Couple Can Sue Laptop-Tracking Company for Spying on Sex Chats

Does everyone know where their laptops came from? This teacher will not have to work after these lawsuits.

8-31-2011 Ohio:

An Ohio woman and her boyfriend can sue a laptop-tracking company that recorded their sexually explicit communications in an effort to identify thieves who stole the computer the woman was using.

U.S. District Judge Walter Rice ruled last week against Absolute Software, which provides software and services for tracking stolen computers. Absolute sought a summary judgment in its favor, insisting that one of its theft recovery agents acted properly when he captured sexually explicit images of Susan Clements-Jeffrey communicating via webcam with her boyfriend and passed them to police in an effort to recover the stolen computer.

But the judge found that there were grounds to believe Absolute had gone too far, and that a jury might reasonably decide that it had violated the plaintiffs’ privacy and broken the law. The case raises an important issue about the length that someone can legally go to recover stolen goods.

“It is one thing to cause a stolen computer to report its IP address or its geographical location in an effort to track it down,” Rice wrote in his decision (.pdf). “It is something entirely different to violate federal wiretapping laws by intercepting the electronic communications of the person using the stolen laptop.”

The case revolves around a laptop that Clements-Jeffrey, a substitute teacher, bought from one of her students in 2008.

The laptop belonged to Clark County School District in Ohio, and had been stolen from one of its students in April 2008. Another student at Kiefer Alternative School subsequently purchased the laptop at a bus station for $40, even though he suspected it was stolen, and turned around and offered it to Clements-Jeffrey for $60.

Clements-Jeffrey, who was a long-term substitute teacher at Kiefer, says the student told her his aunt and uncle had given him the laptop, but that he no longer needed it after getting a new one. She asserts she had no idea the computer was stolen.

Clements-Jeffrey, described in court papers as a 52-year-old widow, had recently renewed a romance with her high school sweetheart, Carlton Smith, who lived in Boston. In the course of their courtship, she exchanged sexually explicit email and instant messages with her beau, using the computer she had just purchased.

What she didn’t know was that Clark County School District, which legally owned the laptop, had purchased Absolute’s theft recovery service, which includes the installation of its remote-recovery software LoJack, onto client computers. The system gives Absolute employees remote access to a stolen computer and allows them to record and intercept any data from the machine.

After the school district reported the laptop stolen, Absolute began collecting the IP address from Clements-Jeffrey’s laptop when it connected to the internet.

Ordinarily, the next step would be for Absolute to provide a suspect’s IP address to law enforcement agents, so that they could issue a subpoena to the suspect’s ISP to obtain the user’s name and physical address. But Absolute’s theft officer Kyle Magnus went further and began to remotely intercept e-mail and other electronic communications going to and from Clements-Jeffrey’s machine in real time.

According to court documents, in June 2008 Magnus began recording Clements-Jeffrey’s keystrokes and monitoring her web surfing. At one point, while snooping on Clements-Jeffrey’s webcam communications with her boyfriend, Magnus also captured three screenshots from her laptop monitor, which showed Clements-Jeffrey naked in the webcam images. In one picture, her legs were spread apart.

Magnus subsequently sent the pictures and recorded communications, along with Clements-Jeffrey’s name and contact information, to a police detective. When the police showed up at the plaintiff’s apartment to collect the laptop, they were brandishing the explicit images Magnus had sent them. They then arrested and charged her for receiving stolen property. The charges, however, were dismissed about a week later.

Clements-Jeffrey and her boyfriend, Smith, sued Absolute Software, Kyle Magnus, the city of Springfield, Ohio, and two police officers. The plaintiffs allege that the police violated their Fourth Amendment rights, and that Absolute violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Stored Communications Act and intentionally invaded their privacy.

The case rests largely on whether Clements-Jeffrey knew the laptop she bought was stolen and whether she and her boyfriend then had a reasonable expectation of privacy.

The defendants moved for summary judgment on grounds that courts have ruled in the past that there is no legitimate expectation of privacy in cases involving known stolen property. They asserted that Clements-Jeffrey should have known the laptop was stolen based in part on the $60 price the seller was asking for it and on the fact that the serial number had been scraped off the bottom of the machine.

Clements-Jeffrey, however, asserted she never noticed the missing serial number and had no reason to doubt the asking price for the two-year-old machine, since the computer had been wiped clean of software before she bought it. She said Absolute had a right to collect her IP address in an effort to track the laptop, but that it broke the law when it intercepted her communications to track her and then passed those images to police. The ECPA statute prohibits intercepting or disclosing the contents of someone’s wire or other electronic communications without their knowledge.

Absolute also insisted it was acting on behalf of its customer, the school district, and therefore was covered under “color of law” and “safe harbor” statutes. The company cited its agreement with the school district, which gives Absolute’s staff “the ability to view and recover any files that are present” on the school’s computers.

But the school district has asserted that it never knew this meant that Absolute would intercept communications that a suspected thief might have with third parties.

The judge ultimately ruled that although Absolute might have had a noble purpose in assisting the school district in recovering its laptop, “a reasonable jury could find that they crossed an impermissible boundary.”

According to Absolute’s web site, it recovers on average 14 laptops a day. Asked if the company’s agents have changed the way they operate in light of the lawsuit, Absolute spokesman Stephen Midgley declined to respond. “Because it’s currently still under legal proceedings, Absolute isn’t commenting on the story at this time,” he said. ..Source.. by Kim Zetter

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Level 3 sex offender hopes public registry will end for the rehabilitated

Listen: Erik Mart
Do sex offender registries work? Registered sex offender Erik Mart of Quilcene, who advocates for the rehabilitation of sex offenders, gives his perspective to John Curley and Rachel Belle.

8-31-2011 National:

A Level 3 registered sex offender hopes that one day the law will change, and he doesn't have to be a publicly registered sex offender for the rest of his life.

Research from the University of Chicago has found that while sexual offender data bases may make people feel safer it doesn't necessarily improve the safety of the community.

"I found that the sex offenses, the rates of rape instances, did not decrease after we started the registries, and after we started public notifications via the internet," Amanda Agan tells 97.3 KIRO FM's Ross & Burbank Show.

When you force a person to be registered as a sex offender is the reaction of the offender, 'what do I have to lose?'

Erik Mart tells 97.3 KIRO FM's Ron & Don Show, that while he hasn't had a problem re-offending, he has heard some have that reaction of desperation.

Mart says that the public registry makes it difficult for offenders who have been rehabilitated to carry on with a normal life. "It's extremely difficult to find a job and housing and to have a good relationship, all the things that make stability for a person."

He said he's been judged by the community he lives in, but wishes people would put the shoe on the other foot. "A person is more than the mistakes they make. If we were all judged by our mistakes we'd all be in trouble [...] People perceive that sex offenders are not human," he says, "I'm as human as anyone else [...] I would like to live a good life."

According to Mart, the registry is an ongoing punishment. "My registry is for my lifetime, but I'm hoping that one day it will be removed." He says that if he's demonstrated his rehabilitation that he'd like to no longer publicly register as a sex offender since he's not a risk to the community.

Mart said he went through sex offender treatment that included group therapy and polygraph testing. Additionally, Mart said he believes that those at risk to reoffend, usually aren't a risk to the community, because they're still locked up. "People that are very severe usually stay in prison."

Mart has a blog where he discuss life as a rehabilitated offender and his experiences working with other rehabilitated sex offenders that hope to make good out of their life, even though some would rather, force them out of town, "just for their label." ..Source.. by John Curley and Rachel Belle

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Juror attempts to 'friend' defendant on Facebook

Better off the jury than on! ------

8-31-2011 National:

FORT WORTH, Texas - When you're trying to decide the guilt or innocence of someone on trial, it's probably not a good idea to 'friend' that person on Facebook.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports 22-year-old Jonathan Hudson was removed from a jury last month after trying to add the defendant as a Facebook friend.

