MN - Newly-arrived Level III Sex Offenders Cause Stir in Savage

Original Article

05/23/2013

By Clare Kennedy

Some residents insist that notification letters never went out, while others say that the two men are infringing on their rights as citizens.

Every time [name withheld] steps outside his motel door in Savage, he must report back.

First a mandatory phone call stating the exact address of his destination, his purpose in going there, and when he will be back. Then, no matter how trivial the errand, he must make another call, reporting that he has returned to the confines of his room.
- Sounds a little extreme to us.

The calls are just one of his obligations, however, a mere supplement to the court-ordered GPS bracelet and random visits by the Savage Police Department. What most people would consider minutiae—missing work, growing a beard or shaving it off—could become a probation violation if not reported to the proper authorities in a "timely fashion."

Such is a day in the closely-scrutinized life of a level III sex offender, as described by representatives of the Savage PD on Monday night, but their words seemed to be a cold comfort to many of the residents who gathered at the council meeting on Monday night.

"I don't think they should be allowed around here. Their rights infringe on mine," said Savage resident Sally Neisius. "Put them on a farm. Give them a cow and a couple of chickens and say make your way."

Neisius words were met with applause from her neighbors, about 20 to 30 people drawn to the meeting by an anonymous flyer. The flyer stated that many residents within a half-mile of [name withheld]'s motel had not gotten any notice of his arrival, nor that of another Level III offender, [name withheld]. The flyer also stated—falsely—that the city of Savage planned to turn the hotel on the 7300 block of Highway 13 into a halfway house.

The city website states that notification letters were sent out shortly before both moved in, on April 16 and April 26 respectively. City officials added that word of the level IIIs' arrival had been printed in the local newspaper, the Savage Pacer, and had been posted on the city website.

Residents at the meeting insisted, however, that in many cases no such letters had been sent out.

"We're supposed to get a letter and a phone call. A lot of people who live on my block didn't get anything," said resident Heather Jensen. "We all feel you guys did this very sneakily, behind our backs and didn't notify us."

Jensen added that she thought the notification area—a half mile radius around the offender's address—was too small and should be extended to the entire city.

"First off, for some reason or another notification might not have gone out. I can't explain it, but I will check into it," said City Administrator Barry Stock. "Secondly, to notify everyone in the city by mail, every single time, would be very costly."

Perhaps more importantly, many of the residents who spoke felt that the men's existence was an affront to their rights as citizens and thought that the city should be able to prevent them from living in Savage. City Attorney Ric Rosow and Stock assured the public in the council chambers that by state law the city government could not ban certain people from town, nor could they interfere with the transactions of a private business.
- Well despite what you think, these men have rights as well.

As for law enforcement, Police Chief Rodney Seurer said that once the men had completed their sentence—as both have—the courts could not tell them where to live, though they are still monitored for compliance with the sex offender registry and the terms of their probation.

"They choose where they want to live. It's not up to law enforcement," Seurer said. "It's wherever housing or a job is available."

In any case, Detective Laura Kvasnicka warned that while parents should take these notices seriously, they should be much more vigilant about people in their own social circle or family group. Both men—[name withheld] and [name withheld] were convicted of sexually assaulting children who were known to them. It's a common tale in the annals of police work, she said.

"Residential proximity has very little or nothing to do with recidivism of predatory offenders. It has more to do with relationship and social proximity," Kvasnicka said. "We need to be aware of our surroundings and aware of who we bring into our homes, rather than focusing on the level III offenders we all know about."

The most dangerous sex offenders, she said, are the ones that have never been caught.

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NY - Sex offenders - one woman's mission to separate myth from fact

Original Article

We've been told more will air tonight, and if it becomes available online, we will post the info here.

05/22/2013

By Jim Kenyon

Shana Rowan (Blog) first met her fiance when they attended high school in downstate New York. She says they lost touch when he suddenly left school at the age of 16. Years later, Shana says they reconnected.

Shana says they eventually fell in love and she learned the reason why he had disappeared when he was 16. It turns out that he had been convicted of sexually abusing an underage girl and spent four years in prison. She asked that we not reveal his name for fear over his safety.

"It wasn't a violent crime. It wasn't a forcible crime. Was it a crime? Yes, and I believe he should have been punished. I'm glad he can now see the impact he had on his victim, but he's not a monster. He's not a pedophile. He's not dangerous to children," Rowan told CNY Central's Jim Kenyon.

They are now engaged to be married. When they moved to a home in Oneida County however, her fiance, a level 2 registered sex offender, failed to register his new address on time. He was arrested and faced spending three years in prison.

