November 30, 2008

WI- Sex offenders: Who are they?

11-30-2008 Wisconsin:

Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series examining sex offenders and their impact on victims.

They number 272 in Sheboygan County.

They share a simple label — sex offenders — but they range in age from 18 to 84 and have been convicted of 30 different offenses dating back as far as 1971. Online registries show what they look like, and local ordinances increasingly control where they live, but who are they, really, and what danger do they pose?

Experts say there is no simple answer.

"There's just not one kind of sex offender," said George Limbeck, a Sheboygan defense attorney who represents child sex offenders in about one-fourth of his cases. "They could be everyone from the stereotypical creepy guy who preys on children to the kid next door that makes a mistake of having a girlfriend who's a little too young, and everyone in between."

Sex offenders land on the state registry for offenses that include underage sex, forcible rape, possession of child pornography and exposing a child to sexual material. But known offenders are responsible for only a fraction of the sexual assaults committed.

Eighty-four percent of sexual assault victims do not report the offense, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Center for Sex Offender Management. One in six women and one in 33 men in the U.S. will experience an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime, the center reports.

"A lot of times people like to think it doesn't happen in our community because we're a family community, we're a church community," said Mary Fontanazza, director of advocacy for Safe Harbor, which provides shelter and support for Sheboygan-area victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence. "They don't realize it happens everywhere."

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UK- Porn bill for couple who can't download

11-30-2008 United Kingdom:

Innocent people are getting letters from lawyers claiming they should pay for films they've never seen.

A Hertfordshire couple in their 60s were horrified to receive a letter last week from a London firm of lawyers accusing them of dowloading a hardcore gay porn movie. It demanded they pay £503 for "copyright infringement" or face a high court action. The 20-page "pre-settlement letter" from lawyers Davenport Lyons, acting on behalf of German pornogaphers, insisted they pay £503 to their clients for the 115 minute film Army Fuckers which features "Gestapo" officers and "Czech" farmers.

The bewildered couple contacted Guardian Money. "We were offended by the title of the film. We don't do porn - straight or gay - and we can't do downloads. We have to ask our son even to do an iTunes purchase."

But this Hertfordshire couple are not alone. A large number of people have received this letter, provoking a massive outcry on web forums such as slyck.com and torrentfreak which estimate 25,000 of these letters have been sent out. If all the recipients paid up, it would net £12.5m - more than almost any porn film has made.

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FL- Man posing as teen girl explains role in Dateline sex sting

11-29-2008 Florida:

BUNNELL -- A hardware store manager discussed his role posing as a "standard teenage girl" for the Dateline NBC TV's "To Catch a Predator Sting" in Flagler Beach during a recent court hearing.

Eric Joseph Walker, who manages an Ace Hardware store in Fort Walton Beach, talked about his decoy duties in the case against Stephen Holt of Orlando.

Holt was among 21 men who police said followed up sexually explicit online chats with decoys posing as children by driving to Flagler Beach to meet the "children" during the sting, which ran Dec. 8-11, 2006.

Holt, 21, faces charges of attempted lewd or lascivious battery, computer pornography, child exploitation, and transmission of harmful material to a minor.

Walker discussed his role via speakerphone as part of the hearing in which Holt's attorney, William Jay, sought to have chat logs and other evidence thrown out. Circuit Judge Kim C. Hammond has yet to rule on Jay's motion.

Walker declined to speak to a News-Journal reporter or provide his age. Public records list an Eric J. Walker who lives in Fort Walton Beach and is 40 years old.

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MA- Gang database going online in January

11-30-2008 Massachusetts:

It’s about to get a lot harder to be a gang member.

A new statewide computer tracking system called Mass Gangs is going online the first week of January and will be used by every law enforcement agency in the state.

The program, which has similarities to the state’s online Registry of Motor Vehicles database, is funded by a $2 million grant from the federal Department of Bureau and Justice Assistance.

Instead of running a license number through the computer and coming back with only a driver’s history or criminal record, police can use the Mass Gangs system to view a suspect’s gang affiliations, pictures of gang tattoos and other photos linked to gang activity, such as graffiti. It also enables local police departments to better share information about gang-related crime.

