Year: 2025

The Sex Offender Registry Shouldn’t Mean We’re Unwelcome at Church

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Source: filtermag.org 9/25/25 In the Bible Belt, there’s basically a church on every corner—especially here in Nashville. It feels like there should be so many options to choose from if you want to join a faith community. But the church doors are often closed to people on the sex offender registry, including myself. Sex offender registries are designed so that society treats you like a leper; as if you should be sent away somewhere, so that “decent” people don’t have to worry about you. I’ve felt that shame deeply in the…

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Janice’s Journal: Fraud, Deceit, Murder

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The registrant community is in shock today after learning that a 71-year-old registrant was brutally murdered by a 29-year-old stranger.  The violent attack that led to murder began in the registrant’s own home after the stranger falsely identified himself as a CPA going door-to-door looking for new business.  Tragically, the registrant opened the front door of his home, giving the stranger an opportunity to begin his attack. Although the registrant was able to escape from his home, he was unable to gain help from a car that he tried to…

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CA: Fremont murder suspect allegedly admits to targeting sex offenders

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Source: kron4.com 9/23/25 A man accused in a deadly Fremont stabbing last week allegedly admitted to police that he was targeting registered sex offenders as potential victims. Varun Suresh, 29, of Fremont, has been charged with murder in connection to the stabbing death of a 71-year-old man that occurred Thursday in the 600 block of Upper Vintners Circle. He also faces charges for residential burglary and armed individual causing great bodily injury. … Investigators said Suresh had targeted the victim “because of the victim’s age and previous offenses,” according to Fremont police.…

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MO: Missouri defends Halloween sex offender sign requirement at Eighth Circuit

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Source: courthousenews.com 9/16/25 Missouri is trying to revive a mandate for sex offenders to post a sign on Halloween stating they don’t have candy or treats at their residence after the law was blocked last October.   ST. LOUIS (CN) — An Eighth Circuit judge compared a Missouri law requiring sex offenders to post signs on Halloween saying they don’t have candy to a North Dakota law requiring landowners to post signs warning if there is quicksand on their property during a hearing Tuesday challenging the sign law’s constitutionality. “In…

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ACSOL Online Meeting October 18, 2025

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You are invited to join ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci, President attorney Elie Miller, and board members Roger Hunnicutt and Sherri Moreno for our next meeting.  The meeting will be held on Saturday, October 18 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 you can call in using a Zoom phone number. There is no registration needed for this meeting. No government officials are allowed to attend the meetings. This meeting will be…

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CA: CASOMB 9/18/25 Agency Reports Show Increase in Registrants in Custody, Petitions Filed and Granted

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The California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB) met today and during that meeting, several state agency reports were presented.  The reports reflect increases in almost every category including the number of registrants in prison as well as the number of petitions granted.  Below is a chart listing those and other statistics presented during today’s meeting.  Please note that the former category on this chart reflects statistics presented in May 2025.   The next CASOMB meeting is scheduled for November 19 in Sacramento.  That meeting will be held at 2590 Venture…

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FL: Video Vigilantes Star In “To Catch A Case”

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SEPTEMBER 16–A group of five young Florida men is facing an assortment of criminal charges for battering and falsely imprisoning a man who they targeted in a “To Catch a Predator”-style sting that was recorded and “uploaded to a website for public viewing for profit,” according to court records. As alleged in arrest affidavits, the video vigilantism occurred around 2 AM Friday at a home in Largo, a city in the Tampa Bay area. The victim arrived at the residence allegedly expecting to meet a minor for a sexual encounter. The…

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AL: Pastor and people on the sex offense registry arrested after car wash

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BALDWIN COUNTY, AL. (WALA) – A local pastor is speaking out after court documents show he allowed People Forced to Register (PFR) to volunteer at a car wash that was too close to a school or daycare. According to the documents, Dennis Potter is accused of allowing six PFR to volunteer to help wash cars on Sept. 14. The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office said the car wash happened near a school or daycare. By law, PFR cannot be within 2000 feet of. Potter, who owns Outcast Ministries Inc., a non-profit…

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Should Paying for Sex Be a Crime? A debate between Melanie Thompson and Kaytlin Bailey

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Source: reason.com 9/16/25 Melanie Thompson of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women and Kaytlin Bailey of Old Pros debate the resolution, “Paying for sex should be a crime.” Thompson is arguing in favor of the resolution. She is the chief advocacy and outreach officer at the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women International, an organization working against the trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and girls. Bailey is arguing against the resolution and is the founder and executive director of Old Pros, a non-profit media organization that uses storytelling to advocate for sex workers’ rights. She is…

