10-7-2010 New York:
A Riverside man’s anger with a registered sex offender living and working at an area motel has landed him in Southampton Town Justice Court, where he faces second-degree harassment charges after he allegedly confronted the sex offender outside a local deli this summer.
The violation charge stems from a July 31 incident involving the two men—Kevin Zorn of Riverside and Ralph Blasi, a Level 3 sex offender now living and working at the Budget Host East End in Riverside—outside of Marta’s Deli near the hamlet’s traffic circle.
According to a complaint filed with the State Police by Mr. Blasi shortly after the incident, Mr. Zorn allegedly bumped his chest against Mr. Blasi, spit on him and cursed at him.
“I said ‘Drop the candy and let the little girls go,’” said Mr. Zorn, recalling the words he told Mr. Blasi outside the deli that day.
Mr. Zorn said this week that he worked with Mr. Blasi in the landscaping business for several months and, at the time, knew him as “Ralph Smith.” He said Mr. Blasi started working at the motel in the spring and, sometime after that, learned that Mr. Smith was actually Mr. Blasi, a Level 3 sex offender—a designation given to offenders with the highest likelihood of reoffending. Mr. Blasi was convicted of having sex with a 12-year-old girl in 2009 and served a year in prison, according to state records.
“I am fuming,” Mr. Zorn said of the idea of a released sex offender working in a motel. “My blood pressure was so sky high.”
Ever since learning his former co-worker’s true identity, Mr. Zorn has harassed Mr. Blasi off and on over the past three months, according to the complaint filed by Mr. Blasi with State Police.
In a separate interview, Mr. Blasi gave a different version of events. He said Mr. Zorn gave him work after he got out of jail, adding that Mr. Zorn always knew of his status as a registered sex offender. According to Mr. Blasi, Mr. Zorn is angry because he will no longer work for him.
“When I got out of jail, he knew my story,” said Mr. Blasi, who now works in the motel’s maintenance department. “He trusted that I didn’t do that [crime] and hooked me up with work for about a year. I used to work for him for $40 a day, and now I don’t do that no more. He got all upset.”
On August 11, Mr. Zorn plastered dozens of red posters that stated “Police Alert: Sexual Offender Level 3 Works and Lives at the Budget Hotel” on trees and telephone poles surrounding the traffic circle in Riverside.
“He thinks he’s going to harass me out of town,” said Mr. Blasi, who noted that he has been living at the motel since May. “He said he would ‘threaten me every day until I’m dead. I won’t stop until you’re out of this town.’
“I have no problem with the fliers,” added Mr. Blasi, noting that his friends took down most of them. “But when you spit in my face? I’m just trying to live with [my conviction]—there’s nothing I can do.”
But Mr. Zorn, who is scheduled to return to Southampton Town Justice Court on Tuesday, October 12, at 9 a.m., on the harassment charge, believes that he is doing his civic duty. “There’s kids and there’s a swimming pool there,” he said of the motel. “I was making a public alert.”
According to State Trooper Richard Gant, Mr. Zorn did not violate the state’s sex offender registry law when he put up the posters near the traffic circle, explaining that the registry lists the same information on its website. Still, Trooper Gant said Mr. Blasi could still claim that the incident constituted harassment, though he has never filed a complaint about the posters with police.
Mr. Blasi said he originally started living at the Budget Host East End on Suffolk County’s social services voucher plan. While staying there, he learned that motel management needed help with painting and other odd jobs, and he accepted a job as a maintenance man. He said he now makes enough to live there on his own.
“I’m working, so I can stay there,” said Mr. Blasi, adding that his home address is registered with the police, as is required by state law. “I’m painting, raking up leaves and taking out garbage.”
Mr. Blasi said that while his boss has been understanding of the situation, the ongoing harassment is beginning to take its toll. As a result, he applied for and secured a restraining order against Mr. Zorn, ordering that he stay away from the motel. ..Source..
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Riverside man charged with harassing sex offender
Waco council on Sex Offender Treatment is against the Adam Walsh Act
We must remember that the Adam Walsh Act was conceived BEHIND CLOSED DOORS with a Bush appointed Secret Service agent in the midst of that tiny group of lawmakers, and other lawmakers were prevented from voicing their opinions, by use of "Suspension of the Rules" trickery when such a bill is not intended to be heard by suspending the rules. The aim of a law crafted like that, is not truthfulness, its control plain and simple, the classification system is one designed to harm registrants and prevent them from letting the public know the truth about registrants. Strange, people do change as they mature, we all know that, but this classification system, says NO they don't! Truth or Fiction? What is the aim of AWA's classification system? There are some who see the truth...10-7-2010 Texas:
Waco-- Waco members of the Texas Council on Sex Offender Treatment are against the Adam Walsh Act for the state of Texas. The Adam Walsh Act bases the risk level of a sex offender only on the title of their offense, rather than assessing each offender to determine how dangerous they really are.
Dr. Aaron Pierce, a member of the Sex Offender Treatment council from Waco, says, "Title of offense doesn't tell us how many victims the person has, doesn't tell us if their attracted to children, and it doesn't tell us if their violent. So, there is nothing about title that's useful in determining how dangerous a sex offender is, or what we need to do with them in terms of registration."
