30 sex offenders could be left without a home in Pinellas County

4-1-15 Florida:

A tenant-landlord dispute may leave 30 convicted sex offenders without a place to live in Pinellas County.

The Palace Mobile Home Park is home to 150 convicted sex offenders.

"I had molested my 8-year-old son. I was sentenced to 11 years in prison followed by 15 on probation,” said Tracy Hutchinson, one of the park’s residents.

Hutchinson and other residents of the park are trying to get back on their feet.

"There isn't anywhere else, unless I want to live in the woods somewhere,” she said.

Jim Broderick runs Florida Justice Transitions, a program to help sex offenders return to society. But a two-year legal battle with the mobile home land owner could mean 30 sex offenders living in 14 trailers could soon be out on the street.

"If I lose those units, come noon time on Monday, it's out of my hands,” Broderick said.

That possibility is leaving nearby homeowners concerned.

"I don't like it. I mean, I wouldn't want my kids to be in danger. I mean, they ride their bike up and down the street all the time,” one parent told ABC Action News.

Lou Ellis and his wife have lived in the neighborhood for close to 35 years and says the news is disturbing.

"I sit there with my door open so I can see outside, see what's going on,” Ellis said. “But I'll have to start locking it, I guess, if that's the case."

Broderick says he has until noon Monday to deposit $16,000 into the court registry or he loses the 14 mobile home units. ..Source.. by Gina Pitisci

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Sex offenders could be ousted from mobile home park

St. Petersburg, Florida — Dozens of sex offenders living in a mobile home park could be evicted, putting neighbors on edge.

The program that provides housing to those 30 sex offenders is just days away from getting kicked off of the property.

Families worry what neighborhood they'll end up calling home if they're put out on the street.

"If they don't have a place to live, if they can't live where they're living, some of them may find some housing elsewhere, but it's gonna be very difficult," said Jim Broderick.

As a sex offender himself Broderick knows first hand how hard it is to live with that label.

He says that's why he runs Florida Justice Transitions.

"We bring sex offenders from incarceration and we transition them back into society," he said.

The program is based at the Palace Mobile Home Park, 2500 54th Ave. N., in St. Petersburg, but after a monthslong legal battle with the property owner, the company is in jeopardy.

Broderick says that Florida Justice Transitions has to put $16,000 into a court registry by Saturday, otherwise the 30 sex offenders living in the mobile home park might be kicked out, leaving many wondering where they'll go.

Registered sex offender Bruce Edmondson says he got out of prison a year ago after molesting his daughter. And the program?

"As a person, it's just helped me a lot. It's given me hope. And a lot of us don't have any hope," he said.

Edmondson says if he's evicted from his home at the mobile home park, "that means i'll probably be living out in the woods."

And the thought of 30 sex offenders looking for a place to stay doesn't sit well with neighbors who live less than a mile from the mobile home park.

"I'm scared. I don't like them living there, and i know everyone needs a place to live, but as the story goes, not in my backyard," neighbor Mary Muller said.

But park property owner Jeff Shadowens says even if Florida Justice Transitions is forced out, its tenants have nothing to fear.

"We have been renting and helping sex offenders for several years, and we intend to keep on doing that," he said.

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Offenders must move from Vacaville complex

8-7-2011 California:

For years, Vacaville apartment landlord Darius Mohsenin has worked with state parole officials to place registered sex offenders in his units because it was one of the few local complexes that seemed to meet all the dozens of state compliance criteria.

Now the Leisure Town Road apartment complex has been ruled "out of compliance," because of a previously unknown school -- Heritage Peak Charter School on Orange Drive -- that moved into the area three years ago. Seven tenants have been given just one week to scramble to find other suitable housing before being found in violation of the terms of their parole, Mohsenin is left with vacant units, state parole officials say their hands are tied, and local law enforcement is questioning the wisdom of putting such offenders into transient status.

"The tenants are panicking," Mohsenin said.

"Now you got a bunch of guys who are going who knows where, all because (state) parole is not minding the store," he added, noting that one of his tenants is staying in a van in Napa, afraid of being arrested if he comes home.

"It has always been a very symbiotic relationship between parole and my complex. When they did their sweeps, they could come in and just go door to door and not have to go looking under bridges to find these guys," Mohsenin noted.

He added that the restrictions on where registered offenders and parolees can live are so tight that "it is a very narrow swath for where they can live."

While Mohsenin knows any sympathy at all for his tenants is not likely to be very strong, he insists "these people deserve better."

"I know that's hard for some to accept, but they have rights too," he said. "And this is not right."

One tenant, who agreed to talk on condition of anonymity out of fear of being retaliated against, agreed.

"There's nowhere to stay. I don't know where they expect us to go," the 27-year-old single dad said. He noted that the mandated hasty departure means he is unable to give management 30-day notice and must thereby forfeit his $900 deposit. Because he doesn't qualify for low-income assistance, without having his deposit returned, he said he doesn't know how he's going to make ends meet to come up with the funds for the deposit on a new residence.

Ironically, he is allowed custody of his 3-year-old daughter through the terms of his parole but is still required to keep the prescribed 2,000 feet from schools and parks. The move order has him at a loss over what to do.

"It's kind of hard to find a compliant place," he said before adding that a lot of places that are compliant won't rent to sex offenders because "they don't want that kind of reputation."

"Now we're going to be homeless and sleep in a car," he added. "How are they going to put a kid out on the street?"

State Parole officials note that the law is the law.

