Six years ago, an awful event — the rape and murder of Poway High School senior Chelsea King by John Gardner, a convicted sex offender who was free despite repeated parole violations, and who had previously raped and killed Escondido teen Amber Dubois — spurred lawmakers to action. The California Legislature unanimously passed Chelsea’s Law, introduced by then-Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, R-San Diego. Full Editorial 2014 Report Related http://www.kusi.com/story/31319274/six-years-later-san-diego-remembers-chelsea-king
Read MoreCategory: California
Confined at Coalinga: California sex offenders face indefinite detention
____ _____ ____, 54, is a pedophile; no one disputes that, not even his lawyer. Since the 1980s, he has been convicted three times of molesting very young girls — including his 4-year-old daughter. His crimes resulted in three years in prison. He finished serving the last of those years in 2000. But that wasn’t the end of his incarceration. Under California law, there are two sets of punishments for sex offenders: one for the crimes they are known to have committed and one for the people the legal system…
Read MoreOtay Mesa border crossing uses facial scanners for screening departing foreigners
High-tech equipment capable of scanning faces and reading irises for the first time is being used at a U.S. land border to verify the identities of foreigners leaving the country. U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspectors are now screening pedestrians crossing into Mexico at Otay Mesa. “We want to know when a person comes into the country, and we want to know when they leave,” said Charmaine Rodriguez, assistant port director at Otay Mesa. Full Article
Read MoreI Married a Sex Offender
In 2001, about six months before Gretchen met her husband, David, he was charged with sexual assault. After a night of drinking, police found him and a friend drunk and half-dressed on the side of the road; she was passed out, and he fled when the cops arrived. Gretchen (names have been changed) says that initially, David thought he would be getting a DUI. In fact, he was ultimately charged with “sexual penetration by foreign object/victim unconscious” — the “foreign object” being HIS HAND1. Full Article
Read MoreCASOMB Letter Regarding Residence Restrictions (AB 201)
The following document presents a written statement provided to the Assembly Public Safety Committee regarding Assembly Bill 201, a proposed Bill which addresses local regulation of sex offender residence restrictions and exclusion zones. CASOMB Letter Regarding Residence Restrictions (AB 201)
Read MoreTiered Registry #1 Recommendation of CA Sex Offender Management Board
The California Sex Offender Management (CA SOMB) published today its Year End Report for 2015. The #1 recommendation in that report is creation of a tiered registry. The other recommendations are to limit the use of residency restrictions, continue to fund sex offender risk assessments, bridge gaps in what is known about registrants, encourage collaboration between victim advocates and sex offender management professionals and continue use of polygraphs. “We are encouraged to see that CA SOMB continues to support a tiered registry,” stated CA RSOL president Janice Bellucci. “Support from…
Read More1998 molestation conviction expected to be thrown out due to false testimony
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A man sent to prison 18 years ago for molesting a child is expected to be released from state prison within a matter of weeks because it has been revealed that the key testimony used to convict him was fabricated. Full Article
Read MoreSenator Runner Introduces New Residency Restrictions Bill [updated with PSC Hearing Date]
April 19, 2016 at 9:30 am – Public Safety Committee Hearing [PSC Agenda] Senator Sharon Runner (Republican, Lancaster) introduced a new bill (S. 1021) on February 11 that would prohibit registrants on parole from living within 2,000 feet of public or private schools or parks where children regularly gather. The deadline for introducing new legislation was February 11. “The California Supreme Court ruled in March 2015 that similar restrictions violated the Constitution,” stated CA RSOL President Janice Bellucci. “Consideration of this bill by the state legislature will waste limited legislative resources.”…
Read MorePolice: Wrong man arrested for grabbing child
RED BLUFF, Calif. – Red Bluff police said Friday they arrested the wrong man on February 5 for allegedly grabbing a 12-year-old’s hand. Police said they believed it was ____ ____, 83, a registered sex offender. However, ____has an ankle monitor that proved he was not at the scene at the time. Full Article
