Los Angeles (CNN) — The California man thought he put his past behind him, but then he became victim to an online scam associated more with the mafia than the Internet. He is alleging in a federal lawsuit that three websites are running an extortion racket preying on his history as a one-time registered sex offender. The alleged shakedown is a growing trend in cyberspace that also includes “ransomware” — another extortion scheme that uses fake police and FBI warnings to demand money in exchange for unfreezing data on your computer, experts…
Read MoreMonth: March 2013
Sex Offender Sites Accused Of Extorting Money In Federal Lawsuit In California
A recent federal lawsuit claims a group of websites is trying to extort money from some of society’s least sympathetic people: sex offenders. Privately owned sites OnlineDetective.com, SORArchives.com and, before it recently went dark, Offendex.com, attract viewers by advertising photographs, home addresses and personal information of rapists, child molesters and other sexual deviants. Full Article
Read MoreWA: Man sentenced to life for killing sex offenders; judge chastises supporters
A Washington state man convicted of fatally shooting two men “because they were sex offenders” was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without possibility of parole, KOMOnews.com reported. On June 2, Patrick Boyd Drum fatally shot his new roommate, Gary Lee Blanton Jr., 28, at their home in Sequim, Wash. Then, around 9 p.m., Drum drove to the home of Jerry Wayne Ray, 55, also a convicted sex offender, and shot and killed him. Full Article
Read MoreLancaster Repeals Sex Offender Ordinance
The Lancaster City Council, in a unanimous vote, repealed virtually all of its sex offender ordinance during a meeting on March 26. This was the second and final vote on that issue. “California RSOL did what had to be done by challenging an ordinance that violated both the state and federal constitutions,” stated President Janice Bellucci. “The Lancaster ordinance prevented more than 100,000 individuals and their families from visiting public places such as the museum and library as well as private places such as movie theaters and bowling alleys.” The…
Read MoreGA: FBI task force cases in jeopardy
An appeals court decision casts doubt on numerous North Georgia sexual predator convictions and raises further questions about the operations of an undercover FBI task force already under scrutiny for possible impropriety. On March 14, the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed a computer pornography conviction against ___ ____, who was charged in 2010 based on evidence obtained by the Northwest Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The court found that police were planting the idea of a crime in ____’s head and that the court didn’t have sufficient evidence…
Read MoreCalifornia RSOL Meeting May 18 – Los Angeles
California RSOL will return to L.A. on May 18. The meeting will be held at ACLU building at 1313 W. 8th Street and start at 10 a.m. As always, topics of discussion will include issues of importance to registrants and their family members, such as parole conditions and residency restrictions, as well as news about pending legislation and litigation. Attendance is free of charge and restricted to registrants and their friends / family / supporters. No media or government officials are allowed. Hope to see you there!
Read MoreCO: Civil rights lawsuits attack excesses of Colorado’s sex offender laws
Colorado’s tough sex offender laws are supposed to keep predators under tight supervision. But a series of lawsuits claim that the system is violating even minor offenders’ rights to free speech and association, prohibiting contact with family members — and, in one particularly bizarre case, telling a 62-year-old man that a discussion with a stepdaughter about her pregnancy constitutes unlawful “third party contact with a child.” Boulder civil rights attorney Alison Ruttenberg has filed at least three federal lawsuits in recent months challenging actions taken by probation officers and others responsible…
Read MoreWA: Bill would teach kids age-of-consent laws
Sexually active teens who don’t understand Washington’s age-of-consent laws could be committing crimes they aren’t even aware of, says state Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama. He’s championing a bill this session to educate young people about sexual offenses in the hopes of preventing inappropriate relationships from starting in the first place. According to the bill, public schools that already teach sexual health education would be required to also teach students about sexual criminal law in Washington and the legal consequences for committing a sex crime with a minor. Full Article
Read MoreLosing Sex Offender Scarlet Letter After 16 Years to Return Man’s Life, Claims Defense Lawyer
Orange County can be a pretty hostile place if you are a sex offender, witness the bans on pervs in parks the district attorney’s office has pushed for and the personal information about parolees made public thanks to the likes of county Supervisor Todd Spitzer. So, perhaps it is with some added gusto that a Tustin law firm is trumpeting a client getting his sex offender scarlet letter removed. The unidentified fellow had been arrested and convicted in 1996 for misdemeanor indecent exposure after removing all his clothing and running…