The civil trial was over a 2008 car wreck and proceeded with 11 jurors.

Hudson had received jury instructions specifically forbidding jurors from discussing the case on social networks. He pleaded guilty last week to four counts of contempt and will serve two days of community service. ..Source.. by ABC2.com

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Young Love Gets Help From Law Change

8-31-2011 Texas:

MIDLAND - Imagine being a teen and having to register as a sex offender for life.

All because you and your high school sweetheart decided together to have sex.

Now some changes are being made to a controversial law to keep these kids from being stuck with a label that ruins their lives.

It's called the Romeo and Juliet law, and after Thursday, the law is going to change so officials can focus on tracking down violent sex offenders instead of teens who made a bad decision.

It's a modern take on the Shakespeare classic. Two lovers torn apart, not by their parents but by the law.

"It can be two people that want to have sex with each other but because of their age, the law says that's not permissible," Midland County Asst. D.A., Stephen Stallings, said.

Right now, Texas law says it's illegal if an adult has sex with a minor who's at least three years younger than them.

Once convicted, that person is required to register as a sex offender. But now part of the law is changing but only for couples who have no more than a four year age gap.

"As an example, if you had a 19-year-old girl and she was having sex with a 15 and a half year old boy, that's considered sexual assault," Stallings said. "They're within four years of age, they're more than three years apart so it's still an offense."

But starting September 1st, the person could petition in front of a judge to have their name taken off the sex offender registry.

Stallings said this change is meant to distinguish between sexual predators and teens who simply made a mistake.

"Boys and girls are going to be boys and girls," Stallings said. "They're still wrong, they've still committed an offense but they're not likely to reoffend."

Some in the Tall City think this is a good thing.

"It takes two to tango," Resident, Anthony Tijerina, said. "When you hear pedophile or sex offender, you think 'oh they messed with a little kid.' You can't really judge anybody if you don't know both sides to the story."

"I have a daughter that's in high school and if she's ok with it and it's consensual, I guess I would have to be ok with it too," Resident, Joshua Graham, said. "Kids are far more advanced than we were in high school."

While many agree it's good to focus on the repeat offenders, others think teens should know better.

"When you're older it sounds right, 20 and a 24-year-old but when you're 16, you don't need to be with a 20 year old," Resident, Paige Johnson, said.

However, Stallings said kids will be kids.

"The legislature has come to the conclusion that they shouldn't be in the same category as those folks and I think that's the right thing to do," Stallings said.

Right now, Stallings said it's not clear whether this change will affect young people who have already been convicted and had to register as a sex offender. ..Source.. by Geena Martinez

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Sex offender’s attorney argues ordinance

8-30-2011 New York:

NORTH TONAWANDA — An attorney representing a convicted sex offender who is suing the City of North Tonawanda and Niagara County to challenge an ordinance barring him from living within 1,320 feet of a school, playground or daycare center said the law is overly severe.

Kathy Manley, of Kindlon Shanks and Associates in Albany, said the ordinance exceeds the state residency restriction of 1,000 feet.

“It would be nice if the state enforced this, but that’s really not how it works,” she said. “This is about the fact that localities, counties and towns are not able to regulate sex offenders. It’s something that the state has to regulate because otherwise you have every town and county making harsher and harsher laws. It pushes them underground.”

Manley said she has overturned similar ordinances in Albany, Rensselaer and Washington counties, with one more pending in Saratoga County. She argues laws that overstep state restrictions simply push sex offenders from one locale to another, which can allow for them to go into hiding.

“It is possible, that’s what happened in Iowa,” she said. “They put away more people than they really needed to monitor. It basically banished people from the whole state. They ended up changing the law. It was way too harsh.”

Manley’s client, Dale L. Goff, is due to be released in January. He has been imprisoned on his most recent charge at the Gowanda Correctional Facility since November 2006. Goff also was convicted in 1992 of molesting two boys, ages six and 10.

“He’ll be monitored, registered and required to report every 90 days,” she said.

Manley said she could not get into specifics regarding where exactly Goff would like to live, though she did believe it would be with a relative.

“I don’t know if he could find anything else,” she said. “There’s somebody there he would have been approved to live with. This comes down to not wanting people to lose all their rights.”

Manley also challenges claims by North Tonawanda attorney Shawn Nickerson, who said sex offenders have a high rate of recidivism.

“There’s actually much lower rates for most sex offenders than for the average criminal,” she said. “I feel like if we start allowing some groups of people to lose their rights, others will follow. We’re protecting everybody’s rights.”

It will likely be several months before the lawsuit is brought to court, Manley said. ..Source.. by Mike Regan Niagara Gazette

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Doctor jailed 3 years wants perjury charges for sex-assault accuser

8-29-2011 Michigan:

Dr. Labeed Nouri is building a new life. But he still has some unfinished business from his old one.

Nouri, 40, served more than three years behind bars, convicted of sexually assaulting a young woman who worked in his medical office.

He got out of prison after prosecutors learned in April that the woman and her boyfriend lied repeatedly on the witness stand when they said she was a virgin, a central issue in the case.

Nouri, who maintains his innocence, is now reunited with his wife and four children. He's back practicing as an orthopedic surgeon.

And he's on a mission: Nouri is trying to get his accuser charged with perjury.

"She took three years from me," he said. "I can never get them back. My youngest daughter was a baby when I went away. I never saw her first step, heard her say her first word. It's my turn for justice."

The woman, through her attorney, declined an interview. The Free Press is not naming her because she has not been charged with a crime.

Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, who dropped felony charges against Nouri and sought his release from prison when she learned of the perjury, said she is awaiting police reports before deciding whether to file any charges against the woman.

"We moved heaven and earth to get him out immediately when we learned of this," Cooper said.

Now free, doctor learns letter in sex assault case was forged

When Labeed Nouri was sentenced to prison in April 2010, the judge read a letter signed by his accuser's priest.

"A young girl has had her youth stolen," the letter read. "I have told her to forgive Labeed Nouri. She has forgiven him, but she needs closure on this terrible ordeal. ... It is time to grant her wish of getting her justice and put Labeed Nouri in jail where he deserves to be."

Oakland County Judge Mark Goldsmith did just that, sentencing Nouri to 10 to 20 years in prison for sexual assault convictions involving a woman who was 19 when she worked in his medical office in 2007. By then, Nouri already had spent 700 days in the Oakland County Jail awaiting trial and later trying to get his conviction overturned.

Free since April 2011, after prosecutors learned the woman had lied on the stand, Nouri said he only recently learned about another lie. The letter purported to be from the Rev. Zuhair Kejbou of St. Joseph Chaldean Catholic Church in Troy wasn't written by him.

"I have never written any letter," Kejbou told the Free Press. "Anybody can forge a signature."

Kejbou said he hasn't seen the woman, who is a member of his congregation, since he learned of the forged letter and has not questioned her or her family about it.

The woman, whom the Free Press is not naming because she has not been charged with a crime, declined an interview request through her attorney.

Nouri and his attorney Mark Kriger are calling for an investigation into the forged letter. They say that letter and others written on the accuser's behalf persuaded the judge to give Nouri a long prison sentence.

"It is a fraud and an obstruction of justice," Kriger said. "The judge relied on those letters to decide on my client's sentence, and he sentenced him to prison for 10 years. It's a travesty."

After-hours assault alleged

Nouri, a Chaldean who emigrated from Iraq in 2003, had a thriving medical practice in Hazel Park and Sterling Heights, often treating other Chaldeans in the tight-knit community. The married father was vice president of the church council at St. Toma Syriac Catholic Church in Farmington Hills.

In late May 2007, one of Nouri's Chaldean patients asked whether Nouri would hire his 19-year-old daughter, who was working at a video store. Nouri and his wife, Rouwaida Nouri, who managed his medical practice, agreed to hire her for two days a week to help with filing in their Hazel Park office.