And Parole Agent Douglas Eckenrod, who supervises the Fairfield 2 Parole Unit responsible for monitoring gang members and sex offenders on GPS tracking, said it is not necessarily the case that no options are available.

"The issue of housing -- Prop 83 certainly complicates for the parolee -- but there are dozens of available housing options," Eckenrod said. "We're offering (the tenants) some assistance if they're not able to find housing by (the deadline)." He added that parole expects "that all of them are going to find compliant housing within the allotted period of time."

The crackdown on the Vacaville complex came as a result of a compliance reassessment of the complex a few weeks ago. That's when the presence of the charter school, which does not appear on the county's school board website, was brought to the attention of parole, resulting in the ruling.

According to Eckenrod, when the first registered sex offender moved to the complex, compliance checks were performed and it was found to be in compliance. However, since that time, building and general expansion throughout the city have closed in on the free space, bring with it the charter school.

"The landscape is continually changing in California all the time," he said.

Eckenrod said during the county-wide re-review, the Leisure Town apartment complex was the only one found to no longer be in compliance with distance requirements.

"Although it's small, it does meet the criteria of a school," he said of the independent study charter school that features students in grades K-12.

With public safety being the parole department's No. 1 concern, Eckenrod said "the bottom line is we have to enforce the law."

Eckenrod went on to say that all of the sex offender parolees are monitored using GPS tracking devices, which prevents parole agents from losing track of them -- homeless or otherwise.

However, according to Solano County Sheriff Gary Stanton, GPS tracking or not, the idea of having registered sex offenders out on the streets and in transient living situations is less than appealing.

"We prefer to have them avoid a transient situation," he said, noting that he thinks having them living out on the streets is of concern to the community. "I prefer to see parole avoid that in every situation."

He went on to say that his primary concern is the amount of time it requires for parole agents to monitor a computer screen to track the parolee -- time that could otherwise be spent "out in the field." Stanton has hopes that in the future the parole department will find ways to outsource GPS monitoring to free up the agents for more active patrolling.

In the meantime, the tenants have been in contact with an attorney in Martinez in pursuit of a Habeas motion to fight their ouster, though they don't expect any action could be taken in time to beat the state parole deadline for moving.

The issue isn't unique to Vacaville. Across the nation communities are dealing with restrictions that push sex offender parolees away without giving them somewhere to go.

The Sacramento Bee reported last week that a registered sex offender sued the city of Elk Grove for the right to live with his ailing parents. The suit, which was filed June 9 by Michael Steven Escobar who, according to the report, is acting as his own attorney, states that a city ordinance restricting the places he can live is in violation of both state and federal constitutions.

And this isn't the first time that someone has taken task with the issue. The ongoing discussion is being revisited by states across the country and, in 2009, an advisory panel urged lawmakers to reevaluate housing restrictions placed on sex offenders calling them costly and counterproductive. ..Source.. by Catherine Bowen/ CBowen@TheReporter.com

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Putnam County sex offender residency law struck down

9-12-2010 New York:

MEL - A Putnam County law banning the most serious sex offenders from living near places that children frequent is unconstitutional, a state Supreme Court justice has ruled.

The Aug. 26 decision by Justice Francis A. Nicolai means the county can no longer order Level 2 and 3 sex offenders - considered the most likely to reoffend - to move. It also means that Brian Morrissey, a former Virginia schoolteacher who spent nine years in federal prison on child pornography charges, can continue living in his parents' Southeast home.

Morrissey had challenged the law, amended in 2009 by the Putnam County Legislature, that created child-safety zones within 1,000 feet of schools, child-care facilities, municipal recreation facilities and open-space areas.

Three sex offenders were ordered to move as a result. One was arrested and served a brief stint in the county jail before relocating, while a second also moved, although authorities later determined that he was only Level 1.

The third was Morrissey, 40, who had moved into his parents' Cobb Road home in 2006. He was no longer on parole or probation and had a job, according to court papers. He received a letter in 2009 from the Sheriff's Department telling him to relocate because the house was close to an open-space area. (Unbelievably stupid)

Morrissey's Mahopac attorney, Francis J. O'Reilly, praised the decision Tuesday.

"The Putnam County sex- offender residency law was an ill-conceived reaction by the Putnam County Legislature to the revelation that persons convicted of sex crimes live among us," O'Reilly said in an e-mailed statement. "The attempt to regulate the residence of sex offenders beyond what is already provided in state law, which already provides a comprehensive plan for the management of sex offenders, was clearly an unconstitutional attempt to infringe on the rights afforded citizens under the Constitution by restricting where they can live." ..Source.. Terence Corcoran

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Sex offender law would limit two offenders to one address

"Unintended consequences" says the Governor. OR, is it, "failure to consider the consequences of one's act," as so many judges say when sentencing someone for committing a criminal act. What is the standard for those in office?

9-12-2010 Tennessee:

NASHVILLE — A new law barring more than two registered sex offenders from living in the same address could cause a problem for Tennessee’s homeless shelters.

Gov. Phil Bredesen was made aware of the issue Thursday as he toured a new $13 million building that will house 38 homeless men in low-rent apartments in Nashville. The governor was told that the law prohibiting more than two registered sex offenders from living in the same residence might affect housing for the homeless, The Tennessean reported.

“Did I sign that?” Bredesen asked.

“Yes, sir. It’s on my desk,” said Rachel Hester, executive director of Room in the Inn, a service center that provides treatment, classes, health care, laundry and now apartments for the homeless.

“The law is not clear about what is an address,” she said. “No one can answer that question.”