Though he was able to avoid jail time, the experience provided Rowan with a mission in life. Shana Rowan is the Executive Director of USA FAIR, which stands for Families Advocating an Intelligent Registry. "We do advocate for some sex offenders but our focus is actually on family members because what I found when my fiance was looking at jail time, I felt so alone."

Rowan maintains a website that features extensive research that challenges what she says are society's preconceived ideas about sex offenders. She also lobbies legislators nationwide in an attempt to reform laws regarding sex offenders.

The USA FAIR website features a wealth of information and studies Rowan says clear up the "myths" about sex offenders. Some of those same government studies are also included on the New York Sex Offender Registry under the heading of "Myths and Facts." For instance, one so called myth is that sex offenders are all likely to commit another sex crime. The registry cites one study that only 5 percent of sex offenders were re-arrested for a sex crime within three years of getting out of prison. That as a group, 43 percent of sex offenders were re-arrested for any type of crime. That compared to 68 percent of criminals who are not sex offenders.

Rowan says many of the laws regarding the thousands of sex offenders are not based on reality. "I can understand where the fear comes from because... it keeps being pumped into us by some media outlets and legislators that these are people we need to fear. That is not accurate. That is not true, save for a small minority."

If anything, sex offender laws are getting tougher, often because of high profile cases like that of [name withheld]. He is accused of murdering Liverpool librarian Lori Bresnahan and raping a 10 year old girl. The shocking crime could lead to a crackdown on the monitoring of sex offenders and legislation to open up their juvenile records.

"We're taking the example of one person and applying it to tens of thousands in New York State." Rowan says.

Rowan says society often does not take into account the impact a "broad brush approach" to sex offenders has on their families. "They're simply not all the same." she says, "They're not all out to get your children. The majority of them just want to move on with their lives with their families."

Video Link

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ID - Idaho Sex Offender Laws Remain a Source of Controversy

Video Description:
Nearly 30 years after his crime and decades of legal behavior, an Idaho man talks about still being listed on the sex offender registry.

Video Link

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Feds Push Insane New Speech Codes!

Video Description:
"It is so broad that it turns every single student and every single faculty member on campus, at least arguably, into harassers," warns Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).

He's talking about sweeping speech codes just imposed by the Departments of Justice and Education on virtually every college campus in the United States.

The new mandate was revealed in a letter from the DOJ and DOE to the University of Montana that states "sexual harassment should be more broadly defined as 'any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature," including "verbal conduct." The new rules apply to all colleges and universities receiving any sort of federal money, including Pell grants, federally backed student loans, and more. The letter contends the conduct in question need not be offensive to an "objectively reasonable person of the same gender in the same situation." That means that there is effectively no check on what might count as harassment. Course materials, overheard comments, stupid jokes - it's all potentially actionable.

Lukianoff, the author of Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate, hopes that "this is the last straw that causes the universities themselves to start pushing back against this ridiculous overregulation."

Video Link

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FL - Sex Offender Village

Original Article

05/21/2013

By LISA F. JACKSON and DAVID FEIGE

For this Op-Doc video, we visited a small community in Florida known as “Miracle Village,” where more than 100 registered sex offenders have settled since 2009. Surrounded by sugar cane fields, the community has become a rare refuge for them as they try to rebuild their lives in one of the only communities that will have them: stringent residency requirements make it almost impossible for them to live anywhere else.

We come to this documentary from two very different perspectives. Lisa has spent years examining sex crimes from the victim’s point of view, making documentaries that try to de-stigmatize the survivors and argue for their access to justice. David spent his years as a public defender in Brooklyn, Harlem and the Bronx, defending people accused of doing the victimizing. These contrasting perspectives have made for a lively collaboration in which we have found common ground.

We live in a society that is terrified of sex offenders, sometimes with good reason. But in some cases the perpetrators, and not just the victims, are denied justice. Every high-profile sex crime spawns a rush to do something about the “predators” among us. Unfortunately, these so-called solutions are doing more harm than good. In the past 25 years, the laws governing sex offenses have gone from punitive to draconian to senseless. The term “sex offender” simply covers too wide a range now, painting the few truly heinous crimes and the many relatively innocuous ones with the same broad brush. This overly broad approach wastes resources that could be better spent, for instance, on clearing the huge and unforgivable backlog of untested rape evidence kits.

We see even deeper problems: the explosion of sex offender registries, stringent yet demonstrably ineffective residency restrictions, and the bizarre world of “civil commitment,” where we punish what someone might do rather than what he or she has done. All of this suggests that our entire approach to dealing with sex offenders has gone tragically off the rails.

Lisa F. Jackson is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker based in New York. Her last film, “Sex Crimes Unit,” chronicled prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office and “The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo” won a special jury prize for documentary at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

David Feige, a television writer and former Trial Chief of the Bronx Defenders, is the co-creator of the T.N.T. series “Raising the Bar” and the author of “Indefensible: One Lawyer’s Journey Into the Inferno of American Justice.” He has written about law for The New York Times Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and Slate.