Officials say Mass Gangs is free to cities and towns because it is federally funded. It is simply a Web browser that is accessible on all police station computers and police car laptops.

-But, not available to the general public. Isn't that how sex offender registries started?

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November 29, 2008

GA- More sense, please

11-29-2008 Georgia:

Georgia's sex offender laws should differentiate between statutory rape and other sex offenses.

LIKE MUCH legislation, Georgia's sex offender laws also adhere to the law of unintended consequences.

Some issues have been addressed by the General Assembly, mainly as a result of Georgia's courts dialing back the harsh punishments called for under this section of state law.

Take, for instance, the case of Genarlow Wilson. Found guilty of receiving oral sex from a 15-year-old girl when he was 17, Wilson was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Under the same law in effect at the time, had the teen had vaginal sex with the girl, he would have been convicted of a misdemeanor punishable by no more than a year in jail and would not have been subject to the sex offender registry.

Since that case found national attention (and a reprimand from the state Supreme Court), the General Assembly closed the loophole that treated oral sex differently.

The Wilson case highlighted the need to treat statutory rape cases - where the offense centers on age difference - separately from cases in which the offense centers on violence. Indeed, the law treated cases of teen-age misconduct differently, even when Wilson was convicted.

That law should be expanded to include all cases of statutory rape where the victim has testified the offense was not violent, and where the age difference is within a preset range - within three or four years.

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FL- Spotlight: clustered lives of sex offenders

11-29-2008 Florida:

ST. PETERSBURG - The Palace Mobile Home Park has become a sort of modern-day leper colony. Tucked beside a liquor store off Interstate 275, the trailer park is a haven for sex offenders, with about 100 of its residents on the state's registry.

It is also the subject of a documentary film by a group of Central Florida filmakers. Titled Scum of the Earth, the film takes a generally sympathetic approach to its subjects, whose crimes involved children.

One subject molested his daughter, whom he's now not allowed to contact. Another claims she was sexually abused by family members and years later molested a 3-year-old girl she was baby-sitting.

The title, meant as irony, sums up society's view of sex offenders. The film explores how the Palace became a sanctuary for these outcasts.

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Seeking Solution to Violence

11-29-2008 National:

Man Hopes to Create a Registry of Domestic Abusers

William Kellibrew's memory is seared with the carnage of domestic abuse: bullets being loaded into a handgun, piercing screams, four point-blank blasts at his mother and older brother, his own voice pleading not to be killed.

Kellibrew was 10 at the time, and for years family members did not want to discuss the 1984 killings by his mother's former boyfriend. He had to deal with it on his own.

His memories flooded back last week when Tiffany Gates was stabbed to death and a former boyfriend, covered in blood, was arrested at the scene in Southeast Washington and charged with murder. Kellibrew and Gates, 33, had known each other since elementary school and were so close that they considered themselves brother and sister.

Before Gates died, she dialed feverishly for help, reaching friends, the 911 communications center and a U.S. marshal who was nearby when she said, "He is here and kicking my door in."

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WV- Cabell County Tests GPS Home Confinement Monitors

11-29-2008 West Virginia:

A pilot project underway in Cabell County lead to a better tracking system for registered sex offenders and other criminals on home confinement.

HUNTINGTON -- Finding the address for a registered sex offender in West Virginia, is as simple as logging onto http://www.wvstatepolice.com.

But knowing the real-time location of a sex offender, may soon be just as easy for home confinement officers. "When they're [sex offenders] away from home, we don't really know where they are, and I think we can do better than that," said Cabell County Circuit Judge Dan O'Hanlon.

O'Hanlon is leading a pilot project to test GPS monitor bracelets for some criminals sentenced to home confinement, especially sex offenders.

"It allows us, as an organization, to better track the criminals and provide a more secure, safer environment," said Alternative Sentencing Director Oscar Adkins.

The home confinement officers attach the hardware to an offender's ankle, then track their electronic footprint through the Secure Alert satellite system and website. The program can also be tailored to each specific case.