Sponsored by Rep. Mike Turner, D-Old Hickory, the law was aimed solely at residential halfway houses. Many of them are in suburban neighborhoods where children walk to school bus stops.

Turner filed the legislation after receiving many complaints about two halfway houses in his district, each with eight registered sex offenders.

Room in the Inn does not do a background check on its guests or tenants.
Bredesen called the potential problem with the homeless shelters “unintentional consequences” of the law he signed in July.

“I know Mike very well,” Bredesen said. “I might just talk to him about looking at changing that next year.”

Turner said Thursday afternoon that the law’s intention was simply targeted at residential neighborhoods, not homeless apartments or shelters.

Room in the Inn complies with the law, “as far as I’m concerned,” Turner said.
“I don’t think we need to do an adjustment,” he said. “But if we do, I will do that.” ..Source.. DNJ.com

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To fight crime, Ogden tells ex-cons to move out

Here it appears ALL felons are treated like sex offenders; we don't want you. Accordingly a "Good Landlord" is one that refuses to help former offenders reenter society. Yes, I said REFUSES!

8-16-2010 Utah:

Ogden • Not only was Joseph Sambrano following the rules of his parole, he was doing so well he received a job as a security guard at his apartment building.

The 46-year-old Sambrano would ensure that visitors to Park Avenue Apartments had escorts, told tenants to turn down loud music and helped police when they visited the building. Along the way, Sambrano assumed custody of his 16-year-old nephew and began raising him at Park Avenue.

Despite that, Ogden City wants Sambrano out of Park Avenue. Building management will evict him to save money.

Park Avenue belongs to the Ogden Good Landlord program, which discounts business licenses for landlords who follow its rules, and having tenants on probation or parole is a violation.

Sambrano does not know where he and his nephew will go next.

“I’ve talked to about 30 [landlords],” Sambrano said. “As soon as I tell them I’m a felon, they say, ‘Can’t do it.’ ”

At least three other people on probation or parole have to move from Park Avenue, too.

The phenomenon is not confined to Park Avenue or Ogden.

An investigation » In March, a Salt Lake Tribune investigation found a lack of halfway houses and treatment centers has collided with local housing laws. The result is probationers and parolees — whether they have been convicted of sex crimes, murder, theft or drug offenses — find fewer places in Utah where they can live and congregate in the same neighborhoods or buildings despite rules prohibiting them from associating with one another.

The housing shortage is acute in Ogden, which has a disproportionately high number of felons in part because it has one of only four halfway houses in Utah. The others are in Salt Lake City.

The offenders need to find jobs to stay in the halfway house, and those jobs can keep them in Ogden even after they leave the house.

In 2005, Ogden began its Good Landlord program to reduce crimes and nuisances. It gives participating landlords discounts on business licenses if they conduct credit and criminal-background checks on potential tenants and disqualify anyone on probation or parole for a felony conviction.

As of March, the city said 83 percent of licensed rental units participate, as does Ogden’s public housing authority.

The program and other police efforts aim to reduce the number of probationers and parolees in the city, and in recent years, the rules and policing have reduced crime and calls to police, said Jon Greiner, Ogden’s police chief and its state senator.

“Landlords are paying more attention to who they rent to,” he said.

As for where someone on probation or parole should go, Greiner asks, “Why is that my responsibility?”

Breaking the rules » Park Avenue is a converted Ramada hotel at 24th Street and Adams Avenue near downtown Ogden. It has belonged to the Good Landlord program for about two years, but the manager, Andres Herbon, admitted to ignoring some of the rules.

Earlier this year, Park Avenue had 19 people on probation and parole living among its 150 units.

“I think they deserve a second chance,” Herbon said.

But when word got out, Park Avenue had to repay $18,574 the building had saved under the program.

“It doesn’t matter how they try to spin it. They weren’t in compliance,” said Mark Johnson, who oversees the program as Ogden’s management services director.

Park Avenue is trying to comply. It told the probationers and parolees this winter they had to move. Sambrano and three other people on probation or parole have until Sept. 1 to leave voluntarily or face eviction.

“I really feel sorry for them,” Herbon said, adding that he only charged them half their rent or less in July and has not charged rent in August so the four can save for moving expenses. Herbon also has offered to pay their first month’s rent at the new place.

Sambrano was convicted in state court in Logan of possessing methamphetamine in 2005. He was sentenced to probation, but when he violated the terms in 2007, a judge sent him to prison. He was there about 15 months before being paroled. Sambrano moved into Park Avenue in September 2008. He said his parole officer recommended the place.

Sambrano’s parole officer is 1½ blocks away. Sambrano has no car and walks four blocks to Weber Human Services to undergo addiction therapy and another block to provide samples for drug testing.

He said his parole officer made him quit working security in Park Avenue. Last month, Sambrano took a job as a painter. He rides a bus to work.

It’s the treatment program that most ties Sambrano to Ogden, he said. He has at least 19 more weeks in the program. He hopes to complete his parole in November 2011.

On Thursday, Sambrano had a knock at the door of his first-floor room. In walked Gina Gentil, another Park Avenue resident on probation for drug crimes. Herbon said the city has told him Gentil can stay because she arrived at Park Avenue before he did.

To Gentil, the city’s Good Landlord program discriminates against people with disabilities.

“I have yet to meet an addict who has not been diagnosed with a disability,” Gentil said.

No place to go » The Utah Department of Corrections is aware of some of the housing problems that Sambrano and other probationers and parolees have.