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PA - Former Hero Officer (Richard DeCoatsworth) Accused of Rape Costs City Millions

Richard DeCoatsworth

Original Article

05/21/2013

By Vince Lattanzio, David Chang and Danielle Johnson

A source tells NBC10 the former officer forced the women to use drugs and perform oral sex on him at gunpoint

Former Philadelphia police officer Richard DeCoatsworth, once honored by President Barack Obama for his heroism, remains in jail on $60 million bail for allegedly raping two women -- forcing one into prostitution.

Now, NBC10 has learned the City of Philadelphia is spending more than $1.5 million defending itself against DeCoatsworth's checkered past on the force.

Law enforcement sources say DeCoatsworth had nine citizen complaints against him over his nearly five year stint with the department. The complains, sources say, included allegations of assault, abuse and misconduct.

Issues with the 27-year-old began to arise in 2005 when he was in the Philadelphia Police Academy. DeCoatsworth allegedly injured a Girard Avenue business owner during a fight. However, he was allowed to remain a recruit despite the allegations.

In 2007 as a rookie officer, DeCoatsworth was severely injured after being shot in the face. After being shot, he managed to chase down the suspect for several blocks before collapsing. He called in enough information by radio that police were able to track down and arrest the suspect later the same day.

His actions earned him an invitation from Vice President Joe Biden to attend President Obama’s first congressional address at the U.S. Capital in February 2009. The officer sat in the gallery with First Lady Michelle Obama during the speech. He was also honored by his peers as a 2008 Top Cop.

Soon after, though, he was involved in two more dramatic incidents.

In April 2009, police say DeCoatsworth was jumped and attacked by a man when he tried to disperse a crowd at the Logan section of the city. During the struggle, sources say DeCoatsworth’s gun went off and hit the suspect who took off running. Another officer responding to the scene shot the suspect dead, according to sources.

In September 2009, DeCoatsworth and another officer stopped a man on a motorcycle in the Kensington section of the city. While they were questioning him, a second man allegedly jumped on the motorcycle and drove at the officers. Police say DeCoatsworth shot at the suspect, who sped off. The suspect was found later at the hospital where his mother had taken him to be treated for a shotgun wound.

During the incident, local witnesses claimed the two suspects did nothing wrong and that DeCoatsworth and the other officer acted recklessly -- shooting while children were nearby.

In November 2011, Internal Affairs investigated an alleged scuffle between DeCoatsworth and another officer, according to Philly.com.

DeCoatsworth retired from the police force on disability back in December 2011.

In February of 2012, an arrest warrant was issued for DeCoatsworth after he allegedly threatened a woman in Port Richmond.

The most recent incident began two weeks ago after DeCoatsworth allegedly met a woman at a bar on North Front Street. Police say the former officer forced the woman into prostitution at a Days Inn hotel along Roosevelt Boulevard in the Lawncrest section of the city.

Then, between 2 a.m. Thursday and Friday evening, DeCoatsworth went to the woman’s home along North Howard Street in the Fishtown-Kensington area, according to a law enforcement source close to the investigation.

Once he arrived, DeCoatsworth allegedly forced that woman and a second woman, both in their 20s, to use drugs and perform oral sex on him at gunpoint. The alleged victims reported the assault Friday only after DeCoatsworth went home, according to police.

Police raided DeCoatsworth’s house on the 2700 block of Salmon Street in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday.

He was arraigned and charged with rape, sexual assault, terroristic threats and other related offenses. Police also confiscated drugs and guns from the home, according to a source. No word yet on what kind of drugs were removed from the home.

According to court documents, bail was set at $25 million for each of the alleged victims. Another $10 million bail was set in a separate domestic violence case DeCoatsworth is now being charged with, according to investigators.

Police say he assaulted his live-in girlfriend on May 9. The $60 million bail is reportedly one of the highest set in Philadelphia history.

DeCoatsworth faces more than 32 crimes in all three cases. He is scheduled for another court appearance on June 17.

• Criminal Court Docket - Alleged Victim 1 (PDF)
• Criminal Court Docket - Alleged Victim 2 (PDF)
• Criminal Court Docket - Alleged Domestic Violence Assault (PDF)

One of DeCoatsworth’s neighbors said she was relieved to hear about his arrest.

“I am scared to be saying this now but I hope he stays where he is at, he has been a thorn in the side of this neighborhood for so long,” said the woman who did not want to be identified.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter's Office says of the nine complaints lodged against DeCoatsworth -- one resulted in a lawsuit. The suit alleged DeCoatsworth used aggressive behavior while on the job.

