solve crimes and possibly exonerate suspects who have been falsely accused.

The Sioux City Journal reports, he'll get no arguments from law enforcement.

"It's going to definitely aid in getting people involved in crimes off the street. I think it's going to be a big help for us solving crimes," said Sgt. Pat Breyfogle, an investigator in the Sioux City Police Department's crimes against persons unit.

Juveniles will be exempt from the new requirement. Aggravated misdemeanors related to gambling, hazardous waste, agriculture productions and many traffic offenses also will be exempt from the DNA submission.

Breyfogle said common aggravated misdemeanors are assaults and burglaries. Burglaries can be hard to solve, but it's not uncommon to find DNA evidence at the scene: a cigarette butt or blood on broken glass.

Zac Chwirka, Sioux City Police identification and property supervisor, said the law will expand the statewide DNA database and improve chances that DNA collected at a crime scene will match someone already on file. Other state labs can tap into Iowa's database, which is helpful when dealing with Sioux City crime suspects who live in Nebraska or South Dakota.

"This is just a very crucial tool for law enforcement to try to identify suspects," Chwirka said.

That DNA database can help solve crimes from long ago, Chwirka said. He remembers a Sioux City robbery and rape case from around 2000 in which police obtained DNA evidence of the perpetrator, but had no matches. The suspect was later sentenced for an unrelated felony, and when he gave a DNA sample in prison, the database matched him to the rape case.

"This is a huge tool for us to solve current and past crimes," Chwirka said.

The new law goes too far, some say. Rita Bettis, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, said the law expands DNA collections from cases that have a rational relationship to DNA — sex-related crime and other felonies — to lower-level, nonviolent offenses.

"The rationale that it will solve more cases is absurd when applied to these types of cases," Bettis said. "Under that rationale, the state could collect DNA from everyone at birth and store it long after their deaths. The government's interest in solving crimes must be balanced with the people's fundamental freedoms."

"We think it's invasive and unnecessary."

Breyfogle dismissed concerns about expanding the DNA database to include those convicted of less-serious offenses.

"It's really no different than having your fingerprints on file," he said.

Collecting those additional samples shouldn't be a problem, said Steve Scholl, director of corrections in Iowa's 3rd Judicial District. Most offenders convicted of aggravated misdemeanors likely will be placed on probation rather than sentenced to prison, so probation officers will collect their samples.

Scholl said it will take a little extra time for a probation officer to swab an offender, then seal and send the sample to the crime lab, but it won't lead to any extra expenses in his budget.

Woodbury County Attorney Patrick Jennings said he hoped the new law could act as a deterrent as well as help gain convictions. DNA evidence can be extremely helpful to convince juries, but it's also not necessary if the case's other facts are strong.

"Depending on the facts of the particular case, the lack of forensic evidence doesn't necessarily mean the prosecutor's case is doomed," Jennings said.

For police, DNA is considered one piece of solid evidence that can make a case.

"DNA assists in a lot of cases. Frankly, there's probably a lot of cases that are brought to trial or charged because of DNA evidence," Breyfogle said.

IA - Offender’s Home Vandalized

Original Article

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?

Sex Offenders Leaving Iowa

View the article here

Another reason the registries are bloated and contain people who are not necessarily still living there. They move from state to state and are left on the state registry of the state they left, thus it makes the registries bloated, because they get paid for the number of people on it.

04/24/2007

The number of sex offenders packing up and leaving Iowa has nearly doubled in the last four years. One reason is the state's 2,000 foot residency law. It prohibits offenders convicted of sex crimes with a child from living near schools or day cares.

"I've been sleeping out at the rest stop for a year and a half, sleeping in a tent, sleeping in the bathroom, sleeping in my car," says Ben Groves. Ten years ago, when he was in high school, Groves had a sexual relationship with an underaged girl. He served three years in prison and has been listed on Iowa's sex offender registry ever since.

