New proposal forces sex offenders to pay to be on NC registry

6-2-17 North Carolina:

RALEIGH, N.C. - A bill going through the North Carolina Legislature would force sex offenders to pay to be on the state’s sex offender registry.

The House gave preliminary approval Wednesday to the proposal that would force sex offenders to pay $90 a year to be listed on the registry.

People convicted of sex-related offenses would still have to be listed on the registry even if they don’t pay, but it would allow the state to take civil action in order to recover the fees.

The money would be used to keep the sex offender registry up and running. A final vote is expected Thursday in the House on the legislation. ..Source..

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How to Measure 1,000 Feet for the Sex Offender Residential Restriction

5-20-17 North Carolina:

Under G.S. 14-208.16, a registered sex offender may not reside “within 1,000 feet of the property on which any public or nonpublic school or child care center is located.” What’s the right way to measure those 1,000 feet? As the crow flies? Property line to property line? Building to building?

The statute is susceptible to multiple interpretations, and the issue has yet to be explored in North Carolina’s appellate courts. My sense is that not all 100 sheriffs in North Carolina apply the law in exactly the same way. And that’s understandable, because I can think of more than one interpretation that makes sense as a policy matter.

For example, a strict property-line-to-property-line approach isn’t a great fit in a rural area where a person’s actual residence might be many thousands of feet from the edge of his or her property. And measuring the distance as the crow flies may fail to take into account barriers like rivers and interstate highways that might effectively buffer a school or child care center by more than the required distance. It’s also challenging to apply the law to rental properties, where a registrant’s individual unit might be more than 1,000 feet from a protected place, but portions of the broader complex—perhaps including common recreation areas, like a perimeter walking trail—fall within the prohibited radius. All of these questions (and many more) have come up in real life.

Even if the “right” way to measure the distance may be open question for now, I do think the statute itself may give us some answers. ..Continued..

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Full report: ‘Every supposed reform has been harmful’ to inmates

2-28-17 North Carolina:

In a report sent to N.C. lawmakers on Feb. 17, retired prison psychologist John Schwade said many of the state’s efforts to reform mental health for inmates have done more harm that good. Here is the report that Schwade sent to co-chairs of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice and Public Safety:

Recently I retired as a prison psychologist, stationed at Polk Correctional Institution in Butner, the location of one of the four “therapeutic diversion units” opened in 2016. These “therapeutic diversion units” were to be the cornerstone of planned prison mental health reform, for which the legislature allocated an additional $12 million in 2015.

The $12 million allocated for mental health reform has not been spent as promised.

Every supposed reform has been harmful to the mental and behavioral health of inmates, and has endangered inmates, prison workers, and the public. Moreover, many of the inmates with the most serious mental disorders, including schizophrenia and intellectual disorder (formerly called “mental retardation”), are not provided with the treatment they need.

The focus on therapeutic diversion units in reports to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice and Public Safety, self-described “advocates” for inmates, the public, and the news media has diverted attention from the full extent of the scandal of “mental health reform,” which will outrage every one of your constituents when the details are revealed. In simple terms, those who lean toward the political left will be outraged to learn that the state of mental health treatment has declined as “reform” is ballyhooed. Those who lean toward the political right will be outraged to learn how mental health “reform” enables the gangs who have taken over some prisons to operate without fear of consequences. And every voter will be outraged when they learn that the $12 million allocated for mental health reform has not been spent as promised, yet the prisons and advocates are demanding more money from the taxpayers. ..Continued..

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Revenge Porn Could Land Teens on Sex Offender Registry

2-24-17 North Carolina:

GREENSBORO, NC – Ask a room full of people about revenge porn and they may have an inkling of what the law says. Ask a room full of teenagers and they may not know anything about it.

WHAT IS REVENGE PORN?

In short, the General Assembly passed a “revenge porn” law which took effect in December of 2015. The law bans someone from sharing nude photos or videos of a person without their consent to coerce, harass, intimidate, humiliate or call financial loss to the victim. If the person is over 18, they’re charged with a felony. If the person is under 18, they could be charged with a misdemeanor the first time, but a felony for any repeat offenses.

Detective Patricia Wright, with Greensboro Police’s Special Victims Unit said the cases they see most often deal with exes.

“Boyfriends and girlfriends that have broken up and now there is a new boyfriend or girlfriend who goes through their phone and they find this video which makes them very mad and they post these images online to embarrass the other person, “explained Wright.

But, more and more, detectives are seeing teenagers getting into the act of posting revenge porn. One example includes friends taking videos or pictures without the other person’s consent and then posting them when they get into an argument.

“This is one of the more preventable crimes that we come across,” Wright said. “The police departments across the nation are inundated with these types of cases.”

REVENGE PORN VERSUS CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Teenagers as young as 12 or 13 can be charged with revenge porn.

“Once they hit the magic age of 16, we start charging as adults. And what children don’t seem to realize is, once you are charged as an adult, this carries with you for the rest of your life.”

Wright said what might shock most teenagers is sharing sexually explicit images or videos or another teenager or child under the age of 18 falls into another criminal category.

“Any time you are producing and disseminating children under the age of 18, that is the production and dissemination of child pornography when they are exposed in sexually explicit manner,” Wright explained. “That would make it a felony and potentially put you on the list as a sex offender.”

College applications, future job prospects and even places to live could be affected by a child pornography conviction.

ONCE IT'S ON THE INTERNET- IT'S FOREVER

Wright said often times, teenagers use apps like Snapchat, which deletes a picture or video after a certain number of views or 24 hours, whichever comes first. But, the detective warns people to remember, once something is online, it’s forever.

“They’re not gone. They’re just gone from where you can see them,” said Wright. “We have very good rapport with these social media sites. Through court orders, we can get that information back even through Snapchat.”