The city settled that suit for $1.5 million. However, officials say Philadelphia has accrued other legal costs related to DeCoatsworth.

Last year, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told police he believed he failed DeCoatsworth by letting him go back to work with a stressful unit too soon after he was shot in the face.

"I think I screwed up on that," Ramsey told the Daily News. "I think I should have given him more time. He didn't want more time but I should have done that."

In light of his most recent arrest however, Ramsey had much harsher words for DeCoatsworth on Monday.

"He has to be held accountable," Ramsey said. "Just like anybody else. There should be no special consideration given simply because he once served as a police officer."

DeCoatsworth is being held on $60 million bail. A figure that is rarely seen in the U.S. criminal justice system.

Philadelphia District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Tasha Jamerson said prosecution did not request a high bail amount, rather that DeCoatsworth be held without bail.

“Being held without bail is the highest bail situation you could face as a defendant in Philadelphia," Jamerson said, “At DeCoatsworth's arraignment on Saturday, we requested that he be held without bail, but the judge instead chose to impose bail at $60 million.”

Other high-profile cases, including federal trials held in Pennsylvania, have included large sums, but none are near what the 27-year-old is held on.

While many with similarly egregious crimes are held without bail, some are held on bonds that reach into the millions of dollars.

While DeCoatsworth is listed as being represented by a public defender, family members are currently helping him acquire an attorney.

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CA - LAPD Officer (Miguel Schiappapietra) Accused of Lewd Acts with 2 Young Girls

Miguel Schiappapietra

Original Article

05/21/2013

By Kellan Connor

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) - An officer with the Los Angeles Police Department was expected to appear in court on Tuesday on charges of molesting two young girls.

Officer Miguel Schiappapietra, 28, was arrested on Saturday at his home in the 28000 block of Branch Road in Castaic.

He was booked on two counts of lewd acts with a child, according to Sgt. Brian Hudson, of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau.

There were at least two victims involved, both under the age of 10, Hudson said.

Schiappapietra allegedly lured the two girls into his home, police said.

He reportedly moved into the neighborhood just five weeks ago and is a father of young children himself.

Schiappapietra is a six-year veteran of the force, and was stationed most recently at the LAPD’s Foothill Station.

He was being held on $100,000 bail.

The investigation was ongoing. Anyone with information about the case was asked to call the Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Unit (877) 710-5273.

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Why Current Child Porn Laws Imprison the Wrong People

Original Article

05/20/2013

By Macie Melendez

Growing up, I was taught that prison was a place where people went when they did bad things. It was simple then: There were good people and there were bad people.

As I got older, the picture grew more complicated. I saw good people do bad things, and I saw bad people do good things. But recently, when one of the best people in my world did something that landed him in prison, my beliefs about the justice system and how it punishes American citizens were completely upended.

My friend was sentenced to five years in a federal prison for obtaining five pornographic images and one video that featured a minor. (This number is minuscule compared to the hundreds of thousands of images and videos that are collected by serious offenders.) He obtained these images through a peer-to-peer file sharing program. He was intentionally downloading porn, but he was not seeking out child porn. Once he knew the images and video file existed, he deleted them.

Unfortunately for him, there was a member of the FBI searching the Internet for child pornography offenders. That FBI agent was able to track his computer's IP address, find out who he was and where he lived. In that process, the FBI learned that he was a young man who held a full-time job, had earned a Master's degree and had never been convicted of a crime -- in fact, he had never been arrested for anything at all. In spite of those facts, the FBI felt it necessary to send about a dozen agents to his apartment, armed with guns and dressed like they were going into a war zone. They had a search warrant and used it to raid his apartment. When they didn't find anything, they left.

The FBI continued to monitor him while he went about his normal, crime-free life. After eight months of investigating, the FBI still found nothing more than that first unintentional download. Regardless, several FBI agents came back to his apartment, put him in handcuffs and took him to jail.

I now see that laws simply aren't black and white. Instead, they come with a lot of grey matter. Within that grey matter is emotion -- a powerful fuel that charges people to action. But emotion can be dangerous as it often clouds logic and critical thinking. For this reason, our laws dictate that courtrooms be presided over by emotionless judges; lawmakers, however, aren't given these same emotional restrictions.

Congress' repeated escalations of penalties for child pornography offenses are an example of emotion getting in the way of logic. What voter wouldn't support severe punishments for those supporting or distributing films with underage sex and nudity? Especially when they are explained as a means to catch the worst of the worst. But in reality, in practice, these laws have formed the basis of a modern-day witch-hunt that thrives on the vagaries of the Internet and too often captures individuals who make relatively simple errors online, rather than those who produce such material or directly abuse children.