On June 22, 2007, her sixth day of work, the woman alleged Nouri assaulted her in an exam room after hours, violating her with his fingers and touching her breasts and buttocks. The woman said the attack occurred between 7:15 and 7:23 p.m. -- saying she noticed the times on clocks in the office and in her car when she left. At 7:33 p.m., she called her boyfriend in a parking lot 2 miles from the office, telling him she had been assaulted.

Records eventually obtained by the defense show Nouri was in his office from 7:06 to 7:27 p.m., continuously dictating over the phone to a medical dictation firm.

The woman's parents took her to police and to a hospital. She refused to allow a rape exam, saying she was a virgin and such an exam would "un-virginize me," records show. A later external exam at a clinic run by Haven, a nonprofit that offers support to sexual assault victims, showed a tiny tear measuring less than half a centimeter.

Nouri was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct for the alleged touching.

Virginity plays central role

From the beginning, defense attorneys contended the woman, who lived in Sterling Heights with her parents, fabricated the story because she had been sexually active and needed to explain why she was no longer a virgin.

Virginity is highly valued in the conservative Chaldean Catholic Church. During Nouri's trial, defense attorneys presented a gynecologist who said he was frequently asked by Chaldean families to examine daughters on the eve of their weddings to verify their virginity. Sometimes, weddings were called off if a woman was found to not be a virgin.

Nouri's accuser was asked on the witness stand about her virginity.

"In those reports at the hospital and to the police and at Haven, you went to great lengths, just as you have in this courtroom this morning, to tell everyone that on June 22, 2007, you were a virgin, is that correct?" defense attorney David Griem asked.

"Yes," she answered.

"You went out of your way to tell everyone that you were a virgin. What was your purpose for doing that?" Griem asked.

She responded, "That would be why, when I had the trauma down there -- it was due to what he did."

When asked why being a virgin was important to Chaldean women, she said, "If she is not a virgin, once she does get married, the community thinks of her as being promiscuous. They will not accept her into a man's family. They expect her to be pure."

Her boyfriend was called as a prosecution witness, and he also insisted they had never had sex.

The trial lasted five days. Nouri didn't take the stand in his own defense, and his attorneys later admitted they didn't fully explain he had the right to do so -- a point brought up in his post-conviction appeals.

Initially, the jury was hung, with jurors twice asking to review the accuser's testimony. On July 2, 2008, they found Nouri guilty.

"It was a shocking case, and a shocking conviction," said Deanna Kelley, one of his defense attorneys.

Kelley said she asked jurors after the verdict how they thought Nouri could have been dictating over the phone at the same time his accuser claimed he had been assaulting her. She said jurors told her that since they couldn't reconcile the time line, they chose to disregard it. "They said they then just decided to go by their gut," she said.

From the time the allegations were made, it would be three and a half years before Nouri and his attorneys learned the accuser and her boyfriend had lied repeatedly.

During that time, as his attorneys fought to overturn his conviction, Nouri remained incarcerated.

He was repeatedly assaulted by fellow prisoners -- his nose broken and his teeth cracked. He was hospitalized for three days and received stitches to his face, according to a federal lawsuit filed against Oakland County.

Oakland County corporation counsel Keith Lerminiaux acknowledged that Nouri had been assaulted in the jail but said he had lied about the circumstances and was the aggressor in one of the attacks. He said jail personnel obtained necessary medical treatment.

"It is our position that the county is not responsible for the assaults and therefore is not liable for them," Lerminiaux said in a written statement. He also said Nouri has not cooperated with the county in answering questions and is now seeking to dismiss the lawsuit.

Admission of lies caught on tape

In late 2010, Kriger -- Nouri's appellate attorney -- was filing motions to get the conviction overturned. One day, he heard a shocking rumor.

The accuser's boyfriend had spotted Nouri's wife and four children in the community and was suddenly overcome with guilt for lying about his sexual history with the woman.

When Kriger contacted the man, he learned he and the accuser had been sexually active for months leading up to the allegation and had since broken up. Kriger asked the man to secretly record conversations with the woman. The man met with her in March, and while recording their conversation, he told her he was worried private investigators were looking into the perjury.

The accuser, according to Kriger and prosecutors who have heard the recording, admits she lied on the stand but instructs the man to keep denying it if he's questioned.

She tells him that if authorities discover credit card receipts showing she was at local motels, she will say she lent the card to a friend. She also discusses feigning a mental breakdown so she would be hospitalized, a tactic she says she hopes would discourage a continued investigation.

Kriger took the recording to prosecutors in April. Prosecutors, noting Nouri had been convicted, offered a deal: If he pleaded no contest to a low-level misdemeanor assault -- with no probation-reporting requirements and no restrictions on obtaining his medical license -- he could be free within hours and get it expunged after five years.

It took Nouri, who was sitting in a prison cell at the Kinross Correctional Facility in the Upper Peninsula, two days to agree.

"I'm thinking, 'No, I didn't do anything,' " he recalled in a recent interview, as his wife wiped away tears. "But then I think, 'I take this and I can see my kids in a day or two.' I hadn't seen them in three years. I took it."

Meanwhile, his accuser has become a licensed practical nurse.

Her attorney, Edward Bajoka, declined to discuss the accusations of perjury and said he was unaware of the forged letter. He said his client insists she was attacked by Nouri.

"She does maintain that she was sexually assaulted," he said. ..Source.. by L.L. BRASIER

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Why IP Addresses Alone Don't Identify Criminals

8-26-2011 Global:

This spring, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) executed a search warrant at the home of Nolan King and seized six computer hard drives in connection with a criminal investigation. The warrant was issued on the basis of an Internet Protocol (IP) address that traced back to an account connected to Mr. King's home, where he was operating a Tor exit relay.

An exit relay is the last computer that Tor traffic goes through before it reaches its destination. Because Tor traffic exits through these computers, their IP addresses may be misinterpreted as the source of the traffic, even though the exit node operator is neither the true origin of that traffic nor able to identify the user who is. While law enforcement officers have seized exit relays in other countries, we weren't aware of any seizures in the United States until ICE showed up at Mr. King's home.

After the computers were seized, EFF spoke with ICE and explained that Mr. King was running a Tor exit relay in his home. We pointed out that ICE could confirm on the Tor Project's web site that a computer associated with the IP address listed in the warrant was highly likely to have been running an exit relay at the date and time listed in the warrant. ICE later returned the hard drives, warning Mr. King that "this could happen again." After EFF sent a letter, however, ICE confirmed that it hadn't retained any data from the computer and that Mr. King is no longer a person of interest in the investigation.

While we think it's important to let the public know about this unfortunate event, it doesn't change our belief that running a Tor exit relay is legal. And it's worth highlighting the fact that these unnecessary incidents are avoidable, and law enforcement agents and relay operators alike can take measures to avoid them in the future.

First, an IP address doesn't automatically identify a criminal suspect. It's just a unique address for a device connected to the Internet, much like a street address identifies a building. In most cases, an IP address will identify a router that one or more computers use to connect to the Internet. Sometimes a router's IP address might correspond fairly well to a specific user—for example, a person who lives alone and has a password-protected wireless network. And tracking the IP addresses associated with a person over time can create a detailed portrait of her movements and activities in private spaces, as we've pointed out in a case in which the government is seeking IP addresses of several Twitter users in connection with the criminal investigation of Wikileaks.

But in many situations, an IP address isn't personally identifying at all. When it traces back to a router that connects to many computers at a library, cafe, university, or to an open wireless network, VPN or Tor exit relay used by any number of people, an IP address alone doesn't identify the sender of a specific message. And because of pervasive problems like botnets and malware, suspect IP addresses increasingly turn out to be mere stepping stones for the person actually "using" the computer—a person who is nowhere nearby.

This means an IP address is nothing more than a piece of information, a clue. An IP address alone is not probable cause that a person has committed a crime. Furthermore, search warrants executed solely on the basis of IP addresses have a significant likelihood of wasting officers' time and resources rather than producing helpful leads.