Posting a video or picture under an anonymous name won’t help keep you safe either. Wright gave the example of a recent case in Guilford County, where fake Instagram accounts popped up, containing nude images of underage female students at local high schools.

The accounts had interesting profile names.

“336 Hoes, 901 Hoes, Eastern Hoes or Western Hoes, whatever school they were affiliated with or whatever area code they were affiliated with.”

With the help of the State Bureau of Investigation, the creators of the accounts were found, even though they used fake names and fake emails to register the accounts. The suspects, whose names were not released, were charged with the distribution of child pornography.

Wright also warned even though a picture is deleted, someone may have taken a screenshot.

“A year or two years from now it could show back up.”

CAN YOU PREVENT TEENAGERS FROM POSTING?

It can be a daunting task to keep track of what teenagers are doing on their phones. But, Wright said, it’s a necessity to keep them from ending up on the wrong side of the law.

“We can’t expect that we can put this in children’s hands and always expect for them to make the right decisions,” said Wright, who often gives presentations at high schools on online safety.

She said the first thing she hears from parents once their child is a victim or charged with a crime related to pornographic images, is ‘I had no idea.’

“Parents are typically unaware of what their children are doing online. They’re locked out of their children’s phones because they don’t know their passwords. They don’t know what apps their children are using or how those apps work.”

Wright encourages parents to check their child’s phone, learn about the apps they use and teach them about the harsh realities they could face if charged with a crime. ..Source..

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Program could get $30K for sex offender treatment

2-11-17 North Carolina:

The Juvenile Crime Prevention Council is poised to receive $30,000 in additional funding, providing the Iredell County Board of Commissioners approves the budget amendment at its Tuesday night meeting.

Initially, the NC Department of Public Safety allocated $50,000 to the Barium Springs Home for Children TASK (Treatment for Sexualized Kids) Program. The state appropriated more money “based on higher than expected utilization of the service,” according to a letter to the county from NCDPS.

“(TASK) offers services to clients (ages 10 to 17) who have been adjudicated for sexual offenses and are court ordered to participate in evaluations and/or treatment,” county records stated. “TASK provides a broad range of services to allow these youth to remain in their homes, promote safety in the community, and prevent further sexual abuse. Services include safety and treatment planning, case management, 24/7 on-call support, comprehensive evaluations, individual, group and family therapy.”

The additional money will be used to serve children in Iredell and Davie counties and will save the county $122 a day for juvenile detention facilities.

The funds do not require a county match. ..Continued.. by Jennifer Dandron

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Surry County law enforcement favors new North Carolina sex offender laws

See also: N.C. lawmakers clarify sex offender law --and-- North Carolina Kicks Sex Offenders Out of Libraries, Parks, and Fairs

9-1-16 North Carolina:

Changes to laws regarding where registered sex offenders can and cannot go take effect today. And that is expected to clarify things for local law enforcement as well as offenders.

“We’re glad the new laws take effect,” Assistant District Attorney Mark Miller said on Wednesday.

The previous law prohibited sex offenders from knowingly being on the premises of places used by children but not solely for that purpose.

But it didn’t specify exactly what that meant, and it applied to sex offenders who had never committed a crime against a minor.

While that was confusing enough for law enforcement and offenders, and outraged civil rights advocates for what was conceived to be an unconstitutional witch hunt, a Fourth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals ruling in April shot down portions of the existing law and “left a blank space,” Miller said.

“They closed a loophole to keep our children safer,” he said.

The new law more specifically addresses what kinds of places from which a registered sex offender is restricted and generally applies only to offenders who have committed crimes against a victim under 18 years of age.

“As a citizen, I like that,” said James Markham, UNC School of Governments professor who teaches judges, prosecutors and law enforcement on the subject.

“If I’m the sheriff or police, I can enforce that,” he said. “If I’m a sex offender, I know I can’t go there.” ..Continued.. by Terri Flagg

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Officials say Brunswick sex offender court, while controversial, works

12-16-15 North Carolina:

Allows better monitoring, treatment of offenders

BRUNSWICK COUNTY -- Southeastern North Carolina became the home of what officials there think is the first sex offender accountability and rehabilitation court program in the state after Ola Lewis noticed a trend in her Superior Court courtroom.

Lewis, the senior resident Superior Court judge for Brunswick County, considered starting the court after several sex offenders came into her courthouse for violating the terms of their probation -- namely not attending court-mandated treatment, which can cost about $40 a week.

"My answer to that concern," Lewis said, "was let's set it up on the drug court model and have the team of professionals, probation, treatment providers and a coordinator monitor their progress."

More than helping offenders return to society, Lewis said, the program is meant to help keep Brunswick County safe by guaranteeing that offenders receiving adequate treatment.

Misperceptions about the program can easily arise because of the nature of the offenders, said Carrie Menke, Brunswick County's mental health court coordinator, who also oversees the county's drug treatment and domestic violence treatment court.

"Do you want that person in your community getting more aware of their dysfunctional thinking patterns and how to change those thinking patterns and change those behaviors?" Menke said. "Or do you want them just not in treatment, leaving them wide open to re-offend?"

Eric Sipe, president of the N.C. chapter of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, questioned using grant funds to pay for offenders' treatment.

"When I was doing the treatment, attendance was always an issue, but it was always believed that that was part of the offenders' responsibility was to pay for their own treatment," said Sipe, who is now retired from practice in Catawba County, adding, "If it's working, that's great."

Offenders eligible for the program include only those whose penalties include probation, such as indecent liberties with a child or failure to register as a sex offender.

Participants in the program also receive other kinds of treatment, Menke said, often including therapy for trauma and substance abuse.

"There’s not necessarily a cure, but you have to learn what your triggers are, where to go, where not to go, change your people, places and things so that you don’t re-offend," Menke said.

Sipe, the Catawba County therapist, agreed there is no cure for sex offenders.

"They're always capable of re-offending," he said.

