Canada: Despite no public sex offender registry, recidivism rate has dropped by nearly 70%

Source: myscience.org 12/20/22 Study led by Professor Patrick Lussier shows significant decline in recidivism of sex crimes in Canada over 80 years Encouraging news: between 1940 and 2019, the recidivism rate of sex offenders in this country has dropped by nearly 70%, according to a study published in the journal Criminology and Public Policy. Improved knowledge of sexual offending and training of criminal justice officials could explain these results, argues Patrick Lussier, a professor at the School of Social Work and Criminology and leader of the meta-analysis. Over a two-year…

Read More

NE: Dodge County sex offenders face challenges in registering

Source: fremonttribune.com 12/20/22 Convicted sex offenders in Fremont and Dodge County are required to register with law enforcement when they move, attend a new school or take a new job, however a recent incident at the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office highlighted the difficulties offenders face in complying with the law. A local convicted sex offender — Ronald Eugene ____ Jr., 38, of Fremont — contacted the Fremont Tribune after his repeated efforts to comply with Nebraska’s sex offender registration requirements under his sentencing were unsuccessful. ____ Jr. said he twice…

Read More

Federally funded police task forces carry out thousands of online stings each year, despite little evidence that they prevent abuse

Source: theappeal.org 12/19/22 On July 8, 2018, Norman Achin, then a 50 year-old public school teacher living in Northern Virginia, signed up for the adults-only dating app Grindr. Two days later, he was contacted by someone calling himself AlexVA. Soon after they started talking, AlexVA told Achin that he was 14 years old. “I was looking for adult fun. Did not expect to run into your age,” Achin responded through the app on July 12. “Not interested in that kind of relationship with a boy.” The next day, he reported…

Read More

OH: Sex offender, homicide suspect killing in Columbus sees no charges for SWAT deputies

Source: nbc4i.com 12/16/22 COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The officers involved in the fatal shooting of a double homicide suspect in northeast Columbus will not be indicted, the county prosecutor said Thursday. A grand jury voted against prosecuting two Franklin County Sheriff’s Office SWAT deputies, according to the office of Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Gary Tyack. The pair were attempting on June 7 to serve an arrest warrant on 20-year-old Pozz Striblin. At around 7 p.m. that evening, the two SWAT deputies went to a Sunoco gas station at Stelzer and…

Read More

UK: Prison officer jailed after starting relationship with inmate and sending ‘explicit’ images

Source: dailyrecord.co.uk 12/18/22 A prison officer has been jailed after entering a relationship with a prisoner and sending him ‘explicit’ images. Jennifer Gavan, 27, wept as she was jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to misconduct in public office after starting an inappropriate relationship with a male prisoner. Gavan was accused of entering into an inappropriate relationship with prisoner Alex Coxon, now 25, accepting £150 to bring a mobile phone into the jail, and communicating with him via a phone held illegally while working at HMP Berwyn, which houses…

Read More

PA: Scranton ordinance on where registered sex offenders can live remains contrary to court decision

Source: wfmz.com 12/17/22 SCRANTON — At 17, Zachary Pluko saw his future in the military or law enforcement. At 29, the vision is a memory. Pluko works at a Turkey Hill store to cover the monthly $600 rent he pays for a room on Moir Court. He and six other residents of 839-841 Moir Court mostly keep to themselves but they all share something in common: they’re registered sex offenders. Their residence, about 940 feet from a school, is contrary to an unenforced Scranton ordinance that remains part of the…

Read More

ACSOL January 21, 2023 Meeting

[NOTE: We have a NEW Zoom link shown below!] Please join ACSOL Executive Director and civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci as well as ACSOL board member and criminal defense attorney Chance Oberstein for our next meeting.  The meeting will be held on Saturday, January 21, online on Zoom beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific time, 1:00 PM Eastern, and will last at least two hours. You can use the Zoom app or call in using a Zoom phone number. There is no registration needed for this meeting. You can use the…

Read More

CA: L.A. County sheriff’s deputy under investigation after sex act is caught on hot mic

Source: latimes.com 12/15/22 The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a deputy for allegedly engaging in a sex act during a break and broadcasting the tryst over her radio, officials said Thursday A short audio recording first made public by TMZ captured part of the alleged encounter. In it, a woman laughs and says, “You’re going to rip my underwear!” A man replies and a beep common on police radios sounds. A source familiar with the investigation, who requested anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation, said the woman’s voice…

Read More

CA: California sex offender gets life for killing 4 women

Source: apnews.com 12/16/22 SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A California sex offender who with his best friend kidnapped, raped and killed four women, some of them while wearing a GPS tracker, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole. Franc Cano, 36, entered murder pleas in Orange County and was immediately sentenced. Cano, who has been in custody since 2014, entered the pleas after county District Attorney Todd Spitzer took a potential death penalty off the table, the DA’s office said in a statement. “Pursuing the death penalty was…