In the case of Tor, the police can avoid mistakenly pursuing exit relay operators by checking the IP addresses that emerge in their investigations against publicly available lists of exit relays published on the Tor Project's web site. The ExoneraTor is another tool that allows anyone to quickly and easily see whether a Tor exit relay was likely to have been running at a particular IP address during a given date and time. The Tor Project can also help law enforcement agencies set up their own systems to query IP addresses easily. These simple checks will help officers concentrate their investigative resources on tracking down those actually committing crimes and ensure that they don't execute search warrants at innocent people's homes.

If you run an exit relay, consider operating it in a Tor-friendly commercial facility instead of your home to make it less likely that law enforcement agents will show up at your door. Also follow the Tor Project's advice for running an exit relay, which includes setting up a reverse DNS name for your IP address that makes it clear your computer is running an exit relay. ..Source.. by Marcia Hofmann

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Anatomy of how a boy's rape lie, and the media's rush to judgment, can turn an innocent life upside down

8-26-2011 National:

There is a villain in the false rape milieu who is rarely blamed.

He or she is typically pretty, articulate, and damn scary.

The villain is your local television news journalist reporting on a rape claim, and he or she often does more harm to the accused than the actual rape liar.

This is an important, and almost entirely overlooked phenomenon that can and needs to be corrected.

A 48-year-old Kentucky man, who had no prior criminal record aside from some traffic tickets, was falsely accused of rape by a 12-year-old boy. The boy had been swimming with two girls and another boy in a lake near their homes when they saw an old, white former police car circling the neighborhood before parking near a wooded area that surrounds the lake. "I seen the white car keep going up and down the street, like three or four times," said the young accuser.

The man got out of the car, and the boy yelled to his friends "run, run, run." Apparently the boy's friends took off and left the scene. The boy described the alleged rape: "He put his hand over my eyes and covered my eyes then drug me to the woods and pushed me into the dirt, then pinned me down," the boy said. The boy claimed that when the man let go of him, the boy turned around and caught a glimpse of his face. That's how he was able to supposedly identify the man.

A television news reporter had the boy tell his frightening story on the air. "This is like my worst nightmare," the boy confided to the entire viewing area.

Police said they linked the man to the crime through a vehicle description and a positive identification by the "victim." Within hours, before any forensic evidence was collected, and based solely on the word of the boy, the man was arrested and charged with first-degree rape.

The man's attorney said he had an alibi. "Given the opportunity, we had evidence showing exactly where he was at the time this was taking place," he said. "He was ordering a home movie from his telephone number."

For the remainder of this story: by The False Rape Society

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Woman who recorded cops acquitted of felony eavesdropping charges

8-26-2011 Illinois:

Frustrated, Tiawanda Moore quietly flipped on the recorder on her BlackBerry as she believed that two Chicago police internal affairs investigators were trying to talk her into dropping her sexual harassment complaint against a patrol officer.

But Moore was the one who ended up in trouble — criminally charged with violating an obscure state eavesdropping law that makes audio recording of police officers without their consent a felony offense.

On Wednesday, though, a Criminal Court jury quickly repudiated the prosecution's case, taking less than an hour to acquit Moore on both eavesdropping counts.

The case offered a rare glimpse into the behind-the-scenes work of Chicago police's internal affairs division, which investigates complaints by the public of wrongdoing by rank-and-file officers. And it turned out to be an unflattering look.

The surreptitious recording made by Moore proved crucial for the jury, which heard the four-minute snippet during the trial and replayed it during the deliberations.

"The two cops came across as intimidating and insensitive," said one juror, Ray Adams, 57, a pharmacist from the western suburbs. "Everybody thought it was just a waste of time and that (Moore) never should have been charged."

The case against Moore as well as pending charges against a Chicago artist have drawn the attention of civil libertarians who argue that the state's eavesdropping law is unconstitutional.

Illinois is one of only a handful of states that make it illegal to record audio of public conversations without the permission of everyone involved. Laws in Massachusetts and Oregon are similarly strict but not as broad, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

If the victim is a law enforcement officer, the potential penalties increase sharply — up to 15 years in prison, the maximum sentence Moore faced if she had been convicted.

Critics contend that the statute is obsolete in a world where so many people carry cellphones with recording devices and surveillance cameras populate virtually every corner of the city. They also argue it prevents citizens from documenting misconduct by law enforcement officers in public.

"This law is wrong," said Joshua Kutnick, a lawyer who represents Christopher Drew, the artist awaiting trial in Cook County on similar eavesdropping charges. "It's antiquated, and it has no place in our society, where everybody has a recording device."

The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit in Chicago last year challenging the law, saying it was unconstitutional to prevent people from openly recording police officers working in public. A federal judge dismissed the suit, but the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear oral arguments next month in the ACLU's appeal of the decision.

"There's nothing private about a police officer doing his duties on the public way," said Harvey Grossman, legal director for the ACLU of Illinois. "The way that they police and conduct themselves is a matter of public importance."

But Pat Camden, a spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police in Chicago, said the union supports the law because it prevents people from making baseless accusations against officers by recording them and then releasing snippets that don't reveal the full context of the incident.

Moore's case centered on an exception in the Illinois statute that allows citizens to obtain evidence through a surreptitious recording if they have a "reasonable suspicion" that a crime may be committed.

Her attorney, Robert W. Johnson, argued that Moore believed that the internal affairs investigators, Sgt. Richard Plotke and Officer Luis Alejo, were dragging their feet on her complaint, which could be construed as official misconduct, a criminal charge.

"The plan was to kill this complaint from the very beginning," Johnson told jurors Wednesday in his closing argument. "They were stalling, they were intimidating her and they were bullying her into not making that complaint."

In the recording, which the one juror said was replayed several times in the jury room, Alejo was heard explaining to Moore that she might be wasting her time because it was basically her word against that of the patrol officer. Alejo also said they could "almost guarantee" that the officer would never bother her again if she dropped the complaint.

"When we heard that, everyone (on the jury) just shook their head," juror Adams said in a telephone interview. "If what those two investigators were doing wasn't criminal, we felt it bordered on criminal, and she had the right to record it."

Moore alleged that the patrol officer who answered the domestic disturbance call at her home had fondled her and given her his personal phone number.

In a statement issued after the verdict, the Cook County state's attorney's office defended bringing the charges, saying it acted "in good faith based on credible evidence."

"The defense in this case was inconsistent with the original statements that were made by the defendant and differed drastically from the statements that she had originally made to investigators," the statement said.

Shortly after she was charged, Moore went back to police headquarters with an attorney and filed her sworn affidavit of sexual harassment against the patrol officer. The complaint is "still officially an open investigation going through process of review," a police spokeswoman said Wednesday.

But the two internal affairs investigators were never investigated by the department; in fact, Plotke was promoted to lieutenant, according to testimony. Both he and Alejo took the stand at Moore's trial and denied pressuring her to back off her complaint, saying it was she who wavered and that they were simply explaining her options.

Moore, 20, who testified tearfully in her own defense, said she was "still shaking" following the verdict at how close she came to prison.

"If I would have known I was going to get in trouble, I might never have come in and filed the complaint in the first place," she said. ..Source.. by Jason Meisner and Ryan Haggerty, Tribune reporters

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Sex offenders displaced by suspicious fire

8-25-2011 Pennsylvania:

Harrisburg police say someone may have set an apartment fire that displaced eight people.

City officials say they plan to cite the building owner for failing to keep his tenants safe. All eight tenants made it out safely around 2:00 a.m. Thursday. But to complicate matters, four are registered sex offenders, and they're now staying in area hotels.

Fire investigators returned to the boarding house on the 900 block of North Third Street, and found no structural damage, though evidence that may point to arson.

"More matches on the ground than you would probably find in people's homes, so there's two things that cause some suspicion," Harrisburg Bureau of Fire Chief Robert Talloni said.