Mr. Pierce also says that under the Walsh Act, juvenile sex offenders will be registered for the rest of their lives. He believes that juveniles should be scientifically assessed when they become older, rather than being a registered sex offender for the rest of their lives.
He says the Adam Walsh Act will also cost the state of Texas 1.7 million dollars
Members on the Texas Council on Sex Offender Treatment believe that by adopting the Adam Walsh Act, sex offenders could be labeled as high or low risk offenders when they should be labled the opposite. This could possibly cause more overall offenses. ..Source.. Katelin Kelly - Reporter
Data Overload Block Tracking of Sex Offenders
10-7-2010 National:
Data overload shuts down electronic tracking of sex offenders, others for 12 hours nationwide
A company that provides electronic monitoring to track sex offenders, parolees and others said its system shut down after unexpectedly hitting its data storage limit, leaving authorities across 49 states unaware of offenders' movement for about 12 hours.
Prisons and other corrections agencies were blocked from getting notifications on about 16,000 people being tracked, BI Incorporated spokesman Jock Waldo said Wednesday. The system operated by the Boulder, Colo.-based company reached its data threshold — more than 2 billion records — Tuesday morning.
Tracking devices continued to record movement Tuesday, but corrections agencies couldn't immediately view the data. The company has substantially increased its data storage capacity and hasn't heard of any safety issues, Waldo said. People being monitored were unaware of any problems.
"In retrospect, we should have been able to catch this," Waldo said.
BI contracts with about 900 government agencies across the country for monitoring and notification services, including real-time monitoring and delayed notifications about offender whereabouts. The agencies vary widely, and include state prison systems, sheriff's departments and pre-trial service entities, Waldo said.
In Wisconsin, prison officials had local police and probation agents detain about 140 sex offenders at local jails until the GPS tracking was back up and their whereabouts during the outage could be confirmed.
The offenders were never aware they weren't being tracked, state Department of Corrections spokeswoman Linda Eggert said. The shutdown affected about 300 people in Wisconsin, most of them sex offenders. She said the agency examined the offenders' GPS movements and was certain the shutdown didn't drive anyone to commit a new crime.
Along with GPS systems, the outage affected BI's in-home radio monitoring, typically used to check curfew compliance, and alcohol monitoring, which transmits data from home breathalyzer tests, Waldo said.
Before the shutdown, the company's database could hold 2.1 billion records, such as a GPS address or an alcohol reading, Waldo said. Company workers weren't aware of how quickly the database was filling up before it exceeded its limit, he said.
The company spent Tuesday expanding the threshold to more than a trillion records. Waldo said staff will work to develop a system that can supply early warnings as the database fills.
"People in our development group knew there was a threshold," Waldo said. "They've never in their careers ... seen a system hit such a database threshold. It speaks of the enormity of the data we collect."
Waldo said he was unsure of all the different types of offenders or defendants the company tracks. The agencies that use the company's systems decide who they want to track, and contract confidentiality clauses prevent BI from disclosing the information.
Wisconsin prison officials said Wednesday it was the first time they had faced such issues.
"Due to a system failure beyond our control, we faced a challenging and unprecedented event for our Electronic Monitoring Center," Wisconsin Department of Correction Secretary Rick Raemisch said in a statement. But thanks to the agency's emergency plan and cooperation from local law enforcement, "the situation was managed safely and efficiently with the number one priority being public safety," he said.
Eggert didn't know how many apprehension requests went out Tuesday or how many of the offenders remained in custody as of Wednesday. ..Source.. by TODD RICHMOND
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Man allegedly kills neighbor with MS
This is another case of "death by sexual circumstances."10-6-2010 California:
POSTED in RELATED DEATHS!
A Fullerton man strangled his neighbor, who had muscular sclerosis, because he caught his 18-year-old son in bed with the 43- year-old woman, and then dumped her body in San Bernardino County nearly three years ago, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.
However, Guillermo Rodriguez's attorney told jurors in opening statements of the 43-year-old man's murder trial that the evidence will not show his client killed Donna Dutton, and that a more likely suspect could be the defendant's son.
Guillermo Rodriguez Sr. is charged with murder, criminal threats and dissuading a witness from testifying.
Rodriguez threw a party Oct. 15 at the Streams apartment complex at 1251 Deerpark Drive where he worked as a maintenance man and lived with his two sons, including Guillermo Rodriguez Jr., and his girlfriend at the time, Deena Derouchey, Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevy said.
Rodriguez was dating Derouchey while he was still married to Christina Rodriguez, whom he had previously lived with in Victorville near where Dutton's body was dumped, McGreevy said.
Dutton and Rodriguez were friends and the victim brought along her daughter, who was 12 at the time, to the party, McGreevy said.
Rodriguez's attorney, Associate Public Defender Hector Chaparro, said Rodriguez was celebrating because after years of effort he had won back custody of his sons. The attorney did not say why the boys were in protective custody.
Dutton, who had been smoking medical marijuana that night and was drinking, got drunk at the party but didn't stay for dinner, McGreevy said. About 10 p.m., she got into an argument with her husband, Daniel, and went back to Rodriguez's party, the prosecutor said.