“As different areas adopt these policies, it unfortunately can deter offenders from turning their lives around,” Corrections spokesman Steve Gehrke said in a written statement. “They already have several stressors to overcome upon parole. …

“At the same time, we recognize that the city and its individual apartment complexes have an interest in securing their neighborhoods, and we will continue to support them in the important role of protecting public safety.”

Sambrano’s sister and nephew moved into Park Avenue soon after he did. But in June 2009, his sister died of complications from diabetes. His nephew lives in the unit next door.

“He’s struggling because he’s worried about switching schools, losing friends,” Sambrano said.

Sambrano has been paying $640 a month for the two converted motel rooms with a kitchenette. He also has to pay for his diabetes medication and owes $10,000 in child-support debt.

Even if Sambrano could find an apartment nearby, he said his parole officer has suggested he move out of the 4-square-mile downtown area Ogden police have focused on for crime reduction. While the parole officer, city officials and Herbon have been telling Sambrano where he can’t live, he said no one has suggested a place where he can live.

“Either [the parole officer] is flexible with me moving somewhere close or I’m going to wind up on the street,” Sambrano said. ..Source.. Nate Carlisle, The Salt Lake Tribune

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Convicted of sex crime in 1993, man loses house to foreclosure but can't move

8-9-2010 Florida:

Joseph Mortimer and his wife took out an equity loan on their longtime Richmond Heights house during the real-estate boom, fell into foreclosure in February and then got scammed for $3,000 at a loan-modification seminar.

But their recession story has a twist: Mortimer can't move to another nearby home because he was convicted of a sex offense in 1993.

Mortimer's problem illustrates a quirk in the Miami-Dade county ordinance that bars sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of a school, park or playground.

Because Mortimer lived in his house before the 2005 ordinance was passed, he was allowed to stay there despite its proximity to two schools. But the location of his newly purchased house -- which is about one block away -- violates county law.

``I don't know what to do,'' said Mortimer. ``Every time a new law comes out, it's like I'm being convicted all over again.''

Mortimer, 44, pleaded guilty in 1993 to attempted sexual battery on a minor for molesting his girlfriend's 15-year-old daughter. He has since married the girl's mother, undergone therapy and completed probation in 2002.

He received a withhold of adjudication, meaning no felony conviction appears on his record, and holds a job as a heavy equipment operator with Miami-Dade County.

In court recently, Mortimer begged Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jorge Cueto for help. The judge said there was nothing he could do.

``The man is doing really well. He's been a productive citizen for years,'' Cueto said in court. ``But I don't have the power to change the law.''

Critics of Miami-Dade's controversial ordinance say it leaves offenders with few places to live.

``It's tragic that a family would be placed in this position because of the complete lack of thoughtfulness invested in enacting this ordinance,'' said Jeanne Baker, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney who advocates the county adhering to the state's less restrictive 1,000-foot law.

The law spurred the creation of a sex offender shantytown under the Julia Tuttle Causeway, located just outside the 2,500-foot limit. The now-dismantled camp gave Miami-Dade an international black eye and forced authorities to scramble to find homes for scores of convicts.

In the 1990s, Mortimer said, he and his girlfriend, Leslie Washington, were unemployed and addicted to cocaine and marijuana.

Her teenage daughter from a previous relationship told police that Mortimer had been sexually abusing her. He confessed to Miami-Dade police.

``I was on dope,'' Mortimer said of the episode. ``I really didn't care about nothing.''

In 1994, he was sentenced to 10 years of probation and psychological counseling. He said he quit drugs, got a job as a grave digger and eventually went to school for his commercial driver's license.

He married Washington, and the family went through counseling, though at first his stepdaughter lived with her grandmother, also in Richmond Heights.

In 1995, he and his wife put $1,000 down to buy a $56,000 house in the 14500 block of Jackson Street. In April 2002, with a recommendation from his psychologist, Mortimer's probation was terminated.

Nevertheless, Mortimer checks in four times a year with Miami-Dade police as required by law, which he said he has done dutifully.

The family's fortunes declined in 2006, when he and his wife took out a home equity loan to help pay for their son's college tuition and medical expenses for Mortimer's 22-year-old daughter, who has lupus.

By early this year, their monthly mortgage had ballooned to $1,900, not including taxes and insurance. They said they paid $3,000 to an Oakland Park ``loan modification'' company that vanished without helping them.

The tide turned in June, however, when a woman agreed to sell them a similar house on Monroe Street, just around the corner -- with payments directly to her, not a bank -- totaling $750 each month.

Mortimer acknowledges he never thought about checking to see if the house violated the distance ordinance. When the measure was passed in 2005, offenders such as Mortimer were ``grandfathered'' in -- exempt because they already lived where they lived.

``I just thought it was a blessing, that it was the grace of God,'' he said of the new house.

Mortimer did not find out the new address violated the ordinance until he checked in with police and was told it was off-limits.

``He's broken the chain and he is out. . .You cannot re-grandfather the grandfather,'' said Ron Book, one of the ordinance's chief architects and the head of Miami-Dade's Homeless Trust, who helped find housing for the Tuttle camp offenders.

Distraught, Mortimer called Judge Cueto's division and asked to be seen. His stepdaughter, the victim in the case, even wrote a letter forgiving Mortimer and asking for the judge's help.

For now, Mortimer is living in the foreclosed house; the case is still mired in the backlog of the Miami-Dade court system and he has yet to be evicted.