The other, according to Talloni, was that the building's sprinkler system didn't work. The water valve in the basement had been turned off.

"There was fire out of the second and third floor windows, so a lot of bad things could have been happening to the people inside that room," Talloni said.

Codes officers inspected the property late last year. They reported they did not check the sprinkler system because the landlord couldn't give them access.

"The owner's in trouble with us right now," Harrisburg Assistant Codes Administrator Art Emerick said. "There were a number of other violations that were listed."

According to the city, fire extinguishers hadn't been re-certified in nearly two years.

"That was also something he was supposed to address and did not," Emerick said.

There are new addresses, at least temporarily, for the eight tenants. They probably can't come back until codes issues are fixed.

Four of the displaced are registered sex offenders. Their crimes involved kids. Per Megan's Law, they now have an obligation to tell police where they're staying, since they've moved.

"There's some type of natural disaster that's caused the occurrence, they still have 48 hours to report to the Pennsylvania State Police," Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico said. ..Source.. by Chris Cekot

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Facebook data collection under fire again

8-25-2011 Global:

A German data protection agency is concerned Facebook is collecting data in violation of E.U. law

IDG News Service - A German privacy protection authority is calling on organizations there to close their Facebook fan pages and remove the social networking site's "Like" button from their websites, arguing that Facebook harvests data in violation of German and European Union law.

The Independent Centre for Privacy Protection (ULD), the privacy protection agency for the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, issued a news release on Friday saying Facebook builds a broad, individualized profile for people who view Facebook content on third-party websites.

Data is sent back to Facebook's servers in the U.S., which the agency alleges violates the German Telemedia Act, the German Federal Data Protection Act and the Data Protection Act of Schleswig-Holstein. The agency alleges the data is held by Facebook for two years, and wants website owners in the state to remove links to Facebook by the end of next month or possibly face a fine.

"The wording in the conditions of use and privacy statements of Facebook does not nearly meet the legal requirements relevant for compliance of legal notice, privacy consent and general terms of use," according to the ULD.

ULD officials could not be reached on Tuesday for comment. Facebook said in a statement that it firmly rejected allegations that it is in violation of E.U. data protection standards.

"The Facebook Like button is such a popular feature because people have complete control over how their information is shared through it," the company said in a statement. "For more than a year, the plugin has brought value to many businesses and individuals every day. We will review the materials produced by the ULD, both on our own behalf and on the behalf of web users throughout Germany."

Third-party websites use Facebook's "Like" button -- known generally as a "social plugin" -- as a means of promotion, letting their visitors share information they find useful through their own Facebook profiles. When a Facebook user clicks the Like button, it will result in a "story" within the user's News Feed on Facebook, along with a link to the website.

When the Like button is displayed on a third-party website, Facebook collects data including the user's computer operating system and IP (Internet protocol) address -- and, if the user is logged in to Facebook, their Facebook user ID. Facebook delivers information back to the website using the button, including the number of Likes. It also supplies demographic information, such as the percentage of visitors by gender, their age range, language, city and country.

Facebook retains logs of the IP addresses of logged-out members for 90 days before deleting them, which is an industry-accepted time frame, Facebook has said.

Facebook also allows advertisers to purchase campaigns using items that people "Like" as denoted on their profiles, something the company terms "Interests Targeting."

The move by the ULD is the latest problem for Facebook in Germany, which has undertaken close examinations of social networking services for potential privacy violations.

Earlier this month, Hamburg's Data Protection Agency (DPA) sent a letter to Facebook saying the social networking site should get users' consent before their biometric data, used to enable the automatic photo tagging feature, is stored.

Users can opt out of the feature, but the DPA claims that the process is unclear. The DPA contends that E.U. privacy regulations require that users give their consent before their data is stored, including the data used to enable tagging. Facebook said it rejects any claim it is not meeting E.U. law. ..Source.. by Jeremy Kirk

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Judge Removes Man From Sex Offender Registry

8-25-2011 Michigan:

POLL: Click HERE "Teen's On Sex Offender Registry"

DETROIT -- An 18-year-old man was sent to prison in 2005 for having sex with his 14-year-old girlfriend.

Kenneth Thornsberry was released from prison two weeks ago after spending six years behind bars.

He also was placed on Michigan's registered sex offenders list. However, after petitioning in court Wednesday, a judge agreed to remove Thornberry's name from the list.

The petition was first denied until Thornberry's ex-girlfriend testified that the relationship was consensual.

"I'm just relieved," Thornberry said. "I look forward to my future now, and that was in question before. I think it will help a lot of other people in this scenario."

Earlier this year, Gov. Rick Snyder signed the sex offender registry bills to comply with federal law.

Under the measures, youthful offenders won't be listed for having consensual sex with partners who were between the ages of 13 and 16, provided the offender was not more than four years older than the victim. ..Source.. by ClickOnDetroit

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Can Match.com save you from dating a sex offender?

Let's see, how has all this stuff about Match.com changed the dating scene? I mean, what will you be thinking -while smiling at the person across the table from you that you met online-? Hummm, is this a hidden sex offender? Smile you don't want them to know what your really thinking! Maybe you should be worrying whether they will rob you, kill you, or do all sorts of other conceivable things....how will you check those things? Is sex all you should worry about? After how many dates should you stop worrying and being fearful? Politicians want you to be that way forever, which is why the registry has lifetime registrants.... Who runs your life? Remember, "Judges can Remove Folks From Sex Offender Registries"

8-25-2011 National:

Match.com has agreed that they will start screening their members to ensure they are not sex offenders. While it is certainly a nice gesture, and one that will protect people, it is not going to make a tangible difference in how people date online. At the end of the day, people must be more careful when choosing who to date, whether they meet online or not.

This came about when Carole Markin was sexually assaulted after a date with Alan Paul Wurtzel, who she met on Match.com, and who is a convicted sex offender. Had Markin done a simple Google search of Wurtzel, she would have seen that he was a sex offender. It’s great that Match is going to run background checks, but we still need to be careful.

I don’t go out with anyone without knowing their last name, finding out where they work, and doing a Google search. It’s not a guarantee that I will be safe, nor does it give me a sense of false security, but it only takes a minute, and in the case of someone like Wurtzel, could protect me. Match is doing what all sites should do, but it’s not fool proof.

Do we ever know who are dating? People lie about their height and age, but people also lie about being a sex offender whether you meet them online, in a bar, at the grocery store, or in temple or church. Nobody is going to tell you they like long walks on the beach, red wine, and sexually assaulting women. Some lies transcend all types of dating. Important to note that just because someone is not in the sexual offenders database, does not mean they are not a sexual offender.

It is an industry changing decision for Match.com to take this step, and while eHarmony does it already, Match is the industry leader, and what they do, and don’t do, matters. This decision however, should not make anyone dating online feel any safer. Good for them for doing the right thing, but we need to meet them halfway and do our part.

Always meet people in a public place, and don’t invite them to your home. Find out their last name, and where they work. Do a Google search to see if any red flags come up. Search for them on Facebook and see if you know people in common. We live in a digital and connected time and to not use the resources available to us is stupid. Use the Internet to help you.

Dating is brutal. Meeting a complete stranger to hang out and have a drink is odd, and even if you spend hours on the phone, they are still a stranger. Know that. You have a responsibility to date responsibly. It’s all a crapshoot and in the end do we ever really know someone? I married a man and 5 years later divorced someone else. You really just never know.

The chances of meeting someone to share your life with are not great. I believe there is someone for everyone, and truly hope we get more than one shot at finding them, so if online dating helps my odds then I’m in. Although I doubt I will find my soulmate online, I will follow the example set by Match.com, and be careful, cautious, and proactive in my search. All we can really do is cross our fingers, try to be safe, pray, and keep the faith. ..Source.. by Ilana Angel

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Sex Offender Ordinance Could Make It Difficult to Track Ones Living In Sussex

8-24-2011 Wisconsin:

Village officials continue to mull sex offender residency restrictions, but public safety officials say offenders lie about their addresses or say they're homeless to avoid restrictions.