Since the Brunswick County program began meeting twice a month in September 2012, 17 sex offenders have participated. Of those, 11 have completed the program, while one other committed another sex offense.

When offenders participate in the court, they are privy to an advanced level of monitoring. Each court session brings together a mix of court officials, probation officers and treatment professionals.

"Any time we can get all those stakeholders together at one table it is beneficial to public safety and to what we do, which is trying to change behavior," said Mike Frazier, NC Department of Public Safety's manager for an area including Bladen, Brunswick and Columbus counties.

If a participant re-offends or no-shows a treatment session, for instance, officials are able to act quicker.

"We know immediately and we can deal with it at the next session of court," Lewis said. "They're not waiting six months to be seen by a judge." ..Source.. by Adam Wagner

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Brunswick looks to extend rehab program for sex offenders

11-17-15 North Carolina:

BOLIVIA -- Brunswick County is trying to renew its grant funding for a sex offender rehabilitation program that might be the only one of its kind in the South.

This week the board of commissioners signed off on the courts' applying for a $200,000 grant that would fund the Sex Offender Accountability Rehabilitation Court and Domestic Violence Court for a year or two. The measure passed four to one, with Commissioner Pat Sykes casting the lone no vote.

Most of the commissioners approved of the court after learning that it would not import sex offenders who were convicted elsewhere to Brunswick County. Sykes, though, grilled Ola Lewis, the senior resident Supreme Court judge who oversees the program, on various details -- including the county's liability if a participant commits another sex crime and whether funding it would take away from victim therapy.

"My main concern is having grant money that is constantly available for the defendant, but nothing is for the victims," Sykes said.

Officials with the court agreed with Sykes that treatment for victims is also important, but noted that funding is available through victim advocacy programs. They also said the knowledge that their attackers are seeking help can be a relief to some victims.

"We teach (offenders) victim empathy and victim impact and how they are going to prevent another victim," Katherine Henderson, a Wilmington therapist who has worked with offenders in the program, said Monday in response to Sykes.

Since September 2012, 17 people have participated in the program, which is modeled on drug courts. For a full year, participants attend biweekly court sessions, weekly therapy and have multiple visits with a probation officer per month.

Of those, 17, 11 have successfully completed the program, said Carrie Menke, Brunswick County's mental health treatment court coordinator. One person participating in the program was "discharged" after committing another sex offense, she said.

Lewis, who said the program is the only one of its kind south of the Mason-Dixon Line, told the commissioners there are currently 10 people in the sex offender rehabilitation program.

Many sex offenders in Brunswick County find it difficult to afford or travel to court-mandated treatment, Menke said, creating the necessity for the rehabilitation court.

"Offenders just weren't going to the treatment," she said, "which gets them a probation violation, which gets them revoked, which gets them sent to prison, which costs huge amounts of money and they're still not getting treatment."

Preston Hilton, a Supply defense attorney who works with the treatment courts, said defendants who don't receive treatment are often caught in a cycle of crime and punishment without addressing the root causes of their actions. There are 197 registered sex offenders in Brunswick County, including the 10 currently in the program.

"If the concern is the victim, then in my mind there are 187 more sex offenders who need to be in our treatment court," Hilton said.

Other than Sykes, the commissioners on Monday praised the drug court. Commissioner Randy Thompson praised Lewis and other court employees for setting a model.

"I understand needing to step out and do a program where it's not offered somewhere else," he said. "It takes a lot to be that individual who steps out."

Commissioner Marty Cooke agreed with Thompson, noting that it can be difficult to try to innovate in a government setting.

"I can't see anything other than just great praise for what you're trying to accomplish," Cooke said.
..Source.. by Adam Wagner, StarNews Staff

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How deputies caught 3rd sex offender at North Carolina State Fair

10-29-15 North Carolina:

RALEIGH N.C. (WTVD) -- Bobby Joe Snyder, 37, of Wendell is the third sex offender to be arrested at or near the State Fair this year. Snyder appeared in front of a judge at the Wake County courthouse Monday where the judge raised his bond.

Snyder was released from prison September 9 after serving time as a sex offender. His GPS monitoring bracelet alerted his parole officer about where he was. The officer then alerted the Wake County Sheriff's Department, according to Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison.

According to Harrison, a parole officer then spotted Snyder near the fair's Kiddieland area. Snyder is charged with being a sex offender in the place for the primary use of minors and faces up to 39 months in prison if convicted.

The charge calls for a $50,000 bond, but prosecutors asked for a more secure bond, and the judge responded by increasing it to $250,000. Snyder was also charged with violating parole and for that the judge ordered him held without bond. His next court date is set for November 16.

Sheriff Harrison said the Wake County Sheriff's Department works with parole and probation officers every year leading up to the State Fair - establishing a 3 to 5 mile perimeter from the fair that officers monitor.

According to Harrison, if a sex offender wearing a GPS monitoring device crosses the perimeter a parole or probation officer alerts the Wake County Sheriff's Department, which then sends out a description and picture of the offender to all nearby patrolling officers and State Fair employees working at the gates. ..Source.. by Stephanie Lopez

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Sex offender arrested for flying drone near NC State Fair

10-22-15 North Carolina:

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- A registered sex offender was arrested for flying a drone near the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh.

The arrest warrant doesn't detail why 38-year-old Matthew Allen Kenning was flying a drone outside the State Fairgrounds.

The sheriff's office said the drone was flown over the fairgrounds and had a camera attached to it. As far as they know, that's all that was attached to the drone. Deputies are unsure if Kenning managed to take any pictures, but they are getting a search warrant to look through the camera.

Arrest warrants show the unmanned aircraft was reportedly launched from the shoulder of Hillsborough Street near its intersection with Blue Ridge Road. A law-enforcement officer spotted it and they followed it outside the fairgrounds where they watched Kenning land the drone.

