Source: ACSOL The CA Assembly Appropriations Committee has stopped CA Senate Bill (SB) 680 by placing that bill on the committee’s suspense file during a hearing last week. As a result, it is unlikely that the legislature will continue to consider this bill. If SB 680 had become law, it would have created a new category of individuals required to register. That category would have included everyone convicted of unlawful intercourse (PC 261.5), also known as statutory rape, because the victim was a minor and could not lawfully consent. If…
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Scotland: Killer attacked fellow inmate ‘after discovering sex offence’
Source: heraldscotland.com 8/26/25 A convicted killer brutally slashed a gangland thug after discovering he was a sex offender. Robert Letham attacked Andrew ____ after sneaking up behind him as he read a newspaper while both were in HMP Perth. Letham struck after his apparent concerns about Andrew being housed in the main prison wing fell on deaf ears. The 40 year-old appeared at the High Court in Glasgow where he pled guilty to assaulting Andrew to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement. Letham was jailed for a minimum 22 years and…
Read More‘Sammy’s Law’ would help parents monitor kids online. It’s gaining steam.
Source: washingtonpost.com 8/26/25 Sammy Chapman was 16 years old when a drug dealer sent him a private message on Snapchat to offer free drugs that turned out to be fentanyl, an addictive and powerful opioid. On Feb. 7, 2021, his younger brother entered Sammy’s room to find him dead on the floor of fentanyl poisoning. That tragedy spurred the brothers’ parents, Samuel Chapman and television host and relationship therapist Laura Berman, to lobby for laws that might spare other youngsters from similar fates. Four years later, “Sammy’s Law” might be on the…
Read MoreRoblox Banned a Creator for ‘Hunting’ Pedophiles — And Critics Are Pissed
Source: rollingstone.com 8/25/25 The company provoked the ire of its community by banning Schlep, a popular creator who tracks suspected sex predators, even as it faces a flurry of lawsuits claiming it doesn’t protect kids After a popular YouTuber who entraps suspected sexual predators he contacts through Roblox was banned from the youth-targeted gaming platform this month, the company found itself defending its approach to moderation and user safety. But the furor over harm to minors hasn’t been limited to the game’s community. Now a Congressman, state officials, and families are demanding accountability and…
Read MoreOregon’s sex offender database limits information. Is it too much or not enough?
Source: katu.com 8/25/25 PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Courtney Gelbrich and Jane Mendoza have spent a lot of time at soccer fields, watching their daughters play competitive soccer. Little did they know, their common connection would lead them on an unpredictable journey into Oregon’s public sex offender database, in a fight to protect their children. It started with a phone call a couple of years ago. “My husband – who is a head coach of a youth competitive soccer team – received a phone call from our registrar one night saying, ‘Hey,…
Read MoreCO: Douglas County judge wrongly blocked man from de-registering as sex offender due to alleged ‘smirk,’ appeals court finds
Source: coloradopolitics.com 8/21/25 A Douglas County judge acted improperly by refusing to grant a defendant’s request to de-register as a sex offender a quarter-century after his offense because the man allegedly “smirked” at a hearing, Colorado’s second-highest court ruled on Thursday. David Arthur _____ pleaded guilty in 2001 to one felony and one misdemeanor count related to sexual assault on a child. After completing four years of sex offender probation, a judge dismissed the felony, leaving Arthur guilty of only a misdemeanor. He subsequently completed sex offender treatment in 2006.…
Read MoreNY: Woodstock Uproar Highlights Bigger Question: What Happens After Sex Offenders Leave Prison
Source: chronogram.com 8/22/25 During the public comment period near the end of a Woodstock town board meeting on July 8, resident Michael Veitch stood to speak. “One of the main failings of the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts and others was the failure to disclose the presence of known pedophiles to the parents of the children who came in contact with them,” he said. He’d drafted an email for the town board to send to parents letting them know that a “registered violent sex offender” was working for the…
Read MoreOH: Final conspirator in scheme to exploit Ohio sex offenders get four-year sentence
Source: zanesvilletimesrecorder.com 8/21/25 ZANESVILLE – Inmates within the Georgia prison system organized a defrauding scheme in 2024 to defraud sex offenders and across the country, including two male victims in Ohio. Marquis Lamar Conner Sr., 43, of Decatur, Georgia, was the last of four defendants to go before the Muskingum County Court of Common Pleas for sentencing Aug. 18. Per request, Conner argued for his own sentencing before Judge Kelly Cottrill. After a lengthy statement where he blamed the victims for being defrauded, Conner received four years in an Ohio prison…
Read MoreTX: Amarillo police share recent findings after [wasteful] sex offender compliance check operation
Source: newschannel10.com 8/19 25 AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) – The Amarillo Police Department has shared its recent findings after conducting a sex offender compliance check operation. Officials say the operation spanned from July 23 to August 1. The Amarillo Police Department’s Special Victims Unit (SVU), in coordination with multiple law enforcement agencies, recently completed the operation aimed at ensuring adherence to registration and compliance requirements under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 62 and departmental policies. Amarillo police shared the following operation summary: Read the full article