If Sussex were to adopt restrictions of sex offender movements or residency in the village, public safety officials warn it could cause them to lose track of where they live.

Officials from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections warned village leaders Tuesday that residency restrictions have caused issues in other communities as offenders have stopped their real addresses or simply report as being homeless. While lying about residency is a felony, officials say it’s very difficult to investigate and prosecute these cases.

Facebook Poll: Should village limit where offenders can live?

“Some offenders will give a valid address, but they don’t actually live there and they go live with their girlfriend,” Waukesha Sheriff’s Lt. James Gumm said. “They will then say, ‘I don’t live here, I just stay here sometimes,’ and it gets hard to prove where that person really lives.”

The Village Board discussed information about a possible sex offender residency or movement restrictions in Sussex after some residents have raised concerns about the community not having such rules while other communities do.

In the Lake Country area, Sussex, Hartland, the Town of Lisbon, Oconomowoc and City of Pewaukee don’t have municipal restrictions on sex offender residencies or movements.

In communities that have passed such ordinances, sex offenders have been limited to where they can live, where they can go and, in some cases, are barred from loitering and participating in events where children may be present.

“I don’t want to be the last community that doesn’t have something on the books,” Trustee Jason Wegner said.

There are 17 total sex offenders living in the village, with only three being actively watched by police office after being recently being released from prison. According to village officials, if a residency law were passed in the village, the offenders would be limited to living on the southwest and southeast sides of the village.

However, if a sex offender is currently living in an area that would become restricted, the village would be unable to force them to move.

State officials who appeared at Tuesday's Committee of the Whole meeting warned studies have shown the restrictions don’t keep sex offenders from living in the communities and it tends to “force them underground” in some communities. For example, Waukesha is seeing a large number of potentially non-complaint sex offenders who will list themselves as homeless or living at a different address than they really do.

“What we know about sex offenders is that 93 percent of them know their victim, so you know, it’s not the kind of guy who is coming out of the bushes and taking the children, it’s the people coming into our homes, talking to our children…and establishing a relationship with them,” one state official told trustees.

Trustees didn’t make a decision on if they want to pursue an ordinance Tuesday, but Village President Greg Goetz asked all trustees to come to the October Public Safety and Welfare Committee meeting to address more questions and to help decide if Sussex should move forward.

“This is nothing we want to be hasty about,” he said. “I get approached by a lot of people in the community and it seems to be an important thing to the community.

“I think it’s something that everyone needs to do their homework so we can bring all these things to light.” ..Source.. by Joe Petrie

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FBI creates team to investigate Georgia judges and legislators for corruption

8-23-2011 Georgia:

The FBI’s Atlanta Division has created a special team of agents charged with investigating elected officials throughout Georgia. The top FBI Agent in Georgia, Brian Lamkin, told reporters that the move comes after months of reviewing the Bureau’s goals and priorities.

Prior to the creation of this new team, Lamkin had set up a taskforce whose sole purpose was to target law enforcement officers. The taskforce led to the arrest and conviction of numerous law enforcement officers across the state. Lamkin now hopes that the new anti-corruption team will have the same results when it comes to judges, legislators and other types of public corruption. Lamkin promises that he will approve each new investigation and that agents will be utilizing advanced techniques during their undercover operations.

The move has been applauded by numerous Georgia officials, since many state entities simply do not have the resources to tackle corruption. In recent years, the Judicial Qualifications Commission, which investigates judges for misconduct, has been underfunded and nearly went broke in December. In addition, the Georgia Ethics Commission, which handles financial misconduct, has also had to deal with significant budget problems. ..Source.. by Pate & Brody

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B4U-ACT Holds Scientific Symposium on Pedophilia and the DSM

8-23-2011 National:

Today in Baltimore, Maryland, B4U-ACT brought together a range of clinicians, researchers, academics, and minor-attracted persons to discuss key issues regarding the entry for pedophilia in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association. The purpose of the meeting was to promote a more comprehensive and accurate DSM. This first symposium of its kind was a success, as 38 people participated in discussion of stimulating presentations by nine distinguished speakers.

The foundation of the symposium was B4U-ACT’s position that the DSM should be based on accurate information about people in the general population. It should be “sensitive to the needs of clinicians and their patients” (as advocated by the APA). Minor-attracted people should be involved in its revision (also advocated by the APA).

B4U-ACT believes that everyone benefits when a variety of reasoned perspectives is heard. Therefore, speakers were allowed to express their views freely and openly. B4U-ACT does not necessarily endorse all of the views expressed. Our policy of free and open expression is in support of the APA’s position that DSM revisions should involve input from “diverse perspectives, disciplines, and areas of expertise,” and that “patient and family” groups be involved. Speakers and attendees specialized in psychiatry, ethics, psychology, philosophy, social work, linguistics, and gender studies.

This kind of scholarly interaction is necessary in light of the numerous unresolved issues raised about the proposed DSM revisions by scholars, researchers, and minor-attracted people. Controversy has arisen over scientific issues, conceptual issues, the purpose of the DSM (to promote mental health vs. social control), and consequences of the DSM entry for society and the people being diagnosed. Information about these controversies can be found at:

www.b4uact.org/science/symp/2011/refs.htm#crit and
www.asexualexplorations.net/home/paraphilia_bibliography

Speakers addressed a diverse range of crucial issues related to the DSM, and discussion was lively. Keynote speaker Dr. Fred Berlin (of Johns Hopkins University) provided a conceptual overview of pedophilia from a psychiatric viewpoint, and argued in favor of acceptance of and compassion for people who are attracted to minors, while at the same time rejecting adult-minor sexual activity. Dr. John Sadler (University of Texas) argued that diagnostic criteria for mental disorders should not be based on concepts of vice since such concepts are subject to shifting social attitudes and doing so diverts mental-health professionals from their role as healers. Dr. Nancy Potter (University of Louisville) analyzed the concept of “uptake” — that is, genuine listening — and argued that by giving uptake to minor-attracted people, those revising the DSM would strengthen DSM-5 and contribute to more ethical treatment, but that minor-attracted people must exhibit accuracy and sincerity in their testimony. Dr. Lisa Cohen (Albert Einstein College of Medicine) presented data on the psychological correlates of pedophilia based on forensic samples, and argued that use of non-forensic samples would help researchers separate factors related to feelings of attraction from those related to behavior, and support the development of improved diagnostic systems.

In the afternoon, Dr. Renee Sorrentino (Harvard Medical School) discussed legal, ethical, and medical consequences of the proposed DSM-5 entry for pedohebephilia. Andrew Hinderliter (University of Illinois) argued that the medicalization of social deviance blurs the boundary between the helping professions and the criminal justice system, creating the potential for psychiatry to become a means of controlling undesirables, rather than an agent of healing. Jacob Breslow (London School of Economics and Political Science) challenged assumptions about minors and sexuality which currently underlie policymaking and the DSM. Richard Kramer (the only speaker representing B4U-ACT), analyzed sources of stigma in the DSM, presented survey data regarding MAPs’ feelings of stigma, and provided recommendations for revising the DSM to reduce stigma.

B4U-ACT is a 501(c)(3) organization that promotes communication and collaboration among minor-attracted persons, mental health professionals, and researchers. Its mission is to increase the availability of accurate information about minor-attracted persons and mental health services that focus on their mental health needs. Inaccurate negative stereotypes force minor-attracted people into hiding, leave young adolescents who are attracted to children hopeless with nowhere to turn, and do nothing to protect children. We have received emails from teenagers as young as 15 who were engaged in self-harming behavior or threatening suicide, and could talk to no one about it, because they were attracted to children. Making welcoming, informed, and empathetic mental health services available is the goal of B4U-ACT.