Read More

OR: Thousands of Oregon sex offenders still waiting for risk evaluation

Source: koin.com 12/15/22 There are 32,472 convicted sex offenders in Oregon. About 100 more sex offenders are added every month. Now, even after 7 years of work, the Oregon Parole Board has more than 20,000 sex offenders that remain unclassified at risk levels. The parole board simply can’t keep up with the thousands of sex offenders who need to be classified as low, moderate or high risk. … “At our current staffing levels you would see we would finish in approximatley 43-and-a-half years,” Oregon Parole Board Executive Director Dylan Arthur…

Read More

Opinion: Sexual assault allegations should always be taken seriously, but don’t rush to judgment

Source: sandiegouniontribune.com 12/15/22 In former SDSU football player Matt Araiza’s case, too many people seemed to automatically believe his accuser from the very beginning. The harsh reality of being a suspect in a criminal case, especially in a case where the potential penalties include spending multiple years in prison and having to register as a sex offender for life, weighs differently on different types of people. For Matt Araiza, it weighed especially heavy. In a very short span of time, he went from winning college football’s highest award for a…

Read More

VA: ‘Enough is enough’: Rock Church pastor previously accused in prostitution case speaks out

Source: wric.com 12/6/22 A Virginia Beach pastor previously accused of soliciting sex from a minor says “enough is enough.” During a recent service, Rev. John Blanchard returned to the pulpit to address his congregation. Blanchard was among 17 men accused of solicitation of prostitution after an online sting operation by law enforcement. Blanchard was the senior pastor at Rock Church International in Virginia Beach at the time of his arrest. The Chesterfield County Police Special Victims Unit said the suspects believed they were soliciting sex from minors through online and…

Read More

UT: Utah woman says justice system failed to protect her from an accused serial predator

Source: ksltv.com 12/13/22 Vanessa Clark is in disbelief. “I can’t believe that he was able to do what he did,” she told the KSL Investigators. On Nov. 7, Clark reported to law enforcement that she was raped by Joshua Homer, 26, after he invited her over to his home in Vineyard. Clark said the two initially connected through an online dating app and were meeting up for the first time. “It’s something that lives with you every single day now,” she said. “It’s just kind of hard to go forward.”…

Read More

‘A living hell’: Former federal inmates describe years of sexual abuse by prison officers

Source: usatoday.com 12/13/22 Three survivors of sexual assault in federal prison described years of horrific abuse by prison staffers who used their unfettered access to vulnerable inmates and threatened them with retaliation if they reported the attacks. All three former inmates, their voices cracking with emotion, told a Senate investigative panel Tuesday that the federal Bureau of Prisons had failed them and often shielded their attackers from accountability. One of the victims, Linda De La Rosa, told the committee, which has been investigating the sexual abuse of federal inmates for the…

Read More

OH: Surprise survey finds compliance among registered sexual offenders

Source: dispatch.com 12/13/22 Several law-enforcement agencies Dec. 2 conducted unannounced checks of 40 registered sex offenders in Delaware County, finding that a high percentage were in compliance with their residential registration. During the survey, only one was found not in compliance with Ohio’s rules for registered sex offenders. Read the full article  

Read More

PA: After a registered sex offender moves near the Hampton Township school, the mother wants to change state laws

Source: localtoday.news 12/7/22 Flyers distributed by Hampton Township Police Department informed parents and people living in the Central Elementary School area that a registered sex offender had moved nearby. Community notification is required under Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law, but the law does not limit where an offender may live. After learning that this individual lived less than 1,200 feet from where her three children study and play during recess, Katie Wymard set to work to try to change the law. “They’re on break every day and it’s literally in his backyard,”…

Read More

CT: Connecticut woman sentenced to year in jail for voyeurism

Source: apnews.com 11/29/22 A wealthy Connecticut woman whose criminal case file was sealed from public view was sentenced Tuesday to one year in jail for secretly recording three people, including a minor, in a manner involving sexual desire. Hadley _____, 54, of Greenwich, was led out of the state courtroom in Stamford in handcuffs by judicial marshals. She declined to make a statement on her behalf during the hearing, only answering several yes or no questions by the judge. Judge John Blawie, who sealed _____’s case file earlier this year…

Read More

TX: Online child predators: The rise of these criminals, the vigilantes trying to catch them and the legal battle that follows

Source: wfaa.com 12/11/22 As many aspects of Americans’ everyday lives continue to move more online, criminals are shifting their focus as well. That includes child predators, and the people trying to stop them — both police officers and civilians. According to data from multiple agencies, there has been a rise in reports of child sexual exploitation online in recent years. While different local, state and federal agencies are trying to protect families and stop these criminals, many social media influencers are also changing the focus of their videos to try…

Read More