Kenning has been arrested four times in Wake County since 2009, according to court records. He is also listed on the state's sex offender registry, but that was for a crime that happened in Indiana in 1999. The listing does not specify the crime, only that the victim was 15 and Kenning was 22 at the time.

Kenning is also charged with possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia. According to the arrest warrant, Kenning had a silver cylinder keychain containing Adderall and eight Suboxone pills.

The sheriff's office said they won't know Kenning's motive until they examine the drone and the camera.

This is the second time a sex offender was arrested at the State Fairgrounds. A registered sex offender was arrested at the North Carolina State Fair Tuesday after the Wake County Sheriff's Office said he was posing as a ride inspector in the kiddie land area of the event. ..Source.. by WTVD.com

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These Two Teenagers Were Charged with Sex Crimes. Check-Out the Ridiculous Reason WHY

9-26-15 North Carolina:

Our legal system is a mess. Without a shred of logical congruency, America’s legal system is a wacky quagmire of differing penalties and contradictory laws.

The same country where all fifty states recognize driver’s licenses from the other states in the union is patched-together with a hodgepodge of different laws concerning the recognition of another state’s concealed carry permit.

The Southern states are disallowed from enforcing border security as it is considered an issue under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Still, the federal government refuses to enforce the laws of the nation.

The First Amendment provides for the freedom of religion. But try practicing your Christian faith, and see what happens…

Some laws are good in nature, but are being poorly implemented. While we can all agree that perverts and predatory deviants are unwelcome in society, today’s laws concerning sexual offenses can make little to no sense.

What is a “sex offender”? Certainly, for instance, a man who forces himself upon a woman is a sex offender. But what of an 18 year-old who has sex with his 17 year-old girlfriend? While many states allow for such a relationship, some do not. What is allowable in one state may brand a man for life as a sexual criminal in another and rob that man of any potential for gainful employment for the rest of his life.

Take, for example, the recent case of Cormega Copening, 17, and Brianna Denson, 16, two teenagers in a relationship. When they were both 16, they “sexted”- sent nude photos of themselves to each other on their phones.

Okay- it’s not the most-wholesome thing to do. However, now these kids are engulfed in a legal nightmare as they have both been charged with child pornography charges. They were charged as adults in February for sending “sexually explicit” photos of minors to each other’s cell phone.

However, these were not “children”; they were photos of themselves.

The duo faced felony convictions under the law in their state of North Carolina. If convicted, the two would not only face jail time, but also a lifetime of employers and neighbors discovering that they were peddlers of kiddie porn. That’s also assuming that neither of them got “shanked” in prison for being a sex offender.

In reality, their “crime” did not warrant being lumped-in with deviants.

The two were able to secure a plea bargain to escape jail time and the dreaded scarlet letter that is the sex offender registry. They pled it down to a misdemeanor offense and a year of probation.

Thankfully, this worked out (this time). Many will note that this was a fluke and not representative of the law that threatened them.

It’s true; this does not happen a lot. However, the fact that this can and has happened demands that we, as a society, examine what it means to be a sexual predator.

Some areas are clear. A man having sex with an 8-year-old is repugnant and an abhorrent scumbag by virtually everyone’s estimation. But because of this justifiable societal hatred, we must be careful who we label as this pervert’s equal.

Did Copening and Denson commit a crime? Technically, yes. If they had not found the legal escape hatch that they did, they would be labeled as a sex offender, an umbrella term that also harbors the aforementioned hypothetical pervert.

Is this right?

Like so many good ideas, the laws concerning sex crimes have become convoluted in a black-and-white paradigm that allows for no “gray area.”

That Copening and Denson escaped the legal system with only a misdemeanor charge does not mean the system worked; it means the system nearly crushed two innocent people with a lifetime of hell and, thankfully, they managed to escape Lady Justice’s swift and terrible vengeance.

No, we should not be loosening the laws to allow the perverts to roam free; we should, however, examine our classification system so that we may separate those who are truly disgusting animals from those who made a mistake. ..Source.. by Greg Campbell

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Sexting teens banned from using their phones for a year

9-21-15 North Carolina:

The high school quarterback who was facing four felony charges for sexually exploiting himself and one for having a sexually explicit picture of his girlfriend has agreed to a plea bargain and is now facing a year of probation. He will be not be able to own the devil's gadget that got him into trouble - a mobile phone - during that time.

North Carolina District Court Judge April Smith earlier this month sentenced the 17-year-old boy to a year of probation, according to Fayobserver.com.

During that time, her order says, the student must stay in school, take a class on making good decisions, complete 30 hours of community service, not use or possess alcohol or illegal drugs, not possess a mobile phone, and must submit to all the warrantless searches the state wants to foist on him.

The twisty little logic

As we reported previously, the boy and his girlfriend were arrested for sexting each other.

Under North Carolina law, the fact that he's 17 made him an adult, which thereby rendered him eligible to face felony charges of sexually exploiting a minor by sexting his underage girlfriend.

But because he sexted selfies when he was only 16, he was also accused of sexually exploiting another minor - himself.

In sum, North Carolina criminal law classifies teens aged 16 and 17 as adults when they commit crimes, yet also defines them as minors under the age of 18 when they're the victims of crime.

He was looking at the possibility of being charged with four felony charges for making and possessing sexually explicit pictures of himself, and one felony charge of possessing his girlfriend's sexual selfie, which she had sent to him.

The two had only sent the sexts to each other, which led many to question how in the world the police had found out about it.

It turns out that there had been an investigation into an alleged statutory rape involving a 14-year-old girl and other teen boys.

The quarterback, an 11th-grader at Douglas Byrd High School at the time, wasn't believed to have been involved in that alleged rape, according to Sheriff's Office Attorney Ronnie Mitchell, but his phone got swept up in the search. Hence, his sexting history came to light.

Similar to what his girlfriend had done in July, the boy admitted responsibility to lesser charges in the plea bargain: in his case, to two misdemeanor counts of disseminating harmful material to minors. Translation: he sent sexual selfies to his girlfriend.