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Attorneys Present Arguments Regarding Missouri Halloween Sign Law Before 8th Circuit Court of Appeals

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Source: ACSOL Attorneys representing Thomas Sanderson, a person required to register, and the State of Missouri formally presented oral arguments yesterday before three judges of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.  The focus of the oral arguments was a state law that requires all persons required to register to post a sign on their home on Halloween.   During oral argument, the State of Missouri continued to assert that the sign requirement is conduct, not speech, and therefore not protected by First Amendment.  The state also asserted that the sign requirement…

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WI: Amber Alert cancelled for Ruby Lehmann, suspect in custody

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Source: wisn.com 9/13/25 Authorities have cancelled the Amber Alert for 6-year-old Ruby Lehmann on Sept. 13, just before 6 p.m. Lehmann is safe, according to the Portage County Sheriff’s Office and the suspect, Jordan Coyle, is in custody. The Amber Alert for Lehmann went out Thursday, after she went missing from her grandmother’s house in Almond, Wisconsin. Officials in Portage County believed Ruby was with Jordan ______, 34. Jordan is a registered sex offender. Family told law enforcement he’s the girl’s uncle. According to the Portage County Sheriff’s Office on…

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UK: Sex offender chemical castration pilot expands

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Source: bbc.com 9/16/25 Chemical suppressants for sexual offenders will be trialled in north-west and north-east England as part of efforts to cut reoffending, the justice secretary has said. The government had pledged to widen the existing pilot in four prisons in the south-west to 20 prisons following recommendations from the independent sentencing review to explore its use in May. The medication limits “problematic sexual arousal” and restrains offenders who could be a risk to the public, David Lammy said. The expansion means about 6,400 sex offenders will be able to access medication alongside psychological…

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MI: Michigan GOP bill aims to ban pornography online, including content on “disconnection between biology and gender”

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Source: cbsnews.com 9/15/25 A group of House Republicans has introduced a bill in Lansing that intends to ban all pornography online, including descriptions of “a disconnection between biology and gender.”  House Bill 4938, named the “Anticorruption of Public Morals Act,” was introduced Thursday and has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.  “Don’t make it, don’t share it, don’t view it,” lead sponsor Rep. Josh Schriver of Oxford, a Republican from District 66, said in a social media post about the bill along with a request to add porn distributors to the…

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ME: AI-generated child sexual abuse images are being created in Maine. Police can’t investigate

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Source: themainemonitor.org 9/15/25 Across the country, 43 states have outlawed sexual deepfakes, and 28 banned AI-generated child sexual abuse material.   A Maine man went to watch a children’s soccer game. He snapped photos of kids playing. Then he went home and used artificial intelligence to take the otherwise innocuous pictures and turn them into sexually explicit images. Police know who he is. But there is nothing they could do because the images are legal to have under state law, according to Maine State Police Lt. Jason Richards, who is…

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FL: Putnam County passes one of Florida’s toughest sex offender ordinances after ‘Predator Camp’ outcry

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Source: Florida Action Committee re: actionnewsjax.com 9/12/25  Months after a storm of community outrage over what neighbors called a “predator camp,” Putnam County has enacted one of the strictest sex offender ordinances in the state of Florida. The controversial park at the center of it all — CCM Park on Balsam Street — once housed more than 22 registered sex offenders living in proximity. The situation sparked public concern, a series of investigative reports, and ultimately, sweeping legislative action. Action News Jax Nicholas Brooks revisited the site this week and…

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FL: Florida Supreme Court to Review “Sexual Predator” Driver’s License Labeling

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Source: Florida Action Committee 9/9/25 A case with major implications for the constitutional rights of those on the registry is now headed to the Florida Supreme Court. Attorneys for Michael Crist have filed a notice seeking review of an appellate decision that upheld Florida’s requirement that people classified as “sexual predators” have that exact phrase printed in bold letters on their driver’s licenses. Crist, who was accused in 2019 of trying to cover the label with a sticker, argued that the mandate violates the First Amendment by forcing individuals to…

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CA: Bay Area sex offender with cancer denied mercy release

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Source: mercurynews.com 9/9/25 A state inmate convicted of child molestation in Marin County in 1989 has been denied early medical release because of terminal cancer. Victor Wayne Cooper, 69, lived in Novato when the crimes occurred. He allegedly molested a 6-year-old Novato girl, the daughter of an acquaintance, over a five-month period. Cooper was convicted of four counts of lewd acts against the girl. A judge sentenced him to 60 years to life in prison. Cooper had two prior rape convictions. Last year, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation…

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