[bangordailynews.com – 12/17/19] OLD TOWN, Maine — Registered sex offenders who have been convicted of felony-level sex crimes will be restricted from living within 750 feet of areas that children frequent, according to a new ordinance the city council unanimously approved during a special meeting on Monday, Dec. 16. The ordinance prohibits offenders from living within 750 feet of schools, playgrounds, parks or daycares, as well as other places in which children are the primary users. A total of 13 areas were listed on the proposed ordinance as restricted zones,…
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IL: Wayside Cross child sex offender residents receive new notices citing proximity to Aurora park
[chicagotribune.com – 12/13/19] For the second time this year, child sex offenders who live at Wayside Cross Ministries in Aurora were given letters stating they must find a new place to live within 30 days. An Aurora police officer delivered letters to 19 residents who were scheduled to receive them around 7:30 a.m. Friday morning, police spokesman Paris Lewbel said. The letters said the men reside within 500 feet of McCarty Park and therefore by law must move. The residents received similar notices in June but were allowed to remain…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Will Pennsylvania Ruling Begin the Domino Effect We Need?
Pennsylvania’s “Sex Offender” Registry is headed for what some are calling a life-or-death battle in the PA Supreme Court. The registry, in existence for nearly a quarter of a century, enacted as part of Megan’s Law, a law giving the public a false sense of security by allowing them access to know who and where “sex offenders” lived in their communities, is about to be challenged. A challenge that we can only hope will either begin putting the registry to death or at the very least, let it be picked…
Read More‘The Dr Phil Show’ uncovers new form of vigilantism by ‘pedophile hunters’ who ‘honeytrap’ child molesters and publicly shame them
[meaww.com – 12/11/19] Wednesday’s episode of ‘The Dr. Phil Show’ featured a unique phenomenon. Vigilante “pedophile-hunters” are a thing. Dr. Phil described it as a “controversial form of vigilantism that law enforcement is just not in favor of.” What these hunters, who are regular citizens, do is they bait potential child molesters to arrive at a certain location. They then catch them on camera and post their details online. One of these so-called pedophile-hunters is a man called Tony. A survivor of childhood sexual abuse, Tony founded the “Team Loyalty…
Read MoreNY: Town adopts hotel/motel, special events laws
[uticaod.com – 12/11/19] New law sets limit on number of registered sex offenders who can stay at a hotel or motel HERKIMER — The Herkimer town board adopted a pair of local laws Monday — one dealing with hotels and motels and the other with special events. The local law requiring the licensing of hotels and motels in the town of Herkimer was adopted in response to residents’ complaints about the Glen Ridge Motel on state Route 5 and was based on local laws adopted by the town of Brighton,…
Read MoreMA: Tougher child rape penalties pushed
[gloucestertimes.com – 12/3/19] BOSTON — Convicted child rapists who commit new crimes could be sentenced to life without parole under a proposal by Gov. Charlie Baker to toughen sex offender laws. Baker’s proposal, which went before the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, would increase the penalty for rape of a child with force by someone who has already been convicted of sexual offenses to life without parole. It establishes new charges for the rape of multiple children with force, which would carry a mandatory life sentence. It also would require…
Read MoreFL: Cape Coral police identify mother, son found dead in home; son was registered sex offender
[news-press.com – 12/4/19 -Shooting victim shamed] The bodies of a man and his mother were identified as those found Tuesday morning in a northwest Cape Coral home. Cape Coral police identified them as _______________.. Police said the investigation remains active. ___________ is a registered sex offender, listed as living at 2617 NW 9th St., on the Florida Sex Offender registry. He was convicted in 2012 of lewd or lascivious conduct on a person younger than 16. A crime scene cleaning crew member removes his environmental suit at a house in the 2600…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: This Is How It Starts
“Beware of men in white vans traveling the country, abducting young women and children, using them for human sex trafficking or selling them for body parts.” According to a recent CNN report November saw an upswing in this unsubstantiated RUMOR, a rumor that went viral on Facebook and Instagram, a rumor that even had the Mayor of Baltimore warning his city to BEWARE of men in white vans abducting and selling women and children for sex and body parts. Unfounded RUMORS. This is how fear-mongering starts. This is what drives…
Read MoreACSOL December 14 Phone Meeting
Dear Registrants, Family Members and Supporters – Please join me and ACSOL President Chance Oberstein, a criminal defense attorney, for our “monthly” meeting to be held telephonically. The conference call will be on Saturday, December 14 at 10 am Pacific Time (1:00 Eastern) and will last from 2 to 3 hours. Topics of conversation will include information about the domestic and overseas travel, the Tiered Registry, residency restrictions and other current topics as well as pending legal action throughout the nation. Please Show up, Stand up, and Speak up! Dial-in…
Read MoreTX: Tejano singer convicted of rape to launch comeback tour