The Fullerton police were called sometime after midnight because the party grew so rowdy. Still, about 1 a.m., Rodriguez and his girlfriend went to a nearby liquor store to get more beer, McGreevy said.
They weren't able to get any more liquor at the store, but when they returned Rodriguez saw his son coming out of the bedroom zipping up his pants, McGreevy said. Dutton was in the bedroom nude, the prosecutor added.
"Donna argued with him and said she was going to call protective services," McGreevy said, adding that's when Rodriguez told his son and girlfriend to leave the room.
Dutton could be heard screaming for help and saying, "I just want to go home," McGreevy said.
"The defendant took off his belt, wrapped it around her neck and strangled her until she died," McGreevy said, adding Rodriguez warned the others not to say anything.
The next day when Derouchey returned from work, Rodriguez made his son and girlfriend help put the body in the car, McGreevy said. Then Rodriguez and Derouchey drove up to the Victorville area with body where it was dumped, McGreevy said.
Five days later, hunters found Dutton's body next to Highway 138 in rural Devore in San Bernardino County, McGreevy said.
Fullerton police interviewed Rodriguez, his son and Derouchey multiple times from October through March 2007, McGreevy said. In December 2006 Rodriguez allegedly confessed to his wife at a Fullerton Laundromat, and she went to authorities in March 2007, the prosecutor said.
Rodriguez is also charged with trying to persuade his wife to not cooperate with authorities, and a phone call the prosecutor said will prove that will be played for the jury, McGreevy said.
In May 2007, Derouchey agreed to testify for the prosecution when she was granted immunity from being charged as an accessory to the murder, McGreevy said. Rodriguez was arrested May 31, 2007, and his son pleaded guilty Jan. 8, 2008, to being an accessory to the murder and was sentenced to a year in jail and three years of formal probation.
Chaparro told jurors they cannot depend on the testimony of Derouchey and Rodriguez Jr. because they both cut deals with prosecutors. He suggested that after several interviews with police, the two just told investigators what they wanted to hear to escape murder charges.
Chaparro said Dutton was prone to mood swings and explosions of anger because of her disease and her drinking and drug use. The defense attorney said she seduced Rodriguez Jr. as they smoked "a bowl or two" of marijuana.
Rodriguez Jr. did not tell police initially that he had sex with Dutton because he was afraid they'd view him as a suspect, Chaparro said. The defense attorney said police threatened him with a rape charge if he didn't cooperate.
Derouchey's testimony is equally suspect, Chaparro said.
"She didn't go to police and say she had a change of heart, I lied," Chaparro said.
Instead, she went to an attorney, composed a statement to police and then regurgitated investigators' theory of what happened when Dutton was killed, Chaparro said.
Jurors should be skeptical of Christina Rodriguez as well because she wasn't a witness to the slaying and she had an unusual relationship with her husband and his girlfriend Derouchey.
Before the murder, Christina Rodriguez left the Fullerton apartment with her two daughters when she learned of her husband's affair, Chaparro said.
"She was not happy about this -- upset, jealous," Chaparro said.
After Dutton's murder, Derouchey, who was a rental agent at the apartment complex, was fired from her job along with Rodriguez because they violated rules against co-workers dating, the defense attorney said.
The two then went to live elsewhere in Fullerton and for some reason Christina Rodriguez went to live with them and Rodriguez's four sons, Chaparro said.
Rodriguez told his wife about the murder because he was attempting to woo back Christina, who wanted Derouchey out, and Rodriguez wanted to protect his son, Chaparro said.
"He was so very intent on not letting them get taken away that he would do whatever it took to protect his sons," Chaparro said.
"At the end of the day, the question is going to be, `Is the right person on trial?' " Chaparro said. ..Source.. Contra Costa Times
Iowa Court of Appeals rules in Clarke County sex offender registry case
10-6-2010 Iowa:
The Iowa Court of Appeals has ruled in a Clarke County case involving registration requirements for convicted sex offenders. Joseph Adams was convicted of third-degree sexual abuse in 1999 and as a result is required to notify the Clarke County Sheriff when he changes his residence, and under the sex offender law is not allowed to live within 2,000 feet of a public elementary school.
Adams did register his residence in Murray, but in 2008 he stay three straight nights at the home of his fiancee in Osceola. The fiancee’s home is within 2,000 feet of an elementary school, and Adams did not register the Osceola home as his new address. Adams was found guilty in district court of violating the sex offender registry requirements, but appealed saying he did not know that sleeping at his fiancee’s house for three days would constitute a change in residence, and said the law’s registration requirements were unconstitutionally vague.
The Appeals court says the law defines a residence as a place where a person “habitually sleeps” and said the definition of the law was not vague. The Appeals Court however did rule that there was nothing to show that Adams knew or should have known he had to register a change of address, so the court said it could not uphold the conviction for violating those requirements of the law. ..Source.. by Radio Iowa
Police: Spike in homeless sex offenders in LA
Homeless number skyrocket, and somehow, this makes society SAFER? Talk about warped thinking!10-6-2010 California:
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Increasing numbers of registered sex offenders are ending up homeless in Los Angeles as neighboring communities comply with Jessica's Law, a police official said Tuesday.