``After all this happened, he's only looked forward, to better himself, to excel,'' his wife said. ``We've lived like any other American family.'' ..Source.. DAVID OVALLE

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AL- Sex Offender Talks About Moving Out Of Myric Motel

6-18-2009 Alabama:

Sex offender talks about rejection, shares plan for moving, expresses feelings about the move

HUNTSVILLE, AL - The clock is ticking as the final days of the Myric Motel could be fast approaching. WHNT NEWS 19 told you last week about the State's Fire Marshal's Office serving a notice suggesting it close after the office found several code violations.

The motel still has a few days to get repairs done, but some of its residents are already moving. WHNT NEWS 19 sat down with one of the residents. The resident is a registered sex offender. He's been living there for years. He, and so many others in the community, are now wondering where will the sex offenders go. The resident told WHNT NEWS 19 he already found a temporary home, but says it was difficult.

The man, who didn't want us to show his face, has called the Myric Motel home for five years. He's now taking steps to find a new place to live. It's turning out to be more difficult than he thought.

"well, I was accused of molesting my daughter," said the sex offender.

He's a registered sex offender. The law says his home has to be at least 2,000 feet from a school, or daycare. He's spent the last few days looking all over for a place to live. The search was harder than he ever imagined. His rejection list grew as every potential new place went up in smoke.

"It was really hard because every place I called, or every place I went to, until I told them I was a registered sex offender, they were happy to give me a room," added the sex offender.

The man, convicted of molesting his daughter in 2001, doesn't expect sympathy from anyone, but says constant rejection from society does hurt.

"When they do that, it's just like a slap in the face," added the sex offender.

He knows most of the other 15 sex offenders who live in the motel on Highway 72.

"They are pretty well laid back. They keep to themselves. They, as far as I know, never caused a problem. We pretty much watch out for each other," added the sex offender.

The community will also be watching the motels 16 sex offenders as they get ready to leave their home, and step out into a world where they're not expecting to be welcomed by open arms.

The registered sex offender told WHNT NEWS 19 the Huntsville Police Department has granted all of the sex offenders who live at the Myric Motel until June 30th to find a new place to live. They are still required by law to re-register their new address when they move.

The motel has until the end of this week to make repairs to keep from shutting down. ..Source.. by Venton Blandin Reporter

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CA- Convicted sex offenders face eviction from Hacienda Heights home

With a landlord like this, they should all find other housing..

12-13-2008 California:

HACIENDA HEIGHTS - A half-dozen convicted sex offenders face possible eviction from a group home due to a bounced government check, officials and an attorney said.

Attorney Mike Balmer, who represents one of the registrants living in the home, said a government-issued check bounced and the owner ordered the sex registrants living in the home in the 14000 block of Ansford Street to leave Friday evening.

Two left immediately, but no one came by late Friday to order the remaining sex offenders from the home, as they expected, Balmer said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore confirmed the situation.

"Government checks are being returned for insufficient funds," he said. "The person who owns the home apparently is evicting some of them, or threatening to do so."

"(Sheriff Lee Baca) is outraged that anybody would consider evicting someone that has a government check, knowing full well that eventually it would be rectified," Whitmore said.

Whitmore added that Baca is also outraged at the current state budget crisis, and, "that Sacramento would allow this to occur."

California State Controller's Office spokesman Garin Casaleggio said, "Since we have money in the bank still in the state of California, no check issued by the Controller's Office is bouncing. So what you're looking for is possibly a check written by the Department of Corrections itself."

It was not clear Friday which government agency issued the bounced checks.
"We will monitor (the situation) the best we possibly can," Whitmore said. "Rest assured that the Sheriff's Department will be about its business."

Sheriff's officials added, however, that the registrants cannot be arrested unless they commit a crime.

"We have made attempts to contact the owner of this home, and as of yet, there has been no return call," Whitmore said.

California State Department of Corrections spokesman Gordon Hinkle said late Friday that he was not aware of the details of the situation or whether Department of Corrections checks are involved.

In general, he said, though state officials often help to place convicted sex offenders, they are not required to.

"The state and corrections does not have a responsibility to provide housing for any parolee," Hinkle said. ..News Source.. by Staff Writers Alfred Lee and Frank Girardot contributed to this story.

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GA- Harlem woman asks court to halt her eviction for 1996 sex offense

11-21-2008 Georgia:

The Harlem woman facing a Thanksgiving Day eviction from her home because of the sex offender registry requirements filed suit this morning in Columbia County Superior Court.

Attorneys from the Southern Center for Human Rights seek an injunction on behalf of Wendy Whitaker who faces eviction from her home because she resides within 1,000 feet of a child care center and church.

Mrs. Whitaker is on the sex offender registry because in 1996, when she was a 17-year-old high school student, she engaged in a consensual sex act with a student who was three weeks shy of his 16th birthday, according to the lawsuit.

The General Assembly created the punitive sex offender registry requirements in 2006. Although courts and the legislators have tamed some of the provisions, Mrs. Whitaker's case falls through the safety net.

Mrs. Whitaker had moved from her home but she returned this year after the law allowed sex offenders who own their homes to remain.

But the Columbia County Sheriff's Office ordered her to leave the home because it is within 1,000 feet of a church and Mrs. Whitaker's name is not on the deed. It is titled in her husband's name, according to the lawsuit.

Mrs. Whitaker had sought relief from the federal court but earlier this month the U.S. District Court in Atlanta rejected her plea.

Two years ago a federal judge ruled the provision that sought to keep sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop was unconstitutional. Plaintiffs convinced the judge that it was impossible to find a home that wasn't within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop.

But this month a federal judge ruled that the current provisions restricting a sex offender's home isn't too restrictive, according to earlier reports.