The misdemeanors could be erased from his record if he stays on his best behaviour during the year's probation. He can also ask that the charges be expunged as well, so that there won't be any record of his ever having been charged.

Should those kids have been sexting? No. It can lead to sexual content escaping from its intended destination, and the result of that can be harassment, shaming and bullying.

But sexting is too deeply embedded in teen culture to believe it will ever go away, much as security publications and parents would love to see the phenomenon disappear.

Will taking away these two kids' mobile phones do the trick? Probably.

But the fact that they're now very much aware of the serious legal ramifications of underage sexting probably already put them off, and taking their phones away is very likely a redundancy.

Time to scare the kids

Most kids have no idea about the legal ramifications of taking, receiving, and/or sharing sexual images of minors, be those images of their lovers or themselves.

Studies have shown that the more kids know about those ramifications, the less they engage in sexting.

These are conversations with kids that have to take place.

Those conversations should include concepts such as just what a felony is, under what circumstances (such as a given state's laws on the matter) a minor can be criminally charged as an adult, what the penalties for such convictions might entail - including jail time - what it means to be required to register as a sexual offender, and how that black mark can last a lifetime.

Halloween's right around the corner.

Forget the ghosts and zombies: let's make sure kids know what the real dangers are when they engage in an activity many incorrectly assume is no big deal at all. ..Source.. by Lisa Vaas

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Lawmaker: Child porn law misused against sexting teens, but tools needed to fight predators

9-13-15 North Carolina:

The North Carolina legislator who passed a law 25 years ago that made it a felony to possess pornographic images of minors said he would not have used it to prosecute two sexting Fayetteville teenagers who were charged with that crime this year.

“I would think normally as a matter of prosecutorial discretion you would not charge a minor with sending a minor — having her own picture or sending to another minor — (that) would seem to me not the thing that most prosecutors are elected to do,” said state Rep. Paul “Skip” Stam of Wake County, who also is a lawyer.

Stam's legislation in 1990 created the felony offense of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. It was intended to crack down on people who sexually abuse and sexually exploit children, he said.

Both Fayetteville teenagers faced this charge for possessing sexually explicit pictures of themselves. They also were charged with creating child porn, which is second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. The law against creating child porn was already on the books when Stam's law on possession of child porn was passed.

Stam said his legislation was needed because the law against the creation of child porn was sometimes problematic to enforce. The victims, some of them traumatized young children, had to testify about how the pornography was created, Stam said. They often were reluctant.

Stam's law against possession of child porn doesn't require the victims' testimony to enforce. The pictures or videos speak for themselves. It made it easier to obtain guilty pleas and convictions, Stam said.

Although the sexual exploitation laws have been tweaked over the years, most recently in 2008 to toughen their punishments and reinforce that exposure of the genitals can be prosecuted, they were on the books long before cellphones equipped with cameras became ubiquitous. They were in place long before large numbers of people began making nude photos of themselves to instantly share with their romantic interests.

The decisions by the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office to charge the teens and the District Attorney Office to prosecute the teens for sexting outraged many people, who commented on the charges in social media and elsewhere. The case made national news in the past few weeks and generated headlines as far away as Russia.

On Tuesday, Cumberland County Sheriff Moose Butler said he didn't necessarily agree with the use of felony charges against these two teens, but his deputies have to enforce the law as it's written.

District Attorney Billy West has the authority to reduce or dismiss criminal charges. He said Friday that his office made the right decisions in this case. His assistant reduced the charges to misdemeanors in plea bargains with the two teens. The arrangement holds the teens responsible and punishes them for their acts, but should ultimately leave them with no convictions on their records.

"The legislature has obviously criminalized the conduct, arguably at a more serious level than we resolved the case at," West said Friday. "Seemingly it would be that they did not think it was good public policy for these young people to be exchanging these sort of photographs with their phone."

West wouldn't debate the policy. "The legislature makes the law; I enforce it," he said.

Some in the legal system are puzzled that the teens were charged with committing crimes against themselves.

"That doesn't make a lot of sense," said former N.C. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ed Brady, who practices law in Fayetteville.

Brianna Denson, 16, was charged with second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor for making a sexually explicit photo of herself and third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor for possession of her photo.

Similarly, 17-year-old Cormega Zyon Copening faced two counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor for making two sexually explicit photos of himself, and two counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor for possessing the photos.

Copening had an additional charge of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor for possession of a copy of Denson's photo.

Felony convictions could have put the youths behind bars, although a judge would have had the option to give them probation instead. But even if the teens were to avoid prison, a felony criminal record would have haunted them for the rest of their lives. Sex crime convictions would have required them to register as sex offenders for at least 10 years and possibly as long as 30 years.

Both teens agreed to plea bargains. Their charges were reduced to misdemeanors of disseminating harmful material to minors, and the two are serving 12-month sentences of probation.

Those charges are to be dropped when they complete their probation sentences next summer. They do not have to register as sex offenders.

If the teens had chosen to fight the charges of exploiting themselves, former state Supreme Court Associate Justice Brady said, their lawyers could have argued that taking a photo of yourself naked is no different than looking at yourself in a mirror.

"The facts make no sense - could the boy look in a mirror at himself? What's the difference? He's just recording his looking into the mirror," Brady said. "That would be my argument to a trial judge."

A defense lawyer could challenge the charges on constitutional grounds, said LaToya B. Powell, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina School of Government. She is a former prosecutor and former state assistant attorney general.

The U.S. Supreme Court in recent years has said it violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment to impose the death penalty or mandatory sentences of life without parole on youth under age 18. This shows that the high court decided it's wrong to automatically treat youth under age 18 the same as adults in the criminal justice system, Powell said.

The teens' dual status as minor victim and adult criminal in the sexting case could violate the 14th Amendment's provision that every person must be treated equally under the law, Powell said.