Detective Diane Webb told members of the Los Angeles Police Commission there are 576 homeless registered sex offenders living in the city, up from 191 in 2007 — the year California implemented Jessica's Law.
The law prohibits sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools, parks and other places where children congregate.
The restrictions mean it is sometimes tough for offenders to find housing that complies with the law. Smaller cities, especially, have struggled to find suitable housing.
In San Francisco, for instance, almost the entire city is off-limits to registered sex offenders, Webb said.
Additionally, some cities have passed extra laws further limiting where offenders can live.
Los Angeles' large land mass means more houses here are compliant with Jessica's Law, especially in the industrial area near the harbor, which has seen registered sex offenders fill entire apartment buildings.
State funding for parolees to live in these units is available only for 60 days after the parolee's release. When it runs out, Webb said some offenders end up on nearby streets, an unintended consequence of Jessica's Law.
Though police are concerned the high homeless rate among registered sex offenders could result in a greater rate of recidivism, there is no evidence to show that has happened yet.
"If you are living under a bridge somewhere, you are not living near your family support system," Webb said. "You are more unstable."
Since Jessica's Law was implemented, the number of homeless registered sex offenders in all of California has increased from 2,049 to 5,064.
Part of the increase is due to the nature of the sex-offender registry. Once placed on it, most people remain on listed for life.
A publicly available database provides information on the whereabouts of registered sex offenders, a requirement of a different law. ..Source.. by THOMAS WATKINS
Sex Offender in Jail due to GPS System Failure
The idiots have it! Is it any wonder why states are going broke, they keep employing these idiots... This is another case of STUPIDITY!10-6-2010 Wisconsin:
RHINELANDER - Convicted sex offender Christopher Sayers was back in jail Tuesday night, but not for anything he did wrong.
Rhinelander Police Chief Mike Steffes says Sayers' GPS system failed, and when that happens, he must be taken back to jail.
Officers picked him up late Tuesday afternoon, and it wasn't just Sayers' GPS that failed.
Steffes says the GPS system for sex offenders statewide was down yesterday.
The chief isn't sure whether or not Sayers' is still in jail, but he says he will stay there until the system is up and running.
Steffes says Sayers is the only sex offender on GPS in Rhinelander. ..Source.. by WJFW Newswatch 12
Monday, October 4, 2010
Judge Orders Sex Offender to Wear Shock Belt at Trial
10-4-2010 Wisconsin:
Due to a courtroom outburst last Friday in Outagamie County, a judge orders a convicted sex offender to wear an electric shock belt during his upcoming trial.
____, 45, faces several first-degree child sexual assault charges as a repeat offender.
Police say he molested a six-year-old girl behind the Northern Inn Motel in Grand Chute back in May.
The shock belt is worn under a shirt and releases up to 70,000 volts of electricity for five to eight seconds when triggered.
Authorities say the shock belt is rarely used. ..Source.. by WBAY.com
Justices Strictly Limit Use of Stun Belts to Restrain Defendants (2002 California Appellate Case)
The use of an electronic belt that allows a court officer to administer a 50,000-volt shock lasting 8-10 seconds as a means of controlling a criminal defendant is permissible only in very narrow circumstances, the California Supreme Court ruled yesterday.
In a 6-1 decision, the high court ordered a new trial for James Allen Mar, sentenced to 26 years to life under the Three-Strikes Law after being convicted of interfering with a peace officer and resisting a peace officer causing serious bodily as a result of an incident in the Kern County city of Taft.
“In light of the nature of the device and its effect upon the wearer when activated, requiring an unwilling defendant to wear a stun belt during trial may have significant psychological consequences that may impair a defendant’s capacity to concentrate on the events of the trial, interfere with the defendant’s ability to assist his or her counsel, and adversely affect his or her demeanor in the presence of the jury,” Chief Justice Ronald M. George wrote for the court.
Because Mar’s demeanor while testifying may have been affected by fear of the belt being activated, and because the evidence in his case was so closely contested that his demeanor while testifying may have affected the outcome, the use of the belt without a showing of sufficient justification was prejudicial, George added.
‘Serious Business’
Justice Janice Rogers Brown dissented, arguing that “courtroom security is a serious business” and suggesting that the court should have either deferred to the Legislature or waited for a case with a fuller record.
“Instead, the majority, rushing to judgment after conducting an embarrassing Google.com search for information outside the record, has tied the hands of the Legislature, to the likely peril of judges, bailiffs, and ordinary citizens called upon to do their civic duty,” the dissenting jurist wrote.
Brown criticized the sources relied upon by the majority, including a comment in the St. Mary’s Law Journal and an article in the Progressive, a liberal monthly. George responded with a footnote pointing out that the St. Mary’s article has been cited by other federal and state appeals courts and that its factual statements about stun belt technology are consistent with those in other publications.
Technology Lacking
Only one type of belt is currently available, George noted. The lack of available technology that would permit the operator to administer a briefer or less powerful shock is a factor that judges must consider in deciding whether to approve the use of the Stun-Tech Remote Electronically Activated Control Technology, or REACT, belt, the chief justice said.