For more details about the symposium, see www.b4uact.org/science/symp/2011/. Please direct any questions to B4U-ACT director of operations Richard Kramer at rkramer@b4uact.org. ..Source.. by B4U-ACT

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Redefining pedophilia with pedophiles' help

8-22-2011 National:

"Minor-attracted persons" say we need to rethink how the mental illness is defined -- and some experts agree

We usually hear pedophilia talked about in terms of mental illness -- if not evil -- but Aug. 17 a motley crew of self-identified "minor-attracted persons" and mental health professionals have gathered in Baltimore to talk about it as a sexual identity. At hand is an issue deeply important to both groups: the revision of the diagnostic criteria for pedophilia.

The sponsor of the event, B4U-ACT, a support group aimed at preventing pedophiles from acting on their attraction to children, hopes to influence the relevant entry in the upcoming revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Understandably, the idea of pedophiles helping to define their own mental illness has some unnerved. Earlier this week, the Daily Caller wrote about the event in a piece headlined, "Conference aims to normalize pedophilia." It's true that many in the community believe that attraction to pubescent or pre-pubescent children isn't a mental illness at all, but the symposium itself has the stated aim of raising awareness about fundamental problems with the proposed revision to the DSM's entry on pedophilia.

Richard Kramer, director of B4U-ACT, argues that the panel of experts responsible for the revision "represents only the narrow field of sex offender assessment and treatment." He believes it's important to also represent minor-attracted folks who have not offended and would like to keep it that way: "[The panel] bases its work almost exclusively on assumptions about, and research on, sex offenders, who do not represent minor-attracted people in the general population," he wrote me in an email. "As a result, the DSM includes inaccurate and misleading information and ignores the existence of minor-attracted people who are law-abiding."

It might seem counterintuitive for non-criminals to fight to be recognized alongside criminals, but B4U-ACT sees this as a way of fighting the stigmatization of attraction to children and the conflation of pedophiles with child molesters. Of course, "pedophile" has become cultural shorthand for "abuser" for good reason: We fear they will act on their attraction to children. An article on the DSM debate in the Harvard Mental Health Letter says the scientific evidence supports that concern: "Several reports have concluded that most people with pedophilic tendencies eventually act on their sexual urges in some way. Typically this involves exposing themselves to children, watching naked children, masturbating in front of children, or touching children's genitals." Kramer and his ilk argue that such scientific wisdom is based on skewed data that looks only at offenders, and that many child molesters are not technically pedophiles (i.e., they offend because of opportunity, not sexual attachment).

Such claims seem rather dubious when visiting a message board like Boy Chat, where it's easy to find men discussing how society just doesn't understand that many "young friends" enjoy having a friendship with a "boy lover." There are no mentions of sexual activity with children, as such posts are forbidden, and posters are effusive about how they would never think of "hurting" a child -- but one gets the sense that they're operating under a different understanding of "hurt." Most of the discussions focus on feelings of love and tenderness for young boys; it's all very reminiscent of how Michael Jackson would talk about his friendships with children. There are also conversations about how to find a "YF" -- for instance, one man says he is renting a room in his house to a woman with custody of her grandsons. He writes, "The boys have taken to me, naturally, and my landlady loves me. I'm taking it slow, but I've already been trusted to watch the boys ... another night coming this week; an overnight. They're cutie pies."

There is a general consensus within the medical community that pedophilia is a sexual orientation and as such is unlikely to change, so treatment focuses on helping them to suppress their desires through psychotherapy and medication. Fred Berlin, director of the Sexual Behavior Consultation Unit at Johns Hopkins and an expert presenter at today's event, compares it to the sort of treatment people with drug addiction or alcoholism go through. "They need to learn to not give in to cravings which are satisfying and very pleasurable but which their intellect and their conscience and society is telling them they ought not to act on," he told me by phone. "Now, can everybody succeed? No, but there are large numbers of people who experience these attractions and with proper help go on and don't continue to offend. There is good evidence to show that that's the case."

He says many pedophile activists are concerned that the term "has become a stigmatizing pejorative," a way of saying "that somebody is less than human." They're unlikely to get much sympathy from the general public for being stigmatized, but Berlin says it's in society's best interest to resist demonizing them. "The idea is to try to get folks who are sexually attracted to children to come forward and get help before acting so that children are not harmed," he said. "That's certainly a goal that I would fully support." He adds: "None of us as little children sit down and ask ourselves the question, 'Do I want to grow up to be attracted to men or to women, to boys or to girls?' Nobody sits down, reflects about that and then decides," he argues. "If someone realizes while growing up that they're attracted to pre-pubescent children, it seems to me it is very important for them to know that there are places they can go to get help before they act on those feelings."

This debate goes far beyond the push by pedo-activists, raising fundamental questions within the medical community about how we define mental illness. Controversially, the proposed DSM adds hebephilia (attraction to pubescent children) to the entry for pedophilia (attraction to pre-pubescents), creating the hybrid "pedohebephilic disorder." Psychiatry professor Richard Green, founding president of the International Academy of Sex Research, wrote in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, "In several European countries, the age of legal consent to have sex falls within the range proposed for the DSM as signifying mental disorder for the older participant," he writes. "If the general culture is accepting of participation by the younger party, but psychiatry pathologizes the participation by the older party, then the mental health profession pronounces a moralistic standard and, if successful, becomes an agent of social control."

Few of us in the general public are capable of thinking about pedophiles, or hebephiles, in emotionless, scientific terms -- but, luckily, we aren't the ones charged with treating them, or defining who "they" are. ..Source.. by Tracy Clark-Flory

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Where to put Oregon's homeless sex offenders? Well, the Salem Walmart parking lot is out

8-21-2011 Oregon:

SALEM -- Robert Corry crawls out of his bedroll, yanks on jeans and a T-shirt and shoves open the back door of his van. He steps outside into the early morning air, alone in the parking lot.

Corry sleeps in his beat-up 1985 Chevy Astro. These days he parks overnight in a lot serving a cluster of Marion County buildings, including the jail, parole and probation and sheriff's offices. Before that he camped amid the RVs at Walmart.

This might be the story of so many homeless in Oregon except for this twist: Corry, 51, is a registered sex offender.

To fulfill the terms of his post-prison supervision, he must register his address. But he has no permanent roof over his head.

Oregon has 18,000 registered sex offenders and an unknown fraction are homeless. Tracking them is a nationwide problem, said Vi Beaty, manager of the sex offender registry in Oregon.

"Nobody really has a good answer for it," she said. "We have people registered under bridges. If they sleep in a parking lot or rest area it would not surprise me. I've never heard of (using) Walmart before."

Corry's case is not the first time a cash-strapped municipality has let a sex offender camp in a parking lot. Polk County offered them a space next to its corrections building until 2007, when it set up three beds for offenders inside the building after their release. But the county would never send sex offenders to Walmart, said Marty Silbernagel, director of Polk County corrections.

"It's a public place," Silbernagel said, "It's like saying it's OK to stay at McDonald's."

Note: Isn't anywhere in society a "Public Place" and given that, and that there are no laws requiring former offenders to stay away from society! So what is the big deal? PS: Truckers do not get prior approval to park in Walmart lots, that is a well known Walmart program nationwide.

Other sex offenders have camped at Walmart, which is known for welcoming travelers. Last year a sex offender in North Carolina was arrested after flashing a girl. Like Corry, he was living in his car and had registered his address at a Walmart parking lot in Wilmington.

"It's an issue for Walmart and anyone who shops there," said Ben David, a North Carolina district attorney. "Walmarts are open 24 hours and the whole community comes there."

Corry's journey from prison to parking lots began in July 2009 when he was released Oregon State Correctional Institution. He served more than six years for first-degree sex abuse for touching the breast of an 11-year-old girl.

When he emerged from prison, his parole officer told him to stay at the Union Gospel Mission in Salem.

