BROOKLYN (CN) – A convicted sex offender can continue his federal civil rights case against a Long Island-based advocacy group he says repeatedly dogged him at his home in a campaign to rid the county of sex offenders, a federal judge ruled.
The plaintiff, identified only as “John Jones,” sued the group Parents for Megan’s Law in federal court in Central Islip in January 2015, claiming it was hired by Suffolk County officials to monitor sex offenders and run them out of town in violation of their Constitutional rights. Full Article
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http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/home/id=1202750067373?slreturn=20160120032758
Wow!!!! This is from a supposedly responsible adult that is actually a legislator!!!!
“We’re really going to put sunlight on these bugs … I’d like to exterminate them. We’re going to drive them out of our neighborhoods, out of our communities, out of our county.”
I have to wonder if these vigilante types received any kind of training. This just goes to show that the public should not have information on registrants. I am astounded that the bill actually provided for a contract with a victims advocacy group to do this!!!!! It’s unbelievable!!!
“That bill also established a three-year contract between the Suffolk County Police and Parents of Megan’s Law, directing the group to track and monitor the county’s sex offenders.”
How’s this for underhanded total denial of truth? They were under contract for crying out loud!!!
“The county and the advocacy group moved to dismiss the complaint, stating that the agency is not a state actor and therefore, the plaintiff did not suffer any constitutional violations.”
Thank God the court agrees this man has a case and the ACLU is on his side. I hope he wins and this vigilante group and the state get slammed!
If anyone is interested, here’s a link to “Parents for megans law” web site.
http://www.parentsformeganslaw.org/public/statistics_childSexualAbuse.html
Take a look at their statistics; Very dubious.
Yet another example of how SORA in NY has gone too far.
This has been discussed at length here, but it should be reiterated that a California 290 registrant not on parole or probation has no, zero legal requirement to participate in any sort of home compliance check activity.
Thank you Erin Harrist of the New York Civil Liberties Union in representing this issue. Thank you for stepping up to the plate and hitting this monumental HomeRun.
NY PFML, if they had any usefulness, they have out live it. Time for them to leave the landscape. I am sure they are the major throne in Congress side with the matter of IML.
In my opinion based on what I’ve read over the past few years, this group (Parents for Megan’s Law) is evil and out of control.
I hope this guy wins big time and is able to shut those bullies down!!!!
I’m happy to see this was brought to the Federal Court this time. I never found out what happened last time a case was filed against Laura Ahearn’s “Trackers” when they were sued in district court(https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/702194-wallace-sex-offender-lawsuit.html).
This Ill-conceived idea of hiring vigilante trackers to harass citizens at home, work, or the grocery store should have been shut down posthaste.
Article from Aug. 2013: http://www.npr.org/2013/08/24/214925854/n-y-county-outsources-the-job-of-monitoring-sex-offenders
Some, like, Democrat Kate Browning, even joked about the law’s desired outcome for sex offenders: “And if they don’t like it, then they know where they can go.” Someone else answered, “Another county.”
PML is a posse formed to look for a suspect in a crime that hasn’t been committed.