While state and federal courts have laid down clear guidelines on the use of more traditional, low-tech, restraints such as chains and shackles, California courts were previously divided on whether those same rules applied to the stun belt, which is less likely to become visible to jurors.
The high court yesterday answered that question in the affirmative, and laid down additional strictures that trial judges must follow before allowing the use of the belt.
The justices overruled the Fifth District Court of Appeal, which held that there was adequate justification for requiring Mar—who had prior convictions for escape and assault, and had allegedly threatened correctional officers and his own attorney shortly before trial—to wear the belt.
Before the wearing of the belt may be ordered, George said, the trial court must first that a defendant poses “a sufficient danger of violent conduct in the courtroom to demonstrate a manifest need for the use of a restraint.” That determination must be made on the basis of facts on the record, the chief justice emphasized.
Once it finds that restraints are necessary, the chief justice said, the trial judge must also consider the peculiar risks of the stun belt including the possibility of accidental activation, any medical condition that would render use of the device on a particular defendant unduly dangerous, and the psychological effect on the defendant’s ability to testify and to assist counsel.
There must also be a specific finding that the use of more traditional restraints will not meet the security needs of the court, George said.
Los Angeles County’s use of the belt gained national attention when a belligerent defendant with a significant criminal history was shocked by deputies while jurors were considering the “strike” allegations in the second phase of his 1998 trial.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani ordered the jolt after Ronnie Hawkins interrupted her repeatedly and violated her orders not to tell jurors that he was HIV-positive or that he was facing a 25-year-to-life sentence under the three-strikes law.
Hawkins had been fitted with the stun belt prior to the hearing at the request of the Sheriff’s Department after he had threatened violence while he was in custody. But use of the belt as an apparent punitive measure, rather than as a restraining device to protect court officers and the public, had a number of repercussions.
The judge drew private discipline from the Commission on Judicial Performance, and the county -in addition to paying Hawkins $250,000 to settle his civil rights lawsuit- was enjoined by a federal judge from using the belt as a form of punishment.
The injunction was upheld by a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel, which held that the use of the stun belt to subdue a defendant who is merely being verbally disruptive inhibits the ability to present a defense and thus violates the Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
The device can, however, be used if there is a security threat, the panel ruled.
Yesterday’s case is People v. Mar, 02 S.O.S. 4412.
Third Circuit Requires Hearing Before in-prison Sex Offender Classification
10-4-2010 Pennsylvania:
Plaintiff Charles Renchenski is serving a life sentence without the possibility for parole for murder in the first degree. Although he was never charged with, nor convicted of, a sexual offense, in 2005 Defendants classified Renchenski as a sex offender and recommended his enrollment in Pennsylvania’s Sex Offender Treatment Program (“SOTP”).
Renchenski filed this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging that his forced participation in sex offender treatment therapy violates several constitutional rights, including his: Fourteenth Amendment right to due process before being labeled a sex offender; Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination; and Sixth Amendment right to have a jury adjudicate his guilt. He also challenges the District Court’s conversion of Defendants’ motion to dismiss into a summary judgment motion without granting him leave to take discovery.
Because we hold that an inmate who has never been charged with, nor convicted of, a sex offense is entitled to due process before Pennsylvania classifies him as a sex offender, we reverse the District Court’s Order entering summary judgment as to his procedural due process claim. We affirm the District Court in all other respects. ..Source.. by 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals
A Lubbock man who challenged the constitutionality of the sex offender registry has lost that appeal.
In other words the court said "We don't want to listen to your arguments, whether they have merit or not."10-4-2010 Texas:
A Lubbock man who challenged the constitutionality of the sex offender registry has lost that appeal. Virgil Lane pleaded guilty to one count of Failure To Register As A Sex Offender on the condition that he get to continue his appeal on constitutional grounds. In a one-page response, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals says the constitutional issue of a sex offender registry has already been settled. ..Source..
When the Abuser Is No Stranger
10-4-2010 National:
Throughout her school years, Erin Merryn of Schaumburg, Ill., received plenty of lessons in the dangers her elders thought she could encounter during her childhood. She was taught how to ride out a tornado, instructed in the eight steps for turning down illegal drugs, and told how to react to a friendly stranger who might try to abduct her. But nothing prepared her for two traumatizing events that have turned Merryn, now 25, into an activist, determined to prevent the same thing from happening to other children.
The first episode began on a warm May night in 1991. Merryn, then 6, was excited about her first sleepover with her kindergarten classmate Ashley. After an evening of playing with Ashley's dollhouse and watching The Little Mermaid, the girls went to bed in Ashley's room. Merryn lay on blankets on the floor next to Ashley, who was in her bed. In the wee hours of the night, Ashley's uncle "Richard" (not his real name), who lived in the house with his niece, appeared in the darkened room. He sat down in front of Merryn and put his finger to his lips signaling her to remain quiet. Seconds later his hand was down her pants. Merryn was as bewildered as she was frightened. "I didn't understand what was going on," she says. "I just stared at the ceiling waiting for it to end." Her friend slept through the assault, and Merryn remained silent.
Merryn kept her confusion to herself. She didn't want to stop visiting her friend but tried to find times when Richard wasn't around. She wasn't always successful. The man, then in his late 20s, abused her several more times in the next year, including, she says, raping her during a daytime visit when she thought he wouldn't be home.