[washingtonpost.com – 12/4/19] HOUSTON — A Tejano singer who was convicted of raping an underage female relative and imprisoned for more than a decade is preparing to relaunch his career with a sold-out show in Houston, despite the original terms of his release barring him from visiting the city and surrounding county because the victim lives there. … “For every one person against him, there are three more who support him,” said Vallejo, who noted that Lopez has been busy rehearsing. Tejano is a style of dance music that mixes…
Read MoreTN: Justice Department Announces More than $376 Million in Awards to Promote Public Safety
[justice.gov – 12/4/10] $5,528,132 Will Support Crime-Fighting Efforts in the Western District of Tennessee MEMPHIS – The Department of Justice today announced that it has awarded more than $376 million in grant funding to enhance state, local and tribal law enforcement operations and reinforce public safety efforts in jurisdictions across the United States. $5,528,132 will support public safety activities in the Western District of Tennessee. The awards were made by the Department’s Office of Justice Programs. “Crime and violence hold families, friends and neighborhoods hostage, and they rip communities apart,”…
Read MoreUPDATED: 50-State Chart on Relief from Sex Offender Registration 11-21-2019
[ccresourcecenter.org – 11/21/19] We [Collateral Consequences Resource Center] have completed an overhaul of our 50-State chart on relief from sex offender registration obligations, to bring it up to date and ensure that it is thorough and accurate. This chart documents the duration of sex offender registration requirements, as well as legal mechanisms for early termination from such requirements. In conducting this review, we have identified a handful of states that have, since the chart was last revised in November 2017, expanded the availability of relief from sex offender registration requirements, including…
Read MoreChild Custody/Visitation Laws Applicable to Registered Persons
[sosen.org – 12/1/19] In my 2016 Jobs and Welfare Survey of 307 registered persons, I found that registrants in this survey were less likely to be married than the general population (34.43% of Regs vs 49% of gen) and less likely to have kids (54.93 Regs. vs 74% Gen. pop.). However, this still means many people forced to register on America’s sex offense registries have families. This makes parental rights an important topic for, registered citizens many of whom are afraid that registry status can be used against them. PURPOSE…
Read MoreKat’s blog: The Flaw in Meghan’s Law
Our hearts go out to the Pennsylvania father who happened to be a registrant and who missed the birth of his third child for no reason other than the fact that he was a registrant. We can all put ourselves in this guy’s shoes and imagine the sense of devastation and embarrassment he must have felt when told he couldn’t attend the birth of his child and then to be escorted out of the hospital by security when he hadn’t done anything. As I try to make some sense out…
Read MoreWhy there is no national domestic assault offender registry – yet
[foxnews.com – 11/30/19] It was a murder so brutal – and one that continues to haunt law enforcement in the quiet community of Osceola County, Florida. … For those like Gibson, who are tasked with safeguarding the most vulnerable in the community, it has raised the question as to what more the justice system should and could be doing to support victims of domestic violence. Namely, why there has been little headway made to establish a national registry for those convicted of domestic violence crimes – similar to the SORNA…
Read MoreTX: Neighbors: Sex offenders may follow proposed Good Samaritan homeless shelter to area
[caller.com – 11/29/19] There was a time when Abel Palacious found himself homeless. Now, he lives across the street from the old Lamar Elementary School. The school, at the corner of Morris and 19th streets, could be converted into the largest homeless shelter in Corpus Christi. It would house 308 beds as the new location for the Good Samaritan Rescue Mission. The organization served Palacious when he was homeless. Even so, he said he can’t support the shelter’s proposed location because registered sex offenders are allowed to stay at the Good Samaritan. He has…
Read MoreIL: Documented harassment of a registrant by a police officer
[uscourts.gov – 11/26/19 – 7th Circuit] The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that state actors have, at a minimum, a rational basis for treating similarly situated people differently. Rex _____ alleges that Officer Tizoc Landeros prevented him from updating his Illinois sexual offender registration and otherwise used his official position to harass Frederickson purely out of personal dislike. Without an updated registration, Frederickson was unable to move from Joliet, Illinois, to nearby Bolingbrook. The district court found that Frederickson had put forth enough evidence to allow a…
Read MoreOH: Cleveland Police: Final warning for dumped child sex files sergeant
[bbc.com – 11/27/19] A police officer has been found guilty of gross misconduct after confidential files about paedophiles and their victims were found dumped in a recycling bin outside his home. Sgt Martin Skirving-Chehab, of Cleveland Police, took two carrier bags of paperwork home before his mother-in-law accidentally threw them out. The papers contained details about 55 sex offenders. A police misconduct panel gave him a final written warning. It found the officer failed to sort through the carrier bags, risk assess the material or store it in a secure…
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