Today Mrs. Whitaker's supporters filed the lawsuit in a state court, basing their arguments on the Georgia constitution. ..News Source.. by Sandy Hodson| Staff Writer

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GA- Sex offender files new suit to stay in home

11-18-2008 Georgia:

HARLEM, Ga. - A registered sex offender isn't letting a state's court decision force her from her Columbia County home, Monday.

On Thursday, a Georgia judge ruled that Wendy Whitaker needed to move from her home because she lived within 1,000 feet of a church.

Whitaker’s attorney is now filing a new lawsuit at the county level which could prevent her from having to move.

Georgia law prohibits sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of churches, daycares and schools.

Ten years ago, when Wendy was 17, she performed a consensual sex act on a 15-year-old boy.

She was convicted and forced to register as a sex offender under Georgia law.

Kim Cosby baby-sits several children right next door to Whitaker's home and has been her neighbor for two years.

"I don't think what she's done is threatening our children here,” says Cosby. “If it was someone that had been in trouble with a little child and they were older, it would be different, but she was just caught up in a bad situation.”

But Whitaker's other next door neighbor begs to differ.

"The only fact that really means anything is that she's living there in direct violation of a court order,” says A.L. Wells. "Never mind that there was two years between her and that young boy in school. That doesn't have nothing to do with nothing. The law is the law."

Whether that law is fair or not will soon be up to the Columbia County Superior Court to decide.

One thing both of Whitaker's neighbors have decided on is that the law needs to be updated.

The Columbia County Sheriff's Office has not decided on an exact time to force Whitaker out of her home. The department says it will make that decision later this week. ..News Source.. by Steve Kuzj skuzj@nbcaugusta.com

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GA- New front opens in battle over sex offender law

Effectively, what is happening in Georgia is the state is practicing "constructive evictions" by making the residence uninhabitable by enacting a law to prevent the owner from residing in the property. Further, by virtue of her marriage, of an earlier date, she has a vested interest in that property, and assuming they file joint tax returns even the IRS would support this. There is no doubt she is at least part owner, and the fact that the law (as applied) tries to cut her out of the property, it violates ownership and is also ex post facto.

7-28-2008 Georgia:

ATLANTA -- Ongoing litigation over the state's stringent restrictions on sex offenders recently opened up a new wrinkle in the controversial law.

At what point does a registered sex offender actually own a home?

In filings this week in federal court, Harlem resident Wendy Whitaker, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to defeat the restrictions, is asking a judge to issue an preliminary injunction prohibiting the Columbia County Sheriff's Office from kicking her out of a home she moved to in February.

Whitaker has already moved twice due to the restrictions, and dreads the thought of having to do so again.

"Now I'm ready to pack a bag at a moment's notice," she said. "I'm just hoping and praying that it is going to be all right. I'm tired of moving."

Whitaker, 28, pleaded guilty to sodomy after having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old classmate when she was 17. She was sentenced to probation and required to register as a sex offender.

In January 2006, she and her husband purchased the home, not knowing it was within 1,000 feet of a church with a day care center, a fact that forced her to move.

The couple moved across the border to South Carolina until the Georgia Supreme Court struck down the restrictions late last year.

A revised law that took effect this month remedied that issue by exempting offenders who owned their home as of July 1, 2006, from the restrictions.

But Whitaker's name was not added to the deed until 2007. A sheriff investigator called her last week and told her she would have to move within 48 hours or face arrest. Offenders convicted of violating the restrictions can be sentenced to upward of 10 years in prison.

Both Whitaker and Columbia County Sheriff Clay Whittle -- along with 158 other sheriffs -- have agreed to hold off on enforcing the restrictions until the judge decides whether they are unconstitutional.

"They just want instructions," said Augusta attorney David Hudson, who represents the sheriffs. "And until they get some instructions in Ms. Whitaker's case, they are not going to enforce it against her until the court rules one way or the other."

Attorneys for the state are asking the judge to ignore that request, saying sex offenders have a propensity to reoffend, and that Whitaker should press the issue in state court rather than federal court.

Sarah Geraghty, Whitaker's attorney, said exactly what constitutes homeownership under the law is one issue in the case.

"But the broader issue is whether the Legislature can pass a law retroactively evicting Wendy from her home," Geraghty said.

In November, the state's highest court ruled that forcing offenders who already owned a home to move was unconstitutional because it amounted to unlawful taking of property.

To fix that, lawmakers added the exemption for offenders if they established property ownership.

Whitaker said she and her husband pay the mortgage on their home through a joint bank account, which she says gives her ownership rights.

Moreover, Geraghty contends that restrictions should be more nuanced, with different requirements for serious offenders and those like Whitaker, who participated in consensual sex.

"The concern is that Georgia's registry is bloated with people who don't need to be there," she said.

Proponents of the restrictions say they prevent offenders from reoffending by barring them from living, working or volunteering within 1,000 feet of schools, churches and other places children gather.

Opponents say there is no proof the restrictions protect anyone, and that they actually increase the chances of a new offense because they keep offenders from reintegrating into society.

The restrictions have come under various challenges this year. A Jefferson store owner whose business was close to a building that doubled as a church asked a judge to exempt him from the restrictions because he did not work the same time the church was in session. He later withdrew the request.

A group of sex offenders is also challenging the restriction that keeps them from volunteering at church, saying it criminalizes their practice of religion.

Offenders can apply to be removed from the registry 10 years after they complete their sentence, including probation. But they must gain approval from a judge, who considers their criminal record. ..News Source.. by By Brandon Larrabee, Morris News Service

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GA- Woman sues over ongoing sanctions for sex as a teen

7-14-2008 Georgia:

Consensual activity by a student shouldn't force her to move from home, plaintiff says.