When Merryn eventually confided in Ashley about what had happened, her friend was not surprised; in fact, the scene was depressingly familiar to her. But Ashley begged her not to say anything because Richard had told her they would "lose the house" if the girls told anyone. Says Merryn: "[Ashley] made me pinky promise not to say anything."
Merryn's family, including her two sisters, moved to another neighborhood in the same town when Merryn was 8, and she stopped seeing Ashley. But at age 11, Merryn's second nightmare began. At a family gathering at her grandparents' lake house, she awoke in the middle of the night to find her cousin "Brian" (again, not his real name), then 13, lying next to her with his hands down her underwear. He continued to abuse her on and off for nearly two years, she says, often at holidays and celebrations with her close-knit extended family. He cornered her in basements, bathrooms and bedrooms, always reminding her that she shouldn't bother telling anyone because no one would believe her. It ended only after a chance conversation between Merryn and one of her sisters, who blurted out one day that their cousin Brian was "gross." Merryn realized he had been molesting her sister too. They talked for hours about what had happened, and the next day told their parents about their shared horror.
The family pressed charges against Brian, who ultimately admitted to three counts of sexual abuse. The case never went to trial, and Brian received some counseling, but no punishment. The two families have ceased having contact.
Merryn's experiences belie the more common parental fears of "stranger danger." Young children tend to hear a lot of messages about avoiding interactions with people they don't know, when in reality they are far more likely to face harm from a relative or family friend. Victims of abuse know their perpetrators 80% to 90% of the time, says David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.
For a long time, Merryn didn't know what to do with her anger and fear as an abused child. She spent one afternoon at a park breaking discarded bottles. She didn't tell any adults what had happened to her. "I didn't realize that what had happened wasn't my fault. I didn't know the difference between a safe and an unsafe secret," Merryn says. Later, she helped herself heal by writing two books about her experiences (Stolen Innocence and Living for Today).
Now she is moving into political action. Earlier this year, Merryn reached out to Illinois legislators about the need for schools to adopt age-appropriate curriculum on child sexual abuse. Republican state senator Tim Bivins championed what became known as "Erin's Law," which passed the state senate unanimously. The legislation, which is expected to be taken up by the House in November, would create a task force to devise strategies for reducing child sexual abuse throughout the state and permit school boards to implement similar measures. The aim is to bring into the classroom (for students from pre-K through fifth grade) what is seldom discussed openly: that even trusted family members and friends can pose a threat to their well-being. Teachers would also be trained to recognize warning signs that their students have been sexually abused, including mood swings or acting distant at odd times, and be able to tell students where to go for assistance if they have been victimized.
A poised and charismatic speaker, Merryn has traveled the country making speeches to law-enforcement and abuse-prevention groups. And she will soon tell her story on Oprah, which she hopes will give her effort the jolt it needs to become a nationwide movement.
Erin's Law would not be the first statewide effort to tackle this issue. Ohio and New Jersey have statewide mandates to implement abuse-prevention programs in their schools, according to Finkelhor, and Texas passed a similar prevention measure in 2009. The problem, Finkelhor says, is getting schools to focus on the issue at a time when resources are limited and their priorities are on beefing up academic programs — which has put ancillary efforts such as anti-bullying and mental-health issues on the back burner. "I don't think schools would be resistant to the idea that this prevention is needed," he says. "But there are so many other demands on them these days." Nor are they likely to have the resources to provide the kind of intensive curriculum that is necessary. A guest speaker for 45 minutes wouldn't be very helpful, says Finkelhor: "The best programs are very intensive and expensive."
The attention on sexual abuse of children in recent years, along with increases in the numbers of law-enforcement and child-protection personnel, has made an impact. According to Finkelhor, national child maltreatment data show that the rate of sex abuse against children under 18 declined 58% between 1992 and 2008, when the number of substantiated cases was reported to be a still disturbing 68,500. As Finkelhor notes, "It's still a major source of trauma and long-term dysfunction in children."
Merryn, who got a master's degree in social work, focusing on sexual-abuse prevention, is determined to keep up her campaign to make her cause a national movement. "I don't want parents to think they need to put a bubble around their kids 24/7," she says. "We need to give kids the knowledge and tools they need to come forward when something happens. I had my innocence taken. I don't want it to happen to anyone else." ..Source.. Wendy Cole / Chicago
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Sex registry lie not proven
Here we have a case where a prosecutor clearly abused his discretionary power. Simply said, he tried to over-charge this man, the court recognized that and dismissed the charge.10-3-2010 New York:
CANTON — Raymond C. Miller Sr. was found innocent Wednesday by a St. Lawrence County judge on charges that he gave authorities the wrong address when registering as a sex offender.
Judge Jerome J. Richards ruled in the two-day nonjury trial that prosecutors didn't prove that Miller, 38, with no address listed, had lied when he filled out a sex-offender registry address form. Miller was charged with failing to register as a sex offender and first-degree offering a false instrument for filing.
He was released from St. Lawrence County jail on Oct. 26 and registered an address of 498 S. Main St. in the village of Massena. Miller testified in his own defense that he believed he could live there, but later learned after his release that he wasn't welcome at the woman's South Main Street apartment.