After moving his wife and five kids from place to place, Groves says his only option is to leave Iowa. He's packed and ready to move to Illinois, where the residency law is only 500 feet from a school or day care. His family will stay here for the time being.

Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety says sex offenders who move out of state are still required to register with them. Twenty seven percent or about 1750 sex offenders currently live outside of Iowa.
- So now, you have to register in Iowa and the new state you live in, each year or more. Thus wasting tons on money driving from state to state. What if you've moved to 10 different states, do you have to drive back to all 10 each year or more than once per year? This is insane. Just more reason to show they try to get you to violate the law.

Critics rake inaction on offender law

View the article here

04/24/2007

Legislators need to fix a law that does more harm than good, some say.

Iowa sheriffs and prosecutors on Monday blasted lawmakers for failing to roll back a controversial and politically charged law restricting where sex offenders can live.

"They're just afraid to take action, and the people of Iowa should be ashamed," said Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald. "It's absolutely politics at its worst."

A legislative subcommittee examining possible changes to the state's sex offender statutes will meet at 8 a.m. today to mull what some hope will be a compromise before the end of the legislative session.

Earlier this year, the bipartisan panel heard during a series of public meetings from a number of groups - sex offender experts, statewide law enforcement associations, prevention experts and victims - who uniformly criticized the state law banning sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools or child care centers.

Residency requirement laws, which have been passed by more than 20 states - often in the wake of high-profile child sex crimes - poll well with the public, researchers say.

But law enforcement officials and other experts counter that the restrictions offer the public a false sense of security. Iowa and other Midwestern states, they say, have found that many more offenders tend to lie about their living arrangements or cease reporting their whereabouts altogether.

Several lawmakers said Monday that they thought the Legislature ultimately would pass a measure prohibiting registered offenders from entering "safe zones" around schools and other places where children gather, as well as other law changes. But Senate Minority Leader Mary Lundby of Marion said Republicans would resist any attempt to repeal the 2,000-foot law, which went into effect in 2005. Lundby said her belief is that people do not support such a move.

"My message hasn't changed since the beginning of the session," she said. "We will support additional spending for monitoring (sex offenders) and additional assessment, but people across the aisle don't want them in their neighborhoods, period."

Lundby said Republicans do support better assessments of sex offenders, so that anyone convicted of a relatively minor crime can be pulled off the sex offender registry.

"If they are not pedophiles or people of concern to society, then get them off the list," she said.

In spite of pledges by legislators to let the public know earlier what the final legislation for sex offenders would be, several conceded Monday that Iowans might not know what legislation, if any, will pass until the body's final hours. The session is scheduled to end Friday.

"I think people are concerned about political liability," said Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal of Council Bluffs. While legislators in both parties worked hard this year to come up with a measure that "focuses the administrative resources of the state on things that will actually enhance public safety," Gronstal said, "some people are primarily interested in pursuing a political advantage."

Corwin Ritchie, executive director of the Iowa County Attorneys Association, said he was "astonished" that a repeal had been dubbed by some as out of the question.

"There were about five weeks of testimony presented by knowledgeable Iowa people who work with sex offender issues," he said of the subcommittee's work. "There was not one, not one shred of evidence presented that the residency law provides safety for children. In fact, there was a significant amount of evidence presented that the law might actually decrease child safety. Even the clear evidence that enforcement of the law is wasting valuable law enforcement resources has had no effect."

Fitzgerald and other sheriffs said they, too, were upset that legislators might fail to act after some of Iowa's largest law enforcement and prevention groups, as well as 64 counties and cities, lined up in support of a repeal. Groups even pledged to stand with lawmakers at election time to confront any political backlash, he said.

"But by refusing to take a stand, it almost makes them looks like they're coddling sex offenders," Fitzgerald charged.

Clay County Sheriff Randy Krukow, president of the Iowa State Sheriffs and Deputies Association, said he hoped "common sense would prevail" by the end of the legislative session.
- Common sense does not exist when it comes to politics.