Wendy Whitaker's name may be on Georgia's sex offender registry, but her offense suggests she is no predator.

At age 17, while a high school sophomore, Whitaker had oral sex with a 15-year-old male classmate. In 1997, she pleaded guilty to sodomy and got five years' probation. Whitaker, 28, has moved twice because of the sex offender law's restrictions that say an offender cannot live within 1,000 feet of places where children congregate. Whitaker was recently told by a sheriff she must move again because her home is within 1,000 feet of a church.

"It's a recurrent nightmare," Whitaker said Friday. "It's like a roller coaster. One minute, I'm OK. The next, I'm not. This time, I really thought everything was going to be all right."

Whitaker is the lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed in Atlanta that seeks to have the residency restrictions found unconstitutional. Whitaker and her husband, Michael, purchased their home in Harlem in January 2006, but her name was not put on the deed until 2007.

This is a potential problem under S.B. 1, the sex offender law passed last session to address a decision by the Georgia Supreme Court. In November, the court struck down residency restrictions that applied to homeowners, saying that making them have to abandon their homes was an "illegal taking."

S.B. 1 maintains the residency rules but says they cannot be enforced against offenders who bought homes before July 1, 2006.

Last week, Columbia County Sheriff Clay Whittle, after finding Whitaker's name was placed on the deed in 2007, ordered her to move within 48 hours.

Whitaker said Friday she has had ownership rights to the home, even if her name was not on the deed. "We've been married eight years, and everything we have we have together," she said.

Whitaker's lawyers asked Whittle to not enforce the residency restrictions against the woman while the suit is pending. The sheriff agreed. The matter is now pending before U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Cooper, who is overseeing the federal case.

But on Thursday, the state Attorney General's Office filed a motion stating that if Whitaker actually has a property interest in the home, she should seek relief from being evicted in the state courts, not the federal court.

"Assuming there is actual enforcement of an existing provision of the sex offender statute, [its] purpose ... is to protect the most innocent of victims, Georgia's children," the motion says. "There is indisputable evidence that convicted sex offenders have a propensity to re-offend."

Whitaker's lawyer, Sarah Geraghty, said the state should let the matter rest until the federal suit is over.

"Wendy Whitaker is not now and has never been a threat to anyone," she said. "The state of Georgia has better things to do than to evict a woman from her lawfully purchased home because she had sex as a teenager."

Augusta lawyer David Hudson, who represents Whittle, said the sheriff wants direction from the courts. If Cooper denies Whitaker's request, the sheriff "will enforce the law."

As for Whitaker's case, Hudson added, "My personal opinion is it seems to be costing the state of Georgia a lot of time and effort because of a law that reaches out to place these onerous burdens on offenders who are not predators." ..News Source.. by Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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GA- Another challenge to Georgia sex offender laws

7-1-2008 Georgia:

ATLANTA (AP) Defense attorneys are trying to topple Georgia's tough sex offender law, saying it amounts to ``cruel and unusual punishment'' because it's by far the nation's toughest.


The critics asked the Georgia Supreme Court on Monday to declare the law's penalties unconstitutional, and they've targeted a measure that requires an automatic life prison sentence for sex offenders who twice fail to register.

Their argument focuses on the case of Cedric Bradshaw, a 25-year-old who was arrested for failing to register as an offender after he spent weeks trying to find a place that didn't violate the law's residential restrictions.

When Bradshaw was arrested in 2007, it was the second time he failed to register as a sex offender in Georgia. He was sentenced to the only punishment allowed by law: life in prison.

The measure is ``grossly disproportionate'' because Georgia is the only state in the nation that imposes a life prison sentence for failing to register, said Robert Persse, a public defender who is Bradshaw's attorney.

``In some cases, if he harmed someone or killed someone, he could receive a far lesser sentence,'' said Persse, who said that sentences for armed robbery range from 10 years to life.

Prosecutors say they were following the letter of the law. And that law was the will of state legislators, said Scott Brannen, an assistant district attorney in Statesboro.

He downplayed the life sentence, noting that Bradshaw could still be eligible for parole in seven years. And he said Bradshaw deserved to be punished for his crimes.

``He knew the consequences, and nonetheless he goes out and deceives the state again,'' he said.

It's the latest clash over Georgia's sex offender law, which sponsors declared one of the toughest in the nation when it was adopted in 2006.

The measure bans sex offenders from living, working or loitering within 1,000 feet of just about anywhere children gather. That includes schools, churches, parks, gyms, swimming pools or one of the state's 150,000 school bus stops.

It also increased the maximum sentence for a second failure to register from a maximum of three years in prison to a mandatory life sentence. The change applies to all sex offenders, from child predators to those convicted of statutory rape.

Several pending challenges take aim at the law's residency restrictions, including separate lawsuits that target provisions that would evict offenders who live near churches and school bus stops. But the Bradshaw case is among a new breed that focuses on the one-size-fits-all nature of the law's criminal penalties.

Bradshaw was convicted of statutory rape in 2001. Five years later he was slapped with 10 years of probation because he didn't register his address with the state.

After he was released from prison on related charges in August 2007, Bradshaw moved twice because he was violating the law's residency requirements.

Bradshaw's next move put him squarely in the crosshairs of authorities: He registered at a family friend's address, but instead moved in with a girlfriend. He was arrested 12 days later and sentenced to life in prison.