Read MoreIN: Mother crusades to save other bullied kids after losing daughter
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) – As a matter of policy, WLFI does not cover suicides. Numerous studies point to a potential “copycat effect” following media coverage of suicides. But when the mother of a 14-year-old girl who took her own life due to bullying reached out to us, we had to tell her story. Danielle Green’s daughter hanged herself from a tree outside the family’s mobile home park on March 5. … Danielle says the bullying started on Feb. 28 of 2012. She says Angel’s father was put in jail for…
Read MoreSex offender ‘named on Twitter’
A ban on naming a convicted child sex offender may have been breached on Twitter, the High Court heard on Thursday. Lawyers for the man, who is involved in legal action against Facebook, claimed the rival social media site was used to publish his identity. A judge was told the potential breach of his order could amount to contempt of court. Article
Read MoreSex offender village grows out of residency restrictions
Miracle Village is so remote, the residents compare themselves to lepers. Two miles of sugar cane separate 100 men from nearby Pahokee, itself a flyspeck on the shores of Lake Okeechobee. They fill the skeleton shacks of an abandoned sugar-company town. This is among the only places to live comfortably as a sex offender in South Florida. For many of these men, pushed to the fringe by residency restrictions, Miracle Village was the last net before homelessness. “In the beginning, no one wanted us around,” said Pat Powers, director of Matthew 25 Ministries,…
Read MoreSex offenders sue over personal info posted online
SEATTLE –A group of convicted sex offenders is suing three websites for posting their photos and personal information and then allegedly charging them to take the information down. In their federal lawsuit, the sex offenders claim that is extortion. “I was shocked and at the same time I was almost devastated,” said one of the sex offenders, who has asked to be referred to as John Doe. Article
Read MoreOffenders Complain of Online Extortion
Five Arizona men conspired to extort sex offenders by claiming they will take their names and photos off websites for $500, but leaving the information online whether their victims pay or not, 10 sex offenders claim in a federal RICO complaint. Eight John Does and two Jane Does sued five Arizona men, claiming they use websites to extort money from registered sex offenders, and from sex offenders who no longer have to register. Full Article
Read MoreSex Offender Law Reformers Sue Websites That Post Personal Details, Demand Cash to Remove
California Reform Sex Offender Laws (RSOL), which has been part of lawsuits against the County of Orange and Orange County cities over controversial laws that ban registered sex offenders from public parks, now has a new target. A lawsuit filed by RSOL in federal court Wednesday challenges websites that identify people as sex offenders, include their names, photos, home addresses and personal information, and demand up to $500 to have individual listings removed from the sites. “It is time to stop the extortion of more than 750,000 individuals in this…
Read MorePatty Wetterling questions sex offender laws
On an overcast spring day in 1996, a handful of people filed out of the Oval Office and assembled on the driveway of the White House before a scrum of reporters. They cast satisfied glances at the television cameras as birds chirped and a helicopter whirred nearby. Nothing except for the white memorial ribbons pinned to their lapels indicated the nature of their fateful connection to each other as the parents of children kidnapped by strangers and, in all but one case, viciously assaulted and murdered. Full Article
Read MoreForcing women and girls to report rape can lead to false rape reports
In the UK, in 38% of investigations linked to allegedly false claims referred to the Crown Prosecution Service between January 2011 and May 2012, the initial complaint of rape or domestic violence was made by someone other than the suspect. That’s a shocking statistic, but it is consistent with what we know about false rape claims. Among those under 18 it was 50% and often involved a parent. “It was a feature of these cases that the suspect later reported that the whole thing had spiralled out of control and…
Read MoreWI: De Pere City Council Votes to Repeal Sex Offender Residency Ordinance
De Pere becomes the first community in Northeast Wisconsin to repeal its sex offender residency ordinance. In a 5-to-3 vote last night, the city council moved to no longer limit where convicted sex offenders can live. For the last three years, registered sex offenders in De Pere, unless approved by a city residency board, could not live within 500 feet of where children gather, like schools, parks and churches. Now, that city ordinance is no more. “Well I’m very happy, I think ultimately repealing our sex offender residency ordinance makes our community…
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