If the teens are legally minors, their prosecutions as adults shows they are not being treated the same as other minors who happen to be younger than 16, Powell said. If the teens are legally adults, she said, then it's unfair to use the law to prosecute them for making pictures of themselves when adults older than 18 may legally take sexually explicit photos of themselves, she said.

At least 20 other states have modified their laws since 2009 to account for teen sexting, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported in 2013.

Stam, the state lawmaker who passed the 1990 child porn law, wasn't prepared to say whether North Carolina needs to change its law in light of the prosecution of the two teens in Fayetteville.

"I don't know. I've gotten the information from you on one side, and not from other folks, so I will think about that," he said.

Nonetheless, teens shouldn't get carte blanche to make sexually explicit photos of themselves, Stam said.

"This is not a good use of the prosecutor's time, or discretion, but you can't make it so that it's totally legal for 16- and 17-year-olds to do this because then the criminal gangs that are primarily involved in trafficking would just use 16- and 17-year-olds as their disseminators or as part of their operation," Stam said. ..Source.. by Paul Woolverton

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Sexting teen accused of sexually exploiting himself

9-8-15 North Carolina:

How's this for prosecutorial logic run amok: a teenage boy in the US is facing charges for sexting his girlfriend. He's now 17 years old. Under North Carolina law, that makes him an adult, which thereby makes him eligible to face felony charges of sexually exploiting a minor by sexting.

So far, so logical. But let's add some super-duper stupid sauce to this souffle - because he sexted selfies when he was 16, he now stands accused of exploiting himself.

The Fayetteville Observer reports that the boy - who was the quarterback of his high school football team until the charges forced him to resign - has been hit with five charges of sexually exploiting a minor: four for making and possessing two sexually explicit pictures of himself and one for possessing a copy of the picture that his girlfriend took of herself and willingly sent to him.

Because he's considered an adult - in the US, the states of New York and North Carolina consider 16 to be the age of adulthood for criminal purposes - he's looking at a potential prison sentence of up to 10 years.

So far however, the prosecutors sound like they're inclined to iron this out without ridiculously draconian sentencing.

His girlfriend, who willingly sent him explicit pictures about a year ago, was also charged with felonies related to being her own child pornographer. She has already been let off on a plea bargain that included dropping the felony charges against her.

The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office had concluded that she committed two felony sex crimes against herself and arrested her in February.

She was listed on a warrant as both the adult perpetrator and the minor victim of two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor: second-degree exploitation for making her photo and third-degree exploitation for having her photo in her possession.

On 21 July, the girl admitted in court that she was responsible for the crime of disseminating harmful material to minors, which is a misdemeanor and which doesn't require her to register as a sex offender.

District Court Judge Stephen Stokes put the teenage girl on probation for a year. He also ordered her to pay $200 in court costs, to stay in school, to take a class on how to make good decisions, to refrain from using illegal drugs or alcohol, to not possess a mobile phone for the duration of her one-year probation, and to do 30 hours of community service.

If she'd been convicted, she'd have been compelled to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life. Unfortunately, the boy in the case is still facing this prospect.

Keep in mind that when it comes to sexual intercourse, the kids did nothing illegal, if they in fact did have sex.

Sex between consenting 16-year-old teens is legal in North Carolina, and the age dips even younger than that for teens who are less than four years apart in age.

Taking and sending pictures of your genitals, however, is not legal, if you're a minor and/or sending photos to a minor.

How did the cops even know?

According to Sheriff's Office lawyer Ronnie Mitchell, the two teens didn't share their photos with anyone else, for which we shout a hearty hallelujah! ..Continued on Naked Security.. by Lisa Vaas

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Deputies: Registered sex offender arrested for church service involvement

It is very likely they have state laws as to starting churches, and did he follow them? Apparently he did find someone to be Pastor, but did he know the background? Police when tipped off then setup a sting of sorts, then finding he is violating a registry law. Then it all falls down..

8-24-15 North Carolina:

BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — An undercover sting inside a Burke County church ended with the arrest of a registered sex offender.

Deputies said they began investigating registered sex offender Kenneth Lee Cagle, 53, two months ago when they received complaints that he was starting a church.

Cagle was convicted of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor almost a decade ago, officials said.

Deputies found that Cagle had successfully opened a church where he served as a church elder and led part of church services. His involvement in the church is a violation of state law, according to deputies.

During a traffic stop after a church service on Sunday, deputies charged Cagle with sex offender employment violation and being a sex offender with a child on the premises.

Leon Hoyle, the church's pastor, described the undercover officer as a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Hoyle doesn't believe they put any children in danger and said families knew about Cagle’s conviction.

Cagle said he will never get beyond his past.

"It's sad. You'd think a church be about the only place, the last place they wouldn't want you to go," Cagle said.

Reporter Dave Faherty stood with the Hoyle and family members as Cagle was released from jail Monday.

The pastor said for now Cagle will not be allowed to attend services.

Family members said they are petitioning the court to have him removed from the sex offender registry. ..Source.. by wsoctv.com

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State pulling the plug on Wilmington Sex Offender House

UPDATE: Sex offender house funding pulled by state

8-10-15 North Carolina:

WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - Less than a year after launching a program to help male sex offenders transition back into society, the state is phasing out a program that sent dozens of sex offenders to Wilmington after their release from prison.

This comes just one month after WECT broke the news about the recovery house just outside of Downtown Wilmington. Many of the people living in this neighborhood full of children had no idea they were living next to a halfway house for sex offenders.

The All Family Recovery House has been in operation for 9 years, helping a range of people in need of transitional housing. In October, AFRH went under contract with the state, providing services exclusively to male sex offenders.

The 8 bed facility off of Kidder Street was the only one of it's kind in the state. Previously, there was another facility in Charlotte providing similar services for sex offenders, but it was shut down after public outcry.