"It was possible, but not very likely, for him to live there," Judge Richards said.
Miller also testified he then stayed overnight in a Norfolk garage before going the next day to the Department of Social Services for temporary housing assistance. He was arrested the evening of Oct. 27 when found at Bob's Motel on Trippany Road in the town of Massena. He was placed there by Social Services.
The judge said that state law doesn't specifically address this type of situation and that the state Legislature should enact stricter rules and shorter time periods about how sex offenders register addresses. Judge Richards found that Miller legally had 10 days to register a new address after the South Main Street apartment didn't work out.
Miller is a Level 3 sex offender owing to a 1996 conviction for the attempted first-degree rape of a 32-year-old woman in Schenectady.
Defense attorney Brian D. Pilatzke represented Miller. Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Becker prosecuted the case.
Miller still faces charges in separate cases relating to the alleged theft of a GPS supervision device and punching another inmate while at county jail. He remains jailed without bail on the inmate assault charge. ..Source.. by DAVID WINTERS, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Changes in sex offender law expands number in registry
The issue of the child pornography requiring registration is a state issue, before this law that crime did not require registration. However, the portion of this article that mentions, folks no longer required to register, if they commit a new crime of any type then they must register again, that requirement will very likely be the thing that causes a court to declare the registry punishment. Hopefully those folks will raise the issue when they are so charged, and take it all the way to the U.S. Sup court.10-3-2010 Maryland:
‘If they commit a crime, any crime, they can become registerable for their former offense’
Changes in Maryland’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification law took effect Friday and will add new offenses that require people to register, including possession of child pornography, and increase the number of years offenders spend on the list.
“It absolutely will expand the number of people included in the registry,” Washington County Deputy State’s Attorney Joseph Michael said Thursday.
Not only will new offenders be added to the registry, but the law allows some offenders to be added retroactively, Michael said.
Someone convicted of possession of child pornography, for example, would not have been required to register under the old law, Michael said. However, if that person is in prison, on parole or on supervised probation for an offense predating the law’s effective date of Oct. 1, they will be required to register for 15 years, he said.
Even past sexual offenders who served their sentences and no longer are on probation or parole could find themselves having to register if they commit a new crime, Michael said.
“If they commit a crime, any crime, they can become registerable for their former offense,” Michael said.
Another offense added to the list is fourth-degree sexual offense, a crime that can include a wide range of nonviolent sexual offenses, including sexual contact without the consent of the victim and statutory sexual crimes, such as sexual contact between a victim ages 14 or 15 and a perpetrator four or more years older, according to state law.
Registration periods also will last longer. Under the old law, the terms were either 10 years or life on the registry, depending on the seriousness of the offense. Now, the law has three tiers, based on the levels of offense, of 15 years, 25 years and life.
Tier I includes offenses such as possession of child pornography, fourth-degree sex offense and visual surveillance with prurient intent, according to a summary of the law. Tier II lists offenses such as distribution of child pornography and sexual solicitation of a minor, while Tier III offenses include rape, incest, kidnapping, forcible sodomy and other felonies.
After 10 years, a Tier I registrant may petition the state to have their name removed from the registry, if required conditions are met, a summary of the law states.
Some offenders have attempted to avoid the registration requirements through the courts, Michael said.
Brian Hanford Murphy, a former Maryland state trooper who was convicted of possession of child pornography in 2007, filed a motion to accelerate the hearing date on a motion to modify his sentence so that he would not have to register, according to Washington County District Court records. The motion noted that “one section of the new law requires Murphy to register as of Oct. 1, 2010,” despite the fact that he was not required to register at the time of his conviction.
“Should Murphy’s probation be terminated or switched to unsupervised as of Sept. 29, 2010, the retroactive provision of the new statute becomes inapplicable,” the petition stated.
Murphy’s hearing is scheduled for Nov. 18, court records show.
In July, former Boonsboro Middle School teacher Robert Merle Haines Jr. petitioned unsuccessfully for a declaratory judgment to have his name removed from the registry, Washington County Circuit Court records show. Haines’ petition noted the crime he pleaded guilty to in 2006, custodial child abuse, did not required him to register.
The changes bring the Maryland law into compliance with the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), which was intended to impose a more-consistent national standard for registration of sex offenders, according to a Sept. 22 letter from Maryland Sex Offender Registry Manager Elizabeth Bartholomew to Washington County State’s Attorney Charles P. Strong Jr.
Federal justice assistance grants to states were tied to complying with SORNA, the letter said. ..Source.. by DON AINES
Sex offender tracking goes high tech in Georgetown Co.
Some folks prefer to call the garbage man a sanitation engineer here we have the police claiming folks can use the registry to obtain a "Geographic Risk Assessment" using "geopgraphical tools" of the registry website. What a joke, the registry is noting more than a telephone book with pictures. I guess the telephone book is actually a "geographical tool" to assess, assess, assess what? Yes, Risk Assessments of local places of business?10-3-2010 South Carolina:
GEORGETOWN COUNTY, SC (WMBF) - More than 100 people living in Georgetown County are registered as sex offenders, and now officials are asking parents to hit the web to find out who they are.