Read MoreParents: Stop Giving Your Kids (And Everyone Else’s) To The Government
Source: thegarrisoncenter.org 8/17/25 At a 1992 debate, an audience member hit incumbent US president George H.W. Bush, as well as candidates Bill Clinton and Ross Perot, with an interesting question. I personally recall the moment, and found it somewhat odd at the time, but I’m trusting AI on the exact quote, so don’t ask for my oath on its accuracy: “I ask the three of you to look into the camera and talk to us about how you would be as a president, as a father of the country. Why…
Read MoreME: Tier III Lifetime Sex Offender Registrant Booted from Board of Maine Autism Society After Maine Wire Inquiry
Source: themainewire.com 8/19/25 The Autism Society of Maine (ASM), a non-profit, dismissed board member Nicholas Pike, 29, on Monday after an inquiry by The Maine Wire inquired about why a Tier III lifetime sex offender registrant was serving on its governing body. “The Autism Society of Maine has dismissed a Board member after learning they are listed on the Maine Sex Offender Registry. This information was not disclosed during the application process. We take this matter seriously,” said ASM Board President Melissa Ponce in a statement provided to The Maine…
Read MoreAL: Pastor Robert Wagley’s Arrest: The Legal Questions
Source: atoday.org 8/19/25 On August 14, 2025, Mobile County deputies arrested Pastor Robert Michael Wagley of the St. Elmo Seventh-day Adventist Church on three counts of intimidating a witness. According to jail records and witness accounts, several church members who had assisted law enforcement in a separate criminal investigation were subsequently stripped of their church duties and escorted off the property. The sheriff’s office alleges these actions were meant to punish cooperation with authorities. Pastor Wagley has not been convicted of any crime, and under United States law, all defendants are presumed…
Read MoreAZ: Arizona to launch Sex Offender Management Board to tackle treatment, reform
Source: azfamily.com 8/19/25 PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A recently passed law is funding Arizona’s first-ever Sex Offender Management Board, which is aimed at getting justice for victims and preventing cases in the future. The board will be made up of 25 people who are experts on sexual abuse and deviancy. It will include psychologists, law enforcement officials, and victims’ rights representatives. They will make legislative recommendations regarding sentencing and treatment of sexual offenders. It will work to develop statewide standards and procedures to assess and supervise both kids and adults who have committed…
Read MoreHegseth May Be Required to Create Public Military Sex Offender Registry
Source: prospect.org 8/20/25 Service members and their families would have to be notified about registered sex offenders on military bases. After scraping his way through a bruising confirmation hearing that saw interrogations over allegations of sexual assault, harassment, and drunken behavior, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth may soon be tasked with overseeing the creation of the first-of-its-kind military sex offender registry. That is part of the Senate’s version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, a perennial must-pass vehicle in Congress. As it currently stands, sex offender laws are governed by the Sex…
Read MoreThe Tuna Net Analogy
Source: ampersandsrj.substack.com 8/18/25 The deck of the tuna clipper was alive with activity. A spotter scanning the horizon spotted commotion up ahead. The cacophony of seabirds always gave away the position of the catch. The engines rumbled as the captain steered the boat. The crew worked furiously, and within minutes, the net was dropped into the ocean, forming a wide circle around the flashing shapes in the water just below the surface. The bottom line was cinched tight, sealing the fish in as the water churned silver with their movement.…
Read MoreFL: Florida can keep ‘sexual predator’ marking on driver’s licenses, appeals court rules
Source: floridapolitics.com 8/18/25 The case arose after a sexual predator was sent back to prison after his probation officer found a smiley-face sticker covering the label on his license. Florida can continue branding convicted sexual predators on their driver’s licenses. In a divided ruling, the 5th District Court of Appeal has upheld the constitutionality of requiring state-issued driver’s licenses and ID cards to have “SEXUAL PREDATOR” stamped on them if the holder has been convicted of such a crime. The ruling reverses an earlier panel’s action striking down the law as unconstitutional…
Read MoreDenied for old crimes: The complex challenge of long-term care for America’s aging PFR
Source: mcknights.com 8/18/25 As a case manager for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Stephanie Jerstad once had a client die in transitional housing after being rejected by 212 different nursing homes in Illinois and Indiana. None of them would take the man because he was on a sexual offense registry for a long-ago offense. Admission was repeatedly denied despite professional evaluations of his appropriate behavior during a preceding hospital stay of more than 30 days. He also needed so much assistance with daily activities that he would have been physically…
Read MoreACSOL Online Meeting September 20, 2025
You are invited to join ACSOL Executive Director and civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci and an ACSOL board member for our next meeting. The meeting will be held on Saturday September 20 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 recorded. Within…
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