New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David was openly critical of the concept, particularly because many of the sex offenders coming to live at AFRH were from other parts of the state. He worried they would make Wilmington home after their 60 days in state-funded transitional housing, and in some cases, that was happening.

David said due to the high risk nature of sex offenders, he feared some would find new victims in their new hometown.

Will James, who managed AFRH, contacted WECT late last week saying the program was being shut down and his residents were struggling to find new places to live.

“This is a devastating blow for them. This is making a seemingly impossible situation worse, to watch grown men fall down and cry, they’re truly broken now. They came here for help," James said.

We were unable to confirm this with the state until Monday. Pamela Walker, Communications Director for the NC Department of Public Safety explained the new developments via e-mail.

"Finding suitable housing for any sex offender who is transitioning from prison to the community is a constant challenge. The department is continually looking for housing situations where offenders are anticipated to be the most successful and reduce the chances of them reoffending. The department had been piloting the group housing concept for sex offenders in Wilmington." Walker wrote.

"This pilot for sex offenders is in the process of being phased out. Again, all efforts are being taken to help ensure the offenders housed there will have successful reintegration."

"This means that some sex offenders that were at the group home have returned to the county of conviction, others to counties where appropriate resources have been identified and some have remained in the Wilmington area due to current employment there, but other housing arrangements have been made on a case-by-case basis," Walker explained.

Ben David said Monday he was glad to hear the news the house was closing.

"For the [sex offenders] who want to remain here, they better get registered immediately so we can monitor them," David said. "For the ones who are going back to their county of conviction, we say mission accomplished."

"We’ve always believed that the best likelihood for their success was dependent upon a support network that many times only a family can provide. It is our sincere hope that they don’t have any further recidivism and that they achieve success on the outside. And this is best done without being clustered around other sex offenders." ..Source.. by Ann McAdams

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9 Investigates: Deputies question gaps in sex offender monitoring laws

Interesting, police cannot charge someone they cannot find, if true then there is no way for anyone to be charged for failure to register until they are caught and an investigation proves where s/he has been? And it is an incorrect assumption that a registrant is doing something wrong if the police cannot make contact with the registrant on a home address check. This area needs new police who can interpret laws as written.

7-21-15 North Carolina:

IREDELL CO. — The number of registered sex offenders in North Carolina has doubled in 10 years, now standing at more than 20,000.

Some deputies say loopholes are stopping them from holding all offenders accountable. Eyewitness News Reporter Brittney Johnson rode along with an Iredell County deputy tasked with monitoring the county's sex offenders to learn more about deputies' concerns.

July 10, Deputy David Price started making his rounds at 4 a.m. He and his partner cover nearly 600 square miles checking whether Iredell County’s sex offenders live where they say they do.

"If you have kids, you should be concerned and you should want me out here checking them," Price said.

Price estimates he brings charges against at least four offenders each month for failing to comply with residency requirements. He says he could arrest more but that gaps in the state's monitoring requirements prevent that.

"Apparently for some reason you can go completely out of state and work in another state, and you don't have to tell us anything; we can't do anything to you," he said.

He's talking about part of the state statute that says if an offender goes to another county for more than 10 days out of the month, the offender must notify the sheriff's office, but no notification is required if the offender leaves the state.

"All of a sudden you're unaccounted for completely. They don't know you're there, and we don't know you're gone," he said.

Channel 9 rode along as Price knocked on doors, but he couldn't find three sex offenders at their registered homes. He said he's checked on one man 14 times and never made contact.

Channel 9 found there is nothing that allows Price to charge offenders who aren't home during random visits, no matter how many times an officer checks.

"That’s a huge problem," said Price.

Victims' advocate Kris Taylor works with families at Pat's Place Child Advocacy Center, in Charlotte. She says monitoring requirements are confusing and hard on victims' families.

"If sex offender registry rules are different state to state, monitored different county to county, it can be really hard again for parents to understand how to keep their children safe," said Taylor.

Channel 9 took Price's concerns to state Sen. Jeff Tarte, who worked to strengthen laws protecting sex-trafficking victims in 2013.

"Is this a priority?" Johnson asked.

"I think this is always a priority when you're involving the safety of children," Tarte said.

Tarte said he didn't know about officers' concerns regarding the monitoring gaps.

"That's obviously a huge problem, if that's occurring. I wasn't aware of it, and I think most lawmakers would not recognize that exists," he said.

He told Channel 9 if officers presented the problems along with possible solutions, he would work to tweak the laws to help deputies like Price back on the road to better protect their communities.

"In an interest of public safety, we need to know where these type of people are," Price said.

A number of other lawmakers told Channel 9 they didn't know about those monitoring gaps either. They said they want to hear from law enforcement on how they can improve the laws to make it easier to monitor sex offenders across North Carolina. Many counties are seeing 10 to 20 percent more offenders each year. ..Source.. by Brittney Johnson

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NC Program Tries To Fix Sex Offenders

5-15-15 North Carolina:

Harnett County, N.C. - "I raped a strange women. It was a woman who I did not know who I saw through an open door in her house. And I went in. It was not her fault. She didn't do anything to deserve it. There was nothing she could of done at that point. I was bigger. Stronger. I had the element of surprise you know," an inmate at the Harnett Correctional Institution told 2 Wants To Know.

He asked us not to name him because he says he's changed since raping a stranger in the 1990s. He credits his growth to the Sexual Offender Accountability and Responsibility program run by North Carolina prisons.

SOAR's a 20-week mix of group and individual therapy. It's for guys who admit to committing sex crimes from incest to molesting a child. The men live and learn together in a separate unit of the Harnett Correctional Institution.

"They feel like it's safe. That they are not going to be judged and jumped on and whatever else. That's their fear. And so it gives them permission to talk about it. And a lot of them say it's a huge weight off their shoulders to be able to talk about it," said Program Director Bob Carbo.