In late February 2013, the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) released a report to Congress that examined the cases of offenders that have been sentenced under current federal sentencing guidelines for child pornography offenses. This report was conducted for a number of reasons, including the fact that "an increasing number of courts believe that penalties are overly severe for at least some non-production offenders" and that "there has been a growing disconnect between the existing sentencing scheme and the continuing evolution in the technology used by offenders."

See Also:

• The Government Is Planting Child Porn On Your Computer?
• Woman falls victim to computer virus
• Pentagon declined to investigate hundreds of purchases of child pornography
• FBI's New Crisis: Too Much Sexting

Read the rest of the article

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NY - Sex offenders challenge Suffolk law

Original Article

See the video at the link above. The videos below are from older articles.

05/20/2013

WOODBURY - Two registered sex offenders are challenging a Suffolk law that calls for closely watching the online activity of convicted offenders.

The Community Protection Act (PDF) allows Parents for Megan's Law to act for police by monitoring offenders' online activity.

According to Newsday, offenders say the law violates their civil rights.

See Also:

• 2 sex offenders challenging Suffolk law (Subscription required)
• New sex offender monitoring law approved by county legislature
• Letter: Don't hire victims group to police
• USA FAIR Demands Laura Ahearn of Parents for Megan's Law Retract NAMBLA Smear

Video Link


Video Link

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CO - Angry Mob Pelts Man Thought to Be Sex Attacker

Original Article

05/20/2013

By STEVEN K. PAULSON

Residents angry that police had not warned them about sex assaults of children took matters into their own hands, chasing down a man they thought was the attacker, pelting him with rocks and leaving him with a bloody face in Colorado, authorities said Monday.

Pueblo police later released the man because of lack of evidence, The Pueblo Chieftain reported.

Neighborhood residents were looking for a man suspected of two separate sexual acts when they got word that a man matching the description had been spotted, said Alex Pacheco, one of the pursuers.

The group confronted the man and he ran.

Pursuers surrounded him and punched him in the face, police Capt. Tom Rummel said. Arriving officers shoved the man into a police car and whisked him to the station for questioning. He was not seriously injured.

"The primary officer on the scene said get him out of here," Rummel said.
- So tell me, why didn't the police arrest the people who attacked him?  Why is Alex Pacheco and the others not in jail?  They are basically telling the mob that it's okay to harm others you think might be responsible.  They are basically condoning vigilante violence, in our opinion.

Pacheco told the newspaper that residents were canvassing the area looking for the man who committed the sex crimes during the past few months.

One incident involved the sexual assault of a girl in her home. In the other, authorities said a man with the same description exposed himself to another child.

Police said the mob grew to about a half-dozen people as residents learned of the chase and joined in.

"We went through the right channels in contacting the police but there hasn't been much response," Pacheco said. "We can't wait around any longer without doing something. These are children that this man is after and we can't let any more children get hurt by him."

Rummel said police had notified the media and posted warnings on social media about the attacks, but authorities are not required by law to notify residents because no one had been arrested.

Rummel said police only had a vague description of the suspect because he wore a bandanna over his face.

The 54-year-old man accosted by the mob did not want to file charges against his pursuers, the chief said.

"He said folks were reacting to a bad situation and he told the officer, 'I don't want to go that route,'" Rummel said. "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

The name of the man was not released because no charges were filed. He agreed to give investigators a DNA sample so he could be ruled out as a suspect.

See Also:

• Residents of Colorado neighborhood chase down man they thought sexually assaulted children

Video Source

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FL - Florida funds sex offender database search by school

Original Article

And you can bet that once this is live, these people will lose their jobs as well, which we believe is the intent of the action.

05/18/2013

By Jeff Weinsier

Florida Legislature allocates $18K to update FDLE's Sex Offender, Predator database search

MIAMI - Change is coming to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Sex Offender and Predator database following a Local 10 investigation.

You will soon be able to search for registered sex offenders and predators listed by the college or university they attend or work at. Currently, you can only search the database by name or neighborhood.

The Florida Legislature allocated $18,000 to update FDLE's computer program.

State records show more than 100 registered sex offenders attend or work on campuses in South Florida.

It took Local 10 weeks to get a list, and only after we requested it.

Students who Local 10 interviewed said they had no idea the information even existed.

"I really appreciate you bringing this to my attention," said State Senator Eleanor Sobel. "You do not know who is on your college campus, you do not know who is in your class, you do not know who is in your study group, you do not know who you are having a drink with."

The Texas Department of Public Safety has a link on their website that allows users to search for sex offenders by campus.

Because the Florida Department of Law Enforcement already tracks that information, Sobel and Local 10 wanted to know why it couldn't be done here.