The call for action by Georgetown County Sheriff A. Lane Cribb comes as hundreds of children prepare to hit the streets for trick-or-treating in celebration of Halloween.
Cribb hopes the efforts of the department's Sex Offender Watch program will prevent children from knocking on the doors of registered offenders.
"Over the past several years, the public has shown an increased interest about information on sex offenders living in close proximity of their neighborhood," Cribb said. "Halloween is one of the best times for citizens to utilize the program."
The Georgetown County Sheriff's Office has integrated sex offender tracking technology into its website, in hopes of keeping people informed about sex offenders living within the county. Those who log on to the site have instant access to geographical tools to assess the risks of area offenders and receive community emails.
"The geographic risk assessment allows citizens to insert their address, the address of their child's school or any address they may have a concern about," Cribb explained. "Once they have inserted an address, they will be able to locate and view sex offenders within one mile of the concerned address." ..Source.. WMBF News
Friday, October 1, 2010
Audit finds sex offenders living in homes for state-protected children
A couple of problems with this audit, first, only ONE of the matching addresses was actually verified to be the home of a RSO; and second, they failed to check to see if the RSOs were juvenile RSOs placed in the foster settings. One other point, there was no check to see if the address of licensed care setting was current, they could have moved since their license was issued.10-1-2010 Kentucky:
A state audit released Thursday found 30 matches when comparing the addresses of Kentucky's registered sex offenders to the addresses of state-regulated child-care centers or homes.
In its response to state Auditor Crit Luallen, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services confirmed that sex offenders on Kentucky's registry lived in 12 of the 30 homes. The cabinet could not determine the residency status of eight sex offenders. And they found that 10 others were not living at the addresses identified, according to the audit.
Luallen's audit recommended that the cabinet start cross-checking the addresses of registered sex offenders with homes the state regulates.
Cabinet officials said Thursday they would immediately implement that procedure, checking at the time of application and when renewals or reassessments occur. Current procedures include criminal background checks for people participating in state-supported programs, but state law does not require cabinet officials to match the addresses with those on the sex-offender registry.
"The bottom line is that any time the state is responsible for the safety and security of children, we have to be sure that we are using every possible tool to guarantee that those children are secure," Luallen said in an interview Thursday.
Auditors twice compared the addresses — in June 2009 and in March 2010 — of registered sex offenders with the addresses of foster or adoptive homes, homes involved in kinship care — when relatives have temporary custody of a child — and in-home child-care providers who are registered by the state.
Children were not living at the majority of the homes at the same time as sex offenders, cabinet officials said in response to the audit.
If children were in homes with sex offenders, cabinet officials said, they took immediate action after seeing the audit.
As a result of the audit, two foster homes and seven in-home child-care providers have been closed, Department for Community Based Services Commissioner Patricia Wilson said in an interview Thursday.
Additionally, Wilson said the department took action involving two kinship-care homes. She would not discuss the specifics, citing confidentiality laws.
The cabinet has assured the well-being of all children in the cases, Wilson said.
"We do not believe that those children were harmed, and they are currently safe," she said.
Wilson said she could not say where the homes were located because of state and federal confidentiality laws.
The audit found that the Department for Community Based Services' initial response to the investigation's findings was deficient in determining whether a sex offender lived at a specific address. In every case but one, the state used food-stamp or driver's-license records instead of making home visits.
Although at least 21 of the 30 sex offenders with matched addresses were convicted of crimes against children under the age of 15, the initial cabinet review process did not include steps to make a definite determination whether the sex offender was or had been living at the matched addresses, the audit said.
"We had serious concerns about the cabinet's initial response," Luallen said Thursday. "During the first period of response over the last year or so, there were a number of the matches that were not followed up on ... . The cabinet felt that it was constrained in its existing legal authority. We thought they had the latitude to do more."
When the audit was reviewed at higher levels of management in the cabinet, the response was significant, and the end result has been positive, Luallen said.
The audit calls for stronger controls, such as a mandatory home visit by the state in cases when paperwork cannot determine whether a sex offender lives at an address. Since the audit, the cabinet has made home visits to all addresses matched in the audit, according to a news release from Luallen's office.
"The use of the sex offender registry will be a powerful additional aid to our staff to assure that sex offenders' whereabouts are known to assure that children are being cared for in safe settings," department commissioner Wilson said in her response to the audit.
Gov. Steve Beshear said in a statement issued by the cabinet that he was "grateful" for the audit.
"My administration is committed to keeping our children safe, and this tool will help us lead the nation in these efforts," Beshear said.
As a result of the audit, the cabinet is working with Kentucky State Police to identify ways to streamline the sex offender registry match process to make it easier to compare addresses, officials said Thursday.
Also, a flier advertising the availability of the sex offender registry will be provided to all parents who apply for and are approved for child-care subsidies.
The audit also found that the cabinet's address records for 3,266 regulated child-care providers did not indicate a physical location. Wilson said physical addresses were in other cabinet files and they knew where the children were, but the physical addresses might differ from mailing addresses and might not appear on databases.
Wilson said the cabinet would explore ways to ensure that physical addresses and mailing addresses are recorded for those receiving benefit payments.
..Source..