According to the Department of Corrections out of 100 sex offenders released from prison 37 are re-convicted with three years But out of every 100 SOAR graduates only eight are re-convicted. Eight.

"Without it, I probably would have committed another crime. If you don't intervene and fix something, if your car is broke down and you don't fix it, it's going to behave the same way. It's the same thing," the inmate said.

Soar's secret? Therapists get the men to think about how their victim felt. In fact every session centers on two victims' chairs - one for an adult and one for a child. They even do role-play exercises where the men reenact their crime as their victim. Often breaking down crying.

"When you have more empathy you're less likely to take advantage of somebody. Instead of seeing someone vulnerable as someone you can take advantage of, you see them as someone who needs protecting," Carbo said.

Then the program helps the men figure out why they offended.

This inmate says he had a son in the hospital fighting for his life, problems with work, and an unstable relationship. He thought he could prove his worth and power by making a stranger enjoy sex with him.

"That was my intention. That in the beginning she would reject me. And in the end she would not be any worse off. Extremely naive. Extremely selfish and unemphatic. I know," he said.

Carbo says they try to teach the men there's healthier ways to get power - like helping someone in need instead of hurting them.

"It's made me a better human being," the inmate said,

And just possibly made life on the outside safer for us all. ..Source.. by Benjamin Briscoe, WFMY

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Preachers split over NC sheriff's church ban for sex offenders

3-12-15 North Carolina:

Preachers in a rural North Carolina county are split on a sheriff’s edict banning sex offenders from attending Sunday church services.

Graham County Sheriff Danny Millsaps last month sent letters to the 20 registered sex offenders in the sparsely populated county, telling them they were not welcome in the community’s sanctuaries, based on an existing law.

“You are not permitted to attend church services,” the letter read, citing a law that prevents offenders from being within 300 feet of premises where minors are supervised.

“Not in my particular congregation, we don’t bar the gates of Heaven.” - Michelle Shiplet, Church Mouse Ministries

Clergy in the county of just 9,000 people were divided over shunning sex offending sinners.

“I don’t like them around little children, they need to get straight,” the Rev. Burlen of Aldridge Bethel Baptist Church said. “If they do come to our church, we will not run them off. But we will try and convert them to a better place.”

But Michelle Shiplet, of Church Mouse Ministries, said everyone is welcome at her house of worship.

“Not in my particular congregation, we don’t bar the gates of Heaven,” Shiplet told FoxNews.com.

She said the protection of children and the prayers of the paroled are not mutually exclusive.

“People with those issues have a sponsor and are not allowed with children unsupervised,” she said.

Millsaps told the Asheville Citizen-Times he would make his county jail available for Sunday worship services, and added that he does not intend to arrest sex offenders who try to sneak into a church for services.

“I understand I can’t keep them from going to church,” he said. “That may have been misunderstood. I’ll be the first one to say I might have made mistakes in the wording of that letter.”

Graham County Manager Greg Cable said the county attorney is reviewing Millsaps’ interpretation of the law. The American Civil Liberties Union in Raleigh told the newspaper it is also studying the letter to determine whether it violates the rights of offenders.

Dr. Stuart Groll, of The Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, said a blanket ban of sex offenders is “naïve.”

“There are too many levels of sexual offenders,” Groll said. “To make one label on all is incorrect.

“I understand people’s fears, but they should come in and talk to them and educate instead of just panicking,” he added. ..Source.. by Tiffany Natale

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Sheriff bans sex offenders from church

See also: Barred from Church and Later Article

3-7-15 North Carolina:

ROBBINSVILLE, N.C. — A sheriff in one of North Carolina's smallest counties told registered sex offenders they can't go to church, citing a state law meant to keep them from day-care centers and schools.

Graham County Sheriff Danny Millsaps told sex offenders about his decision Feb. 17, according to a letter the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times obtained Friday. About 9,000 people live in Graham County, which abuts Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the Tennessee line in far western North Carolina.

"This is an effort to protect the citizens and children of the community of Graham (County)," he wrote. "I cannot let one sex offender go to church and not let all registered sex offenders go to church."

He invited them to attend services at the county jail.

In an interview Friday, Millsaps said he may have made a mistake when he wrote that offenders "are not permitted to attend church services."

He said he understands the Constitution gives everyone the right to religious freedom. But he said he's standing by his take on North Carolina law blocking offenders from places where children are present.

"I understand I can't keep them from going to church," he said. "That may have been misunderstood. I'll be the first one to say I might have made mistakes in the wording of that letter."

Millsaps has no immediate plans to arrest a sex offender should one of the 20 in his county attend church Sunday, he said.

Graham County Manager Greg Cable said the county attorney is looking into the matter and any legal mistakes would be corrected.

At the Citizen-Times' request, the American Civil Liberties Union in Raleigh is reviewing Millsaps' letter. The newspaper also sent a copy to the North Carolina Department of Justice for an opinion on the law.

Neither responded immediately.

Other North Carolina counties have dealt with the same issue:

• In Chatham County, deputies in 2009 arrested a sex offender for attending church, citing the same law. A state Superior Court judge eventually ruled the law as applied to churches was unconstitutional.

• In Buncombe County, sex offenders are permitted in church as long as pastors know and are in agreement, Sheriff Van Duncan said.

That's similar to the county's policy for allowing sex offenders at school events like ball games. They are allowed as long as school administrators have warning, and the offenders are monitored to some extent, the sheriff said.

The law allows schools to do this, a factor the judge noted in 2009 in the Chatham County case.

If a sex offender threatens a child at a church or school event, Duncan said the law can be enforced and used to ban the offender.

Church leaders in Buncombe County, where Asheville is located, generally want to minister to sex offenders, he said.

The law applies to public, private and church schools that have weekday classes. Sex offenders generally are banned from school property. ..Source.. by Jon Ostendorff

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