"We met with the FDLE -- they didn't need a law, they didn't need statutory changes," said Sobel. "All they needed was a little bit of money to put it on their website."

The money becomes available July 1.

The Florida Sheriff's Association and Florida Police Chief's Association supported the measure brought to their attention by Sobel.

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WI - High-risk rent: Renting homes to Wisconsin sex offenders

Original Article

05/19/2013

By Brad Hicks

FOND DU LAC COUNTY (WITI) - FOX6′s Brad Hicks set out to do a story on taxpayer money, and how the state is spending it. However, sometimes stories take an unexpected turn — which is what happened in this instance.

Kirk Everson is proud to promote his Fond du Lac County compost company. He’s not afraid of being in the limelight as a lawyer — and he’s even a bit of a ham, appearing in the popular Chad Vader spoofs.

However, there is one thing Everson doesn’t want to talk about — not at his home, at his office, over the phone, or after his court appearance.

Steve Troscan wishes he had heard about Everson when he moved his mom from the family home into an assisted living facility. He says the house wasn’t selling until someone swooped in with a cash offer.

“From what I understood, the man was a lawyer from Fond du Lac. My sister and I would have never sold the house if we would have known this,” Troscan said.

The Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Juneau treats the worst sex offenders in Wisconsin — men who, after their prison terms, are still too dangerous to set free. They are committed to Sand Ridge to be treated, and most will never get out.

However, each year, a handful make enough progress that the state orders they be returned to the community, where they will be supervised and under tight restrictions.

Currently, there are 33 sexually violent offenders under supervised release.

The Department of Health Services returns them to the county from which they came. There is usually outrage and concern when a sex offender is placed in a neighborhood, but the law says they have to be placed.

These sex offenders live in rented homes that the state pays for with taxpayer dollars at prices that are nothing like what neighbors pay.

In one Milwaukee neighborhood, the state pays $1,900 a month to house a sex offender, which is about $1,000 more than neighbors pay in monthly rent.

Lydia Nichols rents a new two-bedroom in Manitowoc. Next door is a one-bedroom and home to a sex offender. The state pays $1,600 a month for the one-bedroom, while Nichols pays just $650.

The state says the rent is so high because it is hard to find suitable housing for these sex offenders. For starters, not a lot of people want to rent to the violent sex offender program. It can be risky for a landlord’s reputation. Also, places like Racine are tightening the reigns on where sex offenders can live.

Bob Peterson is a lawyer who represents many of the sex offenders at Sand Ridge and has seen how hard it can be to place them. Peterson says if more people were willing or able to rent, rent for sex offenders would go down.

“If there’s an individual that’s willing to do that, I look at is as they’re doing a public service,” Peterson said.

From that perspective, no one is providing a bigger “public service” than a company called Ervin J. Fenske. The Milwaukee home renting for $1,900 and the Manitowoc home renting for $1,600 are both Fenske properties. The company also owns a home Wisconsin rents for a sex offender in Wheatland, one in Beloit, one in Eau Claire and one in Marathon County.

In fact, Fenske owns 20% of the 30 homes the state rents for sexually violent offenders.

So who is behind this company?

Read the rest of the article

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FL - Teen arrested, expelled for alleged same-sex relationship

Original Article

This type of thing happens all the time. The child should've been given a warning, not jail / prison and ruined for life! The laws are suppose to protect children, not ruin them! You know what is ironic though? If this were two males, or even a older male and female, this outrage would not be occurring. But we have a double standard when it comes to pretty white females.

05/20/2013

By Angela Cruz

SEBASTIAN - [mother name withheld] said it's been a nightmare since her daughter, 18-year-old [name withheld], was arrested on a charge of "lewd and lascivious battery of a child 12 to 16 years old."

"She's scared to death, she can't sleep," said [mother name withheld], from her and [name withheld]'s home on Sunday night.

[mother name withheld] said [name withheld] became friends with an underaged female student at Sebastian River High School at the beginning of the school year.

"They began a dating relationship," [mother name withheld] recalled. "Never in my mind did I consider what that meant."

[name withheld], a former cheerleader and basketball player, was expelled from school after the arrest. [mother name withheld] hopes what she calls the "overwhelming" online support could somehow help get [name withheld]'s charge dropped.

Their family's "Free Kate" Facebook page has more than 14,000 members, and their change.org petition has more than 40,000 signatures.

"I just put our story out there on Friday," said [mother name withheld]  "I wanted people to know what was going on. Within thirty minutes, I had so many outpouring support. On Saturday evening, we crashed the change.org website. The president of change.org contacted us personally."

"She is the sweetest girl," [mother name withheld] continued. "I wondered if I was crazy, if it was only because I'm a mom. But I wondered if anyone else thought, like me, that this was wrong and unjust. Apparently, they do."

