Like the young shepherd who battled the giant Goliath, Major David Ellis slayed Charles Rodrick in federal district court this week. It was Ellis’ second court victory against Rodrick, who is the owner and operator of a series of websites including three websites which identify more than 750,000 American citizens as registered sex offenders regardless of whether they are currently required to register or even dead.
Rodrick’s websites at one time required individuals to pay up to $500 to have their name, photo, home address and other personal information removed. In addition to preying upon registered citizens, Rodrick also preyed upon people like Ellis after they helped registered citizens. Specifically, Rodrick falsely stated that Ellis had committed felonies such as falsifying tests results on aerospace equipment.
Following a three-day trial this week, the jury decided in Ellis’ favor and granted him $325,000 for damage to his reputation and physical suffering. The jury’s verdict will serve as a foundation for a request for an injunction to be submitted this month to the judge. If granted, the injunction could permanently shut down Rodrick’s websites.
During the trial, Rodrick revealed that the information he posted on his websites about registered citizens was taken from another website, National Predator Database, without payment. He also revealed that he did not attempt to verify the information he took which he later found included individuals convicted of crimes such as robbery and murder.
Also during the trial, Rodrick revealed that he is currently under investigation by the FBI. In fact, the FBI has already served a search warrant upon Rodrick which resulted in the FBI’s confiscation of seven computers, several thumb drives and hundreds of documents.
This week’s trial was the culmination of a lawsuit filed more than three years ago during which more than 400 documents were filed. This week’s trial also followed an earlier lawsuit filed by Rodrick in state court which claimed that Ellis and others had harmed him after Rodrick’s name, photo, home address and other personal information were posted on a public website. The defendants in that case successfully filed a counterclaim against Rodrick in state court and were awarded more than $1 million in damages in September 2014, which have not yet been paid.
The question is: when will Rodrick learn the lesson that he cannot continue to post false and harmful information about others, including registered citizens, on the internet? The answer is: if he hasn’t learned that lesson yet, he could be facing a new lawsuit soon.
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Jury delivers $325,000 verdict against sex-offender websites owner
What about the other plaintiffs? Obviously, the jury didn’t side with either of them. The only thing I took away from the decision is if you are charged with a sex crime and not convicted, or if you are the mother of a registrant, the US District Court of Phoenix doesn’t believe you are worthy of protection. Good for Major Ellis but it suck for the rest of Chucky’s victims.
Rodrick appears to be hiding behind a loophole in section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. The loophole is that he can create other websites, post the information there, then repose the same information on another website he owns. He can also utilize Oesterblad to write something, then post it himself and visa versa.
“Also during the trial, Rodrick revealed that he is currently under investigation by the FBI. In fact, the FBI has already served a search warrant upon Rodrick which resulted in the FBI’s confiscation of seven computers, several thumb drives and hundreds of documents”
Wouldn’t it be poetic justice if the FBI found CP on Rodrick’s computers?
You guys don’t see the big picture. Continue to live in your negative world and feel sorry for your self, and most of all remember what got you here. Janice does see the big picture an is why she is fighting for our constitutional rights as well to education the rest of the world we are not all the same and should be seen as such
Folks reading this. This is Major David Michael Ellis, USMC, (ret). Also referred to as the “General”. To be honest up front. I injected myself into your world first because I do not like bullies nor felons whom claim that they champion a cause. Make no mistake, that the battle against RODRICK and OESTERBLAD, and the ilk that they work with is wrong on so many levels. They ARE former felons, you all are former felons on some level or another. But, you all are CITIZENS, of these United States. You payed your dues and should be allowed to move on. A Felony is a matter of moral turpitude. Most have noticed that Rodrick (Gilson) and Oesterblad DO NOT show up on any mugshot website anywhere.. This costs them a lot of money. They want to extort others based on a “class”. You all say to yourselves.. “what the Hell?”. I agree. Ms. Janice.. does all that she can to right these wrongs. In this past Federal Case in the AZDC system, I asked to be joined. My tactical knowledge of the situation dictated that a injection of strength be portrayed to make it a WIN FOR ALL.
Let OESTERBLAD and RODRICK “spin it” anyway they want. They have NO IMMUNITIES under the laws of the United States. So this WIN, is a significant win against idiots who think they can yell “fire” in a crowded theater. That is the BIG PICTURE. SO if your reading this and have become a reformed productive member of society.. continued on your path of being a citizen.. GREAT. I made an oath to up hold and defend the Constitution of these United States to protect Citizens from all enemies foreign and domestic. As far as I’m concerned the terrorist racket that Rodrick and Oesterblad have formed needs to be eradicated. That IF THEY want to continue on the path of “name them shame them” .. They too need to be shamed for the lack of moral turpitude they both exhibited in their lives.. Gentleman and ladies.. They are no better than you.. on so many levels. Hold YOUR heads high. Support Ms. Janices cause with ALL that you can. I believe in her. She is an activist you should be proud of and support.. IF ONLY TO DO ONE THING. Put Rodrick and Oesterblad in PRISON again for violating your rights as citizens.