"We can put zones of exclusion where there are parks, swimming pools, daycare centers, elementary schools, the home of a victim. And if a person goes anywhere near those, an alarm would be set off," said O'Hanlon.

-But, they cannot be programmed to sound an alarm if the offender enters a child's home everywhere in the United States, GPS does not prevent crime, it will do no more than pinpoint WHERE A PERSON WAS when a crime took place! That is not PREVENTION!

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VT- Sex law changes to be revealed today

11-12-2008 Vermont:

BENNINGTON — Vermont state senators will reveal recommended changes to the state's sex offender laws today, but five issues discussed over the months-long process will not be included in a 34-point plan, according to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, announced several weeks ago that the committee would seek a new charge — aggravated sexual assault on a child under 16 — that would allow prosecutors to seek a mandatory 25-year minimum sentence at their discretion.

34 recommendations

The new law, and 33 other recommendations, are included in a 34-page document the Judiciary Committee will hand over to Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, in Montpelier today. The document also contains a scathing account of Michael Jacques' 23-year criminal history in Vermont.

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Amazing Fact About Sex Offender Registries

Look at the cost to maintain the registry in this county in Georgia ($34,100.00). If we were to assume that the costs are reasonable then using that number calculate what is being spent "nationally" it comes to $107,108,100.00 per year. (Note: there are 3,141 counties in the US US Census Bureau) Its hard to believe that, for an address book which is all the registry is, that the public would spend that kind of money.

11-29-2008 Georgia:

Mandates cost A-C $1.8 million
Locals pay for state, federal government decisions


Athens-Clarke County will spend more than $1.8 million this year on programs the state and federal governments refuse to fund.

The expenses range from $500 to pay the state to certify police officers to use radar guns to $1.3 million for storm drainage infrastructure to comply with federal environmental law, according to a partial list of unfunded mandates prepared by Athens-Clarke officials.

And the list doesn't include $2 million in local tax revenue for libraries and public health, areas where state funding has been stagnant or declining in recent years, Athens-Clarke Mayor Heidi Davison said.

"A lot of the expenses we incur are a result of state and federal decisions that are pushed down to the local governments," Davison said.

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November 28, 2008

POSITION STATEMENT ON LAWS PROVIDING FOR THE CIVIL COMMITTMENT OF SEXUALLY VIOLENT CRIMINAL OFFENDERS

9-9-1997 Position Statement:

In its June, 1997 decision in Kansas v. Hendricks, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the use of a civil commitment process to continue the confinement of sexually violent criminal offenders who are found to have a "mental abnormality" that causes them to pose a danger to others, even if they are not found to have a "mental illness." In upholding the statute, the Court gave the states broad discretion to define mental abnormality and to determine whether a violent sex offender who has completed his or her prison sentence poses a continuing danger to others.

The Court's conclusion that the civil commitment of dangerous sex offenders who do not have a mental illness is constitutional does not necessarily mean that such laws represent good policy. The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) believes that some statutes could have severe and negative consequences for people with mental illnesses and for the public mental health system.

Statutes used to civilly commit dangerous sex offenders who do not have a mental illness should be distinct from existing statutes for the civil commitment of people with mental illnesses. Laws which do not clearly distinguish these procedures stigmatize the civil commitment process and people diagnosed with mental illnesses who receive services under a commitment process. Such stigma prevents people from seeking necessary and effective treatment for diagnosable mental illnesses.

Facilities and treatment programs for dangerous sex offenders should be administered and funded outside the state mental health agency in order to maintain the mission and integrity of the public mental health system. Confinement and treatment of dangerous sex offenders or others who do not have a diagnosable mental illness are beyond the scope of that traditionally administered by state mental health agencies.

Treatment programs for dangerous sex offenders should be administered under programmatic guidelines and philosophies that recognize the differences between these criminal offenders and people with diagnosable psychiatric illnesses.

Facilities for the confinement of dangerous sex offenders should be separate from facilities for the treatment of people diagnosed with mental illnesses to ensure the safety of others and to maintain the distinct commitment status of the criminal offenders.

If dangerous sex offenders are confined in facilities under the purview of the state mental health agency, it is imperative that the mental health agency play a significant role in determining commitability and diagnoses, treatment strategies, and lengths of stay for sex offenders civilly committed under the statute.