The family also created an online account to assist with their $50,000 legal fees incurred, according to [mother name withheld].

[mother name withheld] spent all Sunday morning passing out 1,000 "STOP THE HATE, SAVE KATE" green bracelets. She is hoping the attention could help to avoid a trial.

"It's not something I want for my daughter, and it's not something I want for the other girl," said [mother name withheld].

[mother name withheld] said the relationship was consensual. She questions why the parents of [name withheld]'s girlfriend chose to press charges.

"You get with me, and say, hey, as a mom, this is going on and I don't like this, let's talk about this," said [mother name withheld]  "I would have sat down with her, I would have sat down with our children, and I would have nipped it in the bud, and I would have respected her."

The state attorney's office has offered [name withheld] a plea deal, which would include two years of house arrest.

[mother name withheld] doesn't feel [name withheld] deserves the penalty if they don't accept, and they lose her case. She denies her daughter's actions were criminal.

"She would have a lifetime sexual offender on her record," said [mother name withheld]  "She would not be able to, we think we all know what that means. It's a death sentence for her, her life would be over at 18."

"[name withheld] would not hurt a fly," said [mother name withheld]  "She didn't know what she was doing was quote, unquote 'wrong' or illegal. There was no intent to hurt anybody or commit a crime. I know that's not an excuse for the letter of the law, but it's reality."

See Also:

• Father's story
• Facebook Group
• Evan Rachel Wood, Anne Rice, Join Call to End Prosecution of Teen in Lesbian Relationship
• Should Kate Hunt be charged as a sex offender?
• Florida's Romeo and Juliet Law could be used in Kaitlyn Hunt case, removes sex offender status
• Kaitlyn Hunt arrest update: Sheriff's office releases arrest affidavit
• Family of Kaitlyn Hunt, teen facing felony for dating student, clear up rumors
• Girl, 18, slapped with two felony charges and expulsion for same-sex relationship with 15-year-old classmate
• Florida teen fights expulsion and criminal charges for same sex relationship

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DUBAI - Sharia Court Jails Australian Gang Rape Victim

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CA - Los Angeles news Mom Speaks Out About Irvine-aposs Proposed Sex Offender Law

Video Description:
Erin Runnion founder of The Joyful Child Foundation lost her beautiful young daughter Samantha to a sex offender. She talks to Colleen Williams on Nonstop News LA about Irvine-aposs proposed ban on sex offenders near parks...

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We are so sick of the media and others making it appear as if all ex-sex offenders are out hiding behind bushes in parks, drooling, just waiting for some kid to snatch. It's pure fear mongering that is not backed by the facts.

You will notice how most news agencies queue up some playground or park scene near the beginning or during the video to make it seem as if all ex-sex offenders are child molesting, pedophile predators, which is pure BS!

When are you going to report all sides other the story and all facts, instead of the usual BS to help you get ratings and viewers?

You continue to put all ex-sex offenders into the child molesting, pedophile predators category, which is simply not true. That would be like saying all ex-felons are serial killers because a couple are.

Not all ex-sex offenders enter parks to "leer" at children! Many ex-sex offenders have children of their own and are simply taking them there for the same reasons you do, to play and have fun. Not all offenders have harmed children, or even adults.

This is the type of mentality that is keeping the hysteria alive, instead of solving problems.

Are ex-sex offenders going to get a tax break because they cannot use the parks they are paying taxes for? They should!

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OR - Residents in Southeast Portland protested a clinic in their area that helps sex offenders

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FL - Jury convicts ex-Miramar police captain (Juan De Los Rios) of ordering girl, 15, to expose herself

Juan De Los Rios

Original Article

Yet another officer from Florida who has committed a sex crime. The list is growing.

05/17/2013

By Tonya Alanez

Not only did the Miramar police captain order a 15-year-old girl to pull down her pants and underwear to prove she wasn't having sex in the backseat of a car, but with a flashlight in hand he directed her to spread wider so he could get a better look, a prosecutor said in closing arguments Friday.

It took a Broward jury exactly two hours Friday evening to reach a unanimous decision to convict Juan De Los Rios, now retired, of one count of lewd and lascivious conduct for making the girl expose her genitals. They acquitted him of another count that accused him of directing the girl to expose her breasts.

De Los Rios, 47, stood and took the verdict stoically, his hands clasped in front of him. He was immediately handcuffed, fingerprinted and taken to the Main Jail.

De Los Rios faces 15 years in prison at his June 7 sentencing before Broward Circuit Judge Lynn Rosenthal.