Thank you, Maj. Ellis, for reminding us all of the “big picture”. We need to work together to stop the Pendulum of Punishment that has harmed so many for so long. It will take a l-o-n-g time to stop that pendulum and therefore I urge everyone to remember that this is not a 100-yard dash but instead it is a marathon (26.2 miles).
I am honored and moved greatly buy your words Sir, you are a true patriot. Your forward thinking is a mark of agreat man. I would follow you into battle without hesitation.
Regards,
LCDR,(CEC)USN.ret.
Whoa! Lighten up. Just because someone disagrees or is asking for clarification doesn’t mean they are bad for the movement. In fact, that is healthy. Be the Democracy you imagine, the one they want to exclude you from. If anything, we should feel free to question or disagree. That is a right they can’t take away.
Kudos for those who actually stand up and speak out. Thank you Major Ellis. Thank you, Janice. Thank you Derek Logue. Thank you, Roger. Words have no force without the context of body, movement and place.
Thank you all for standing up and questioning authority.
Chris F makes a valid point. What is a marathon if you don’t know the route? Otherwise, it is wandering in the desert, pacing yourself to an unknown destination.
If you want followers in numbers, not just a handful in the know, you have to lay out the route in enough detail for them to go on and not get lost.
The big Picture victories could happen a little more quickly, if registered citizens , and the(families of) the incarcerated could adovocate together with one another. Those incarcerated for sex crimes , like c/p, and others, have the same problems you face, when they are released. Your issues are their issues. However, you may not see it this way, but their issues are your issues, too. The sentence guidelines have been revised, upward, something like nine times, since c/p became a federal crime in 1996. The Federal Sentencing Commission has even issued its own recommendation, to Congress, with regard to the need to revise the guidelines,downward, this time. However, both Congress, and the Commission, have been bridled by ignorant, and false opinions, of the vocal public, on social media, along with untruthful facts and statistics.
This is the season where the FCS invites public opinion with regard to the 2017 agenda,those things the public considers to be a focus for the next year. If the FSC would focus on the need to revise the sentencing structure downward, that would help to refashion public opinion, about these crimes. Right now, c/p offenders are often given punishments which exceed murderers, serial rapists, along with c/p producers. This is so backwards, and it is largely due to “proxy punishments, which means that c/p possessors are being punished for what they are imagined to have done, in a hands-on manner, and what they are imagined to do in the future, with no evidence to support those imagined crimes, both of which are unjust, and not considered for any other crime.
If RCs would consider joining this writing campaign, it could end up affecting their own plight in a positive way. Numbers can speak loudly, and you could use this platform to also speak to your concerns, as well. For example, there has been much reliance on the Bureau of Prison’s admitted faulty study of inmates with regard to potential recidivism.This study is called the Butner Study. There was coercion involved with the study, since inmates with a sex crime history were coerced to “remember” more past crimes than they were charged, or they would be dismissed from the study, and sent back to the general population, where their criminal history would, then, be evident to other inmates. They feared jailhouse justice., The statistics of this study were skewed, and the data false. Yet, even the FBI holds on to this study as absolute truth to this day!
Please see the Federal Sentencing Commission’s website at United States Sentencing
Commission at http://www.ussc.gov. The deadline for these letters is 7/25/16 (Federal Sentencing), and consider adding your voice..
Major David Michael Ellis, I appreciate your honesty. If we only had more men like you . That is what this country needs.
The statistic used in the Illinois Murderer registry article and also used multiple times pertaining to the IML lawsuit which is that registrant parolees are 4 times more likely to commit a new sex offense than non-registrant parolees is not relevant because the rate of both registrant new sex offense is so low and the rate of non-registrant new sex offense is also so low, 1/4 of the former, that the ratio of 4:1 rate of new sex offense is not important. As I have mentioned before, it’s like the ratio of winning a 4 million jackpot to winning a 1 million dollar one being 4:1, but that ratio is not important since the odds of winning either is so low. Doing a little math and kicking around the numbers…If as claimed in the up until now irrelevant stat of registrant parolee’s being 4 times more likely to commit a new sex offense than non-registrant felon parolees, if that study’s claim is true, then the 4 felons Charles “Gilson” Rodrick, Brent Oesterblad, Oesterblad’s brother who also went to prison for the same scam, and I think Oesterblad’s girlfriend or maybe Gilson’s girlfriend in on the scam, would pose the exact same risk of committing a new sex offense as a registrant of committing a new sex crime. These 4 felons, combined, by the logic of the stat that seems to be gaining traction, need to be outted for the felons they are, as well as restricted from normal daily life. The “4 times more likely” stat supports this.
WOW, thanks Janice, wow. Congrats.