Laws providing for the civil commitment of dangerous sex offenders should be narrowly drafted to ensure that they apply only to dangerous and violent sex offenders who pose a significant risk to society if released.

Treatment for people determined to be dangerous sex offenders should be initiated during criminal incarceration. Treatment programs should be rigorously examined, both during incarceration and after, to determine effectiveness and to measure outcomes based on the reduction of recidivism rates.


NASMHPD joins the American Psychiatric Association in calling for an increased investment in research on paraphilic disorders and in the clinical training of mental health professionals regarding assessment and treatment of people with those disorders. In addition, NASMHPD believes that state mental health agencies should initiate and participate in broader early prevention and intervention efforts to facilitate development of skills and competencies that help all people to build healthy, meaningful, and socially responsible lives.

Adopted by the NASMHPD membership on 9/9/97.

The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) represents the public mental health service delivery system serving 6.1 million people annually in all 50 states and 5 territories. ..Source..

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RI- Debate continues over state’s new sex-offender bill

11-28-2008 Rhode Island:

Late in June, in the waning hours of the General Assembly’s 2008 session, a law passed making it a felony for any registered sex offender to live within 300 feet of a Rhode Island school.

The three-paragraph law dropped Rhode Island squarely into the middle of a heated national debate over the treatment of sex offenders who have served their prison sentences.

For the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Hannah Gallo, D-Cranston, and supporters of the measure, the new law is a common-sense response to citizens’ repeated concerns over registered sex offenders who end up living near elementary schools, playgrounds, bus stops and other places children congregate.

“To me,” Gallo said, “it just doesn’t make sense as to why we would let sex offenders live near a school where they can stare out the window at children and perhaps (absolute proof there has never been such a case) go out and prey” on them.

-Nowhere in the nation has there been a case of a RSO -living within xx feet of a school- that has preyed on a child walking to school. Whenever a child walking to school has been accosted, it has been by someone driving or walking near the school, and when such offenders have been caught, it has never been a registered sex offender living within xx feet of the school. This residency premise is a congered up myth with no basis in fact or prior act.

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November 27, 2008

Happy Turkey Day To All


CT- Former school band assistant charged with violating probation



11-26-2008 Connecticut:

NORWALK - A former Brien McMahon High School band assistant, on probation since June after being convicted of having sex with a 16-year-old student in 2005, has been arrested on charges of violating probation.

Aaron Sumpter, 26, of 45 Baxter Drive, Norwalk, was arrested Monday by the probation department for allegedly consuming alcohol and cocaine, and not participating enough in his sex-offender treatment.

He was released on $12,500 bond and was due in court for arraignment on two violation of probation charges Monday.

After pleading guilty to fourth-degree sexual assault, first-degree reckless endangerment and driving while under the influence, Sumpter was given a suspended two-year prison sentence and three years of probation by Judge Burton Kaplan at state Superior Court in Norwalk on June 11.

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ME- Sex Offender Expert Offers Coping Advice

11-26-2008 Maine:

BLUE HILL — Generation after generation of youngsters has ventured from home and into the cruel world with this time-honored parental advice echoing in their minds: “Don’t talk to strangers.”

Turns out the well-intentioned words to live by are way off the mark when it comes to protecting our offspring from the horrors of child sexual abuse.

It would be better to admonish our children to beware of Uncle Charlie, the youth choir director, the babysitter and others near and dear to them.

It would be better yet to teach them the value of talking openly to their parents.

Barbara Schwartz, noted expert in the field of sex offender treatment, made those points before an audience of about 100 area residents who packed the Blue Hill Farm Country Inn Nov. 19.

Schwartz’s talk, “No More Victims: Sex Offenders and the Community,” was sponsored by “Breaking the Silence,” a support group for victims of sexual abuse, family members and community.

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MN- Judge questions purpose of sex offender program (Civil Commitment Therapy)

11-26-2008 Minnesota:

An Olmsted District Court judge has ordered a hearing to determine whether the state's sex offender program actually provides treatment to sex offenders as required or is primarily a way to keep dangerous people behind bars.