The chief of the Miramar Police Department was quick to distance the agency from the now convicted captain, issuing a statement within an hour of the verdict that called De Los Rios' actions "abhorrent" and an aberration within the force.

"I want to extend my deepest sympathies to the victim and those who were affected by this unfortunate incident," Chief Ray Black said. "No member of the department is above the law and any report of such officer abuse of authority will be thoroughly investigated, and if wrongdoing is found, appropriate measures will be taken."

On Jan. 18, 2012, De Los Rios encountered the girl and her boyfriend, 19, making out in the backseat of a car in the parking lot of the Fountains of Miramar on Dykes Road. It was about 2 p.m.

"This was a person of authority saying, 'Drop your pants, spread your legs," prosecutor Adriana Alcalde-Padron said. "He took advantage of his position."

Earlier in the week, the girl, now 16, testified that she was humiliated and intimidated and complied because he was a cop. Her boyfriend's testimony matched hers.

"This is a fantastic tale" concocted to cover up the couple's "illicit relationship," Juan De Los Rios' defense attorney, Alberto Milian said, emphasizing that the couple initially lied about the nature of their relationship and how long they'd known each other.

Milian argued that the girl's boyfriend, Steven Gaynor, should have been prosecuted for engaging in an ongoing sexual relationship with a minor rather than receiving immunity in exchange for his testimony.

But Alcalde-Padron said: "We have to weigh what's more important in this case. This case is not about [the couple's] illegal relationship, this case is about the government abusing its power with this young, vulnerable girl."

De Los Rios retired about a month after his June 2012 arrest.

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OR - Predatory Sex Offender Not Breaking Law By Living Near School

And the vigilante media comes out and turns a non-story into mass hysteria. Must be a slow news week?

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WI - Registered sex offender discovered living near two schools

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ID - Is Idaho's Sex Offender Registry effective?

Original Article

05/15/2013

By Jamie Grey

BOISE - This year marks the 20th year of Idaho's Sex Offender Registry, so KTVB looked at what's changed in those two decades and whether the registry is serving its intended purpose 'to protect communities'.

Since its creation and adoption in 1993, the registry has become more controversial, mostly for two reasons: The high level of public access to the information, and because every offender is listed, without classifications.

Changes in laws prompted changes in the registry

"Back then it was different. There was a different mentality, and it wasn't a big deal," Dawn Peck, Manger of ISP Bureau of Criminal Identification, said.

Peck has been involved with the registry since it began on July 1, 1993.

"At that time, it was just a little half page form that the offender filled out that said where they were living and what they were convicted of. And it was an honor system," Peck said.

Since then, a lot of changes have been made. In 1998, registration became mandatory for convictions for crimes from rape to enticing a child over the Internet. In 1998, there were around 1,800 registered offenders, and now there are nearly 4,000 registered offenders statewide. In the mid-2000s, ISP put every offender online, making it simple to find who's on the list and where they live.

"Back in the initial days of the registry and clear up until the late 2000s, [if you wanted information on an offender] you had to fill out a form and you had to give your address and your drivers license number to get the information," Peck explained.

Offender: 'I really feel that the system, other than the list, was good to me'

[name withheld] lives with his wife outside of Boise. He's been on the registry since it began. He was registered because he was still under Corrections supervision (probation) when the list was created in 1993.

"You have this mark of Cain on your forehead and you just can't get away from it," [name withheld] said. "People from my church found that I was on that up here. I went out with this outdoor group for nine years. Somebody found I was on it, and boom, I was out of the group."

[name withheld] offended three decades ago. He admits sexually abusing a young female family member off and on for years.

"Aside from the fact that I am truly, completely repentant for my past deed, I don't want to get into the system again," [name withheld] said.

[name withheld] says jail time, treatment and religion changed him years ago, and his victim has forgiven him. But he says forever, his neighbors will know, and sometimes judge, him, by his old actions.

"I richly deserved to face my issues. I absolutely believe that the jail time was a good thing for me because it brought me to my knees, and that brought me to Jesus Christ," [name withheld] said. "[But] If you have a proven track record of socially and legally acceptable behavior, I don't believe that should go on indefinitely like it does."

ACLU: Registries punish people unconstitutionally

"Rather than have an assessment on the front end of whether or not they're going to reoffend, they just go into this blanket registry," ACLU of Idaho's Executive Director Monica Hopkins said.

The American Civil Liberties Union disagrees with having sex offender registries in general, and particularly disagrees with public registries with no differentiation of severity of crime. They say the registries deny offenders due process rights.

"You have everything from you know minor sex crimes to very egregious sex crimes and they all go in the same registry," Hopkins said. "Something that started as a regulatory thing so law enforcement could know where individuals were is now a punitive thing that lasts way beyond someone paying their debt to society back."

Read the entire article

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