The agency offers a bed, food and clothing to help former prisoners ease back into society. In exchange, they're expected to attend chapel services. Corry, an atheist, found that offensive. So he slept under a Salem bridge instead.

Two Marion County parole officers arrested him for breaking the terms of his post-prison supervision and sent him to a work-release center for 13 days. When he came out, he stayed with his sister in Salem.

They had a fight in January, and she threw him out. He said his parole officer arrested him for not indicating he was changing his address, had him thrown in jail and then ordered him to camp out in the Walmart lot.

"He directed me to do it," Corry said, referring to his parole officer Eric Bandonis. "He gave me a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. in the morning."

Corry said Bandonis popped up at the lot to check up on him.

"He had me open up my van to look for drugs or beer or kids," Corry said.

Bandonis did not return calls seeking comment. The head of Marion County parole and probation, Cmdr. Jeff Wood, said the agency has two organizations, Union Gospel Mission and Stepping Out Ministries, for prisoners upon their release but both are faith-based.

"In a circumstance like Robert's, we have a lack of resources," Wood said. "We can't force people into programs that are faith-based if it goes against that person's belief."

Wood said it's up to the offender then to find a place to stay.

"We don't order people to the Walmart parking lot," Wood said.

But Bandonis did sign off on the arrangement. He signed documents after mandatory monthly visits with Corry, approving the Walmart address on forms signed in March, April, May and June.

Bandonis asked Corry to get Walmart's permission, Corry said. He said he thought he had, asking an employee walking through the lot whether he could sleep in his van overnight. But that person was not the manager and Corry did not say he was a convicted sex offender. He said he wasn't ordered to do that.

Many Walmart stores -- but not all -- welcome travelers.

"We do allow it if you have permission from the store manager," said Dianna Gee, a company spokeswoman. "This person did not have permission."

Signs in the Salem lot, which is equipped with security cameras, ban overnight camping. But employees say travelers are welcome, and parking spaces are marked for RVs.

At daybreak one recent morning, about a dozen pickups, vans and motorhomes with license plates from Pennsylvania to Montana and Washington state were parked in the lot on Turner Road in Southeast Salem, their owners asleep.

"We do allow it if you have permission from the store manager," said Dianna Gee, a company spokeswoman. "This person did not have permission."

Walmart found out about Corry after a reporter for The Oregonian asked about him.

"When we heard about it, we were very disturbed," Gee said. "We began working with law enforcement to make sure this individual won't be allowed on our property again." ..Source.. by Lynne Terry, The Oregonian

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Professors warn about new sex offender law

The problem is not recidivism, it is the belief there is a HIGH RATE of recidivism. Beliefs and reality are not the same...where former sex offenders are concerned. Statistics do not support the belief!

8-20-2011 Alabama:

Alabama's new sex offender reporting law is designed to increase oversight of people who commit sex crimes, but two researchers warn if the laws are too restrictive, they may backfire and result in more, not fewer, sex offenses.

J.J. Prescott, University of Michigan Law School professor, and Jonah E. Rockoff, Columbia University Business School professor, tracked sexual offender data after states established sex offender registries. The duo did not study Alabama's new law but analyzed similar laws in other states for their report.

Rockoff said states passed stricter laws hoping to reduce the number of repeat sex offenses and make the public feel safer. But in a study encompassing several years, he and Prescott found that such requirements make " ‘sticking to the straight and narrow' much less attractive than just throwing up your hands and returning to crime," Prescott said.

He considers the finding significant since the purpose of most of laws is to cut down on repeat crimes.

"Put differently, living life as a convicted sex offender can be pretty miserable under these laws," Prescott said. ..Source.. by M.J. Ellington, Montgomery Bureau

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Match.com Ordered to Prove it Screens for Sex Offenders

If you say something in court, you better be able to prove it. Thats what this is all about.

8-20-2011 National:

A LA Superior Court Judge said he wants proof that Match.com is living up to its screening promises.

A Los Angeles judge Friday ordered an attorney for the dating website Match.com to return to court next week with proof that the site has implemented procedures to screen members to determine if any are convicted sex offenders.

The Internet dating site was sued in April by Carole Markin, who said she was sexually assaulted by a man she met on Match.com last year. She later found out the man had prior sexual battery convictions.

The man, Alan Paul Wurtzel, 67, pleaded no contest Wednesday to sexual assault.

Markin sued to compel the website to implement some type of screening procedure, such as checking prospective members against a national sex offender registry.

Match.com officials subsequently announced that they would screen new members. In court today, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carl West said he wanted to see proof that the screening was in place.

``It's a very serious claim,'' West said. ``If Match.com has adopted policies that are good for public, then everybody wins.''

He said if the company provides proof of an operable system being used, the lawsuit would likely be settled. Markin's attorney, Mark Webb, agreed.

Match.com attorney Joseph Laska said the screening system is in place and he would bring the required proof to court Tuesday.

Wurtzel is facing 365 days in jail, five years of probation and lifetime registration as a sex offender when he is sentenced Sept. 19 by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Barbara Johnson, according to Deputy District Attorney Jane Creighton.

A second count -- forcible oral copulation -- is expected to be dismissed after he is sentenced on the charge of sexual battery by restraint.

Wurtzel and the woman went out twice in 2010 and he sexually assaulted her after following her into her residence and holding her down after their second date, according to the District Attorney's Office. ..Source.. by City News Service

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Distance offers kids little protection from sex offenders

8-19-2011 Florida:

It has been called the geography of punishment.

But whether it's 1,000 feet, 1½ miles or 2 miles, distance doesn't go as far as parents might think to protect children from sex offenders, according to those who work with them.

Within a two-mile radius of Young Middle Magnet School, where more than 600 children will come and go once school starts Tuesday, live 263 convicted sex offenders.

That's a greater concentration than at any of Hillsborough County's public schools. Two miles is where most Hillsborough students qualify for a bus ride; if they live any closer they must walk to school or get a ride.

Concerns about proximity are behind a Florida law barring any convicted sex offender judged guilty in the last seven years from living within 1,000 feet of a school.

In addition, whenever a sex offender moves within 1.5 miles of a school, day care or other buildings where children gather, the Hillsborough Sheriff's Department alerts them.

But experts say parents and community leaders may be fighting the wrong battle with moves aimed at putting distance between offenders and potential victims.

Distance, they say, doesn't offer protection. The reason: Predators rarely victimize at random.

In as many as 93 percent of child sexual abuse cases, the child knows the offender, according to data from the U.S. Department of Justice.

"People believe that the registered sex offenders are the highest risks, when they really need to look at the people in their own lives," said Laura Umfer, a sex offender psychologist in Tampa.

Learn more on this story from parents, authorities and sex offenders themselves in The Tampa Tribune on Sunday. ..Source.. by RACHEL KAYLOR

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Sex offenders required to give palm and finger prints

Many registrants have received letters telling them they have to be fingerprinted again, registrants have not been told why! The Adam Walsh Act requires all fingerprints and palm prints to be digital, hence all are being done over again. Ink only agencies do not have the equipment to do digital prints, so registrants have been redirected to other agencies where the proper equipment is available. Never expect to get good answers from local police, this article shows that.

8-19-2011 Michigan:

A recent amendment to Public Act 295 is requiring all sex offenders to provide palm and finger prints to the Michigan State Police.

Those on the sex offender registry must submit their prints no later than September 12.

The prints will go into a database that will be forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Police say having finger and palm prints on file is very important to the investigative process.

"Most convicted felons have already had their prints taken, this is just an insurance so that people from other states and maybe people who slipped through the cracks who didn't have their palm prints done are done at this time," said Detective Sgt. Todd Johnston of the Michigan State Police.

The Marquette County Sheriff's Department will hold two days for finger and palm printing, August 27 and September 3.

The Michigan State Police Post in Negaunee will take prints any day during business hours. ..Source.. by Ryan Kilgren

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