Judge Kevin Lund has ordered an evidentiary hearing in the constitutional challenge being raised on behalf of Jesus Maldonado Travis, 33, of Rochester.

Rochester attorney Ted Heim, who represents Travis, filed a motion earlier this year challenging the constitutionality of portions of the state's sex offender civil commitment laws.

The judge issued his decision Monday, ordering an evidentiary hearing to begin April 20 and last no more than three days.

The civil commitment proceedings against Travis have been on hold for years. Olmsted County filed a petition for the indefinite civil commitment in December 2005, but agreed to allow Travis to try to complete a sex offender program through the Corrections Department. However, due to violations while in the program, the county decided to move forward with Travis' civil commitment.

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Musings of an offender entering therapy

11-27-08 National:

It’s daylight, but you dare not go outside for fear you’ll be recognized. Besides, you don’t have written permission to travel. State-sponsored hatred inflated by public ignorance has made it dangerous for you to be you. Political propaganda and pop culture has twisted lies and misinformation into a reasonable facsimile of the truth. It is much better to hide and obey, secretly longing to escape to a place where you might be tolerated. But there is no such place, except the blurry details of lands across the seas that are impossible to get to. The other alternative is to assume another identity and try to pass yourself off as one of them.

“A free society is a place where it’s safe to be unpopular.”
… Adlai Stevenson



A portion of this piece was edited out for policy reasons, which we reserve the right to do so before posting.

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November 26, 2008

CT- Proof: Porn Pop-Up Teacher is Innocent, Despite Misdemeanor Plea

11-26-2008 COnnecticut:

Accused of letting impressionable students see pornographic pictures as she browsed the web in her classroom, former Connecticut school teacher Julie Amero dodged felony charges last Friday by agreeing to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge and surrendering her state teaching credentials, according to the Hartford Courant.

But if a soon-to-be released forensic report (.pdf) about her hard drive is accurate, Amero's guilty plea is hardly justice -- since the school computer had adware, the anti-virus software on the computer had been discontinued, and the technical testimony at her trial was amateurish and flawed.

Amero, a substitute teacher in Norwich, Connecticut, was arrested after students in her class reported that they'd seen pornographic images on her computer screen on Oct. 19, 2004. Amero said the computer wouldn't stop sending pop-ups and that she didn't know what to do with the computer.

In January 2007, she was convicted of four felony pornography charges and faced up to 40 years in prison.

Computer security experts, including Alex Eckelberry of Sunbelt Software, read about the case and immediately suspected Amero was the victim of rogue software and an overzealous prosecutor. He and a crack team of computer forensic experts examined the hard drive for the defense on a pro-bono basis.

Based on their March 2007 report, the judge in the case set aside the conviction in June 2007 — essentially granting Amero a new trial and raising hopes the prosecution would drop the case.

Threat Level received an advance copy of the report, which hasn't been publicly released.

Among its findings:

The school's IT manager told the jury that the anti-virus software had been updated with new virus definitions in early October, just days before the incident. But according to the system’s antivirus update log, signatures were last updated on Aug. 31, 2004 . Those signatures were from June 30, 2004, which was the last update Computer Associates ever made for that product.

The computer had no anti-spyware or firewall software. It also lacked any pop-up blocking technology.

On Oct. 12, 2004, an adware program, newdotnet, was installed onto the system, likely at the same time someone installed a 'free' Halloween screen saver. The IT manager told the jury he didn't know if adware or spyware was on the computer, and the police's forensic investigator falsely told them that there was no evidence of uncontrollable pop-ups. In fact, the forensic report found pages that reloaded more than 20 times in a second.

The jury was told that one adult web page had a red link on it, indicating that Amero had clicked on it. In fact, the computer she was using turned visited links a green color and the HTML on the web page specified that link be red for every visitor.


Prosecutors argued that Amero should have shut off the computer and by not doing so, endangered her charges at the Kelly Middle School.

Eckelberry, who led the tech team on Amero's behalf, said in a blog post that Amero wasn't in condition to endure another trial.

Amero pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge and has to pay $100 fine. ..News Source.. by Ryan Singel

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