To Persse, Bradshaw was a victim of the fear surrounding sex offenders that borders on ``hysteria.'' He asked the court to remember the words on Georgia's state seal: Wisdom, Justice and Moderation.

``This penalty is not wise,'' he said, ``it's not just and it's anything but moderate.'' ..News Source.. by WGST

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GA- Ga. sex offender law faces new challenge

6-28-2008 Georgia:

ATLANTA --Georgia's tough sex offender laws turned Cedric Bradshaw into something of a nomad.

Twice he moved in with relatives in Statesboro, and twice he was forced to leave because he was violating Georgia's tough sex offender law by living too close to spots where children gather.

After the 25-year-old was arrested for failing to register as an offender - his second time doing so - he was sentenced with the only punishment allowed by the law: Life in prison.

Bradshaw's lawyers will ask Georgia's top court on Monday to reduce his punishment in what is the latest test for the state's oft-challenged sex offender laws. While others have targeted the law's residency restrictions, Bradshaw's challenge takes aim at the criminal penalties as "cruel and unusual punishment."

"It's not like this guy is out chasing children, yet the law required him to receive a life sentence," said Robert Persse, a public defender who is Bradshaw's attorney. "And we believe that constitutes cruel and unusual punishment because the penalty is totally disproportionate to the crime."

Prosecutors contend they were following the letter of the law.

"That's the law. That's what they passed, and we're prosecutors," said Scott Brannen, an assistant district attorney in Statesboro. "That's what was passed by the General Assembly and that's what was in effect. We follow the law as it was passed."

Lately, that's been somewhat of a challenge.

The measure was declared one of the toughest in the nation when it was adopted in 2006, banning sex offenders from living, working or loitering within 1,000 feet of just about anywhere children gather. That includes schools, churches, parks, gyms, swimming pools or one of the state's 150,000 school bus stops.

It also increased the maximum sentence for a second failure to register from a maximum of three years in prison to a mandatory life sentence. The change applies to all sex offenders, from child predators to those convicted of statutory rape.

Since it was passed, though, it has been tangled up in a series of court challenges. A lawsuit targeting the school bus stop portion of the measure is still pending, as is a separate challenge targeting a provision that could evict offenders who live near churches or volunteer at them.

And legislators were forced to retool the law this year to allow sex offenders who own their homes to stay there if a center where children gather later opens up nearby after the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that the measure failed to protect the property rights of offenders.

This latest challenge questions the legitimacy of the law's sentencing guidelines, which Persse said is the nation's toughest.

"Georgia is the only state in all the American jurisdictions that imposes life as a possible penalty for not complying with sex offender registry rules," he said.

Bradshaw was 19 when he was sentenced to five years in prison on statutory rape charges in December 2001. After he was released on parole in 2006, he was slapped with 10 years of probation for failing to register his address with the state's sex offender registry.

When he was released in August 2007, he struggled for weeks to find a place to live.

First, he tried registering at his sister's address in Statesboro before being told to leave because the house was within 1,000 feet of a children's center. He also tried registering at his aunt's house, but had to move again because it was within 1,000 feet of a church.

Bradshaw's next move put him squarely in the crosshairs of authorities: He registered at a family friend's address, but instead moved in with a girlfriend. He was arrested 12 days later and soon sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of failing to register.

To prosecutors, there's no question that state legislators clearly intended to raise the criminal penalties for repeat offenders who fail to register when they voted to do so overwhelmingly in April.

"That should be used as the best evidence of legislative intent - and society's view on the punishment," said Brannen.

But Bradshaw's attorneys contend it's a case where lawmakers have overstepped their authority.

"That's why we have the guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment," said Persse. "The Legislature has the right to define crimes and set penalties, but that discretion ends when they impose a sentence that's grossly disproportionate to the offense." ..News Source.. by GREG BLUESTEIN

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FL- Sex offender sues Lake Worth

3-27-2008 Florida:

A Lake Worth sex offender has sued the city, saying that he has been wrongfully barred from living legally in the townhome he bought in 2004 because he moved away for three months.

August Synuria, filed suit on today, his 60th birthday, asking that a judge declare the city's prohibition unconstitutional.

Lake Worth prohibits sex offenders from living within 1,500 feet of a school bus stop, day care center, park, playground or library. But there is an exception for sex offenders who established a permanent residence before Oct. 4, 2005, according to the lawsuit. Synuria bought his one-bedroom townhome on Lake Osborne Drive in April 2004.

That might have been the end of the story had Synuria not gotten married and moved to another county in August. He rented the home to an acquaintance, then moved back in October, less than three months after leaving.

When he returned, Synuria notified Lake Worth police and was told he would be arrested if he resumed living in the townhome, because as a registered sex offender he could not legally do so.

Synuria argues that the townhome is still his permanent residence. The city's actions, his lawsuit contends, "constitute a termination of plaintiff's 'grandfathered-in' rights and therefore, a forfeiture."

Lake Worth City Attorney Larry Karnes could not be reached for comment.

Synuria was convicted in 1994 of lewd and lascivious activity on, or in the presence of, a child under 16. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement lists his current address as suburban Boca Raton.

Local and state ordinances restricting where sex offenders can live in Florida and elsewhere have stirred debate, because in some cases there is almost no place an offender can live without breaking the law.

Synuria tried to quit-claim ownership of his property to a friend after he was told he would be arrested if he lived there again, according to his lawsuit. But his homeowners association voided the deal, saying that Synuria needed association approval first. For now, he still owns the home. ..more.. by LARRY KELLER, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

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