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Silver Linings to the Dark Cloud of the International Megan’s Law
International Megan’s Law is a terrible law. Its notification provisions trap registrants in a country that continues to punish them and its passport provisions expose them to significant risk of harm due to the addition of a “Scarlet letter”. Having said that, however, there is a silver lining to that dark cloud — our community came together and we acted in concert for the first time. We did this by attempting to prevent the International Megan’s Law from being passed by Congress and signed by the President. Hundreds of people…
Read MoreCA RSOL to Meet in Berkeley – February 20
California RSOL will meet in Berkeley on February 20 at the Finnish Hall, 1970 Chestnut Street. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. and last about two hours. The meeting will feature guest speaker Nicole Pittman, an advocate for juvenile sex offenders, and is open to registrants of all ages, family members and supporters. During the meeting, discussion topics will include residency restrictions, international travel and parole/probation conditions. Attendees will also be provided an opportunity to provide input regarding challenges they are currently facing. There is limited free parking available…
Read MoreSex Offender Rehab Center Moving To Former ‘Out Of The Closet’ Space
It’s been over a year since Out Of The Closet and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation moved out of the yellow building on the corner of Church and Duboce, and finally, a new tenant has emerged. Sharper Future, an outpatient clinic which helps rehabilitate individuals who have been convicted of sex crimes, will be moving into the 7,400 square foot space at the end of this month. Full Article
Read MoreThe Myth of Super Bowl Sex Trafficking Obscures Real Issues
East Bay rapper Joshua “Five Hunnet” Durham had a busy August. He forced an underage runaway girl into paid sex with him and others, according to law enforcement, keeping her addled with a drug cocktail of weed, cocaine and meth. He advertised her services on social media next to boasts about opening for hip-hop mega-couple Meek Mill and Nicki Minaj, a show that would be stopped after a pepper spray fight between fans. Sex trafficking, Durham’s alleged crime, has become a major focus of Bay Area law enforcement agencies in…
Read MoreGroup says 350 sex offenders in city
VICTORVILLE — The California Department of Justice might be under-reporting the number of registered sex offenders in the city by as much as 24 percent, according to a state and federally contracted counseling agency seeking to establish a presence here. “Currently, from the last numbers we ran, there are approximately 350 individuals who register as sex offenders that are in Victorville,” Scott Smith with Open Door Counseling Agency told the Planning Commission last Wednesday. … “There are so many people that’ve been let out of jail,” Smith said, “the least…
Read MoreBill allowing cities and counties to adopt stricter sex offender ordinances voted down
A bill which would have allowed cities and counties to adopt sex offender ordinances more restrictive than state laws was voted down by an Assembly committee Tuesday. Assembly Bill 201, authored by Assemblymen William Brough, Mike Gipson, and Marc Steinorth, would have given localities the ability to enact not only more stringent restrictions on where persons required to register as sex offenders can live, but also “presence restrictions,” which would limit their ability to visit places such as parks, libraries, swimming pools, or arcades. “In addition to the myriad of…
Read MoreWe Stopped AB 201!
Due to the efforts of registrants, family members and supporters Assembly Bill 201 was stopped today during a Public Safety Committee hearing. During a vote of its members, only 2 of 7 members voted in support of the bill while the remaining 5 members either voted “no” or abstained from voting. “We succeeded today because of letters sent and phone calls made to members of the Public Safety Committee,” stated CA RSOL president Janice Bellucci. “We sincerely thank you all for showing, standing up and speaking up on this important…
Read MoreCalifornia’s laws test whether sexual predators can ever be rehabilitated
At the foot of a fence around a small house in the desert, a protester cleared her throat. She wanted to scream loud enough for the man inside to hear. “Raaaaaapist!” she shouted. “Go away, rapist!” “No one in this world loves you,” her friend yelled. “You are a sexually violent predator!” The shrieks were met with silence from the white, two-bedroom home outside Palmdale where ____ _____ ____ has lived since his 2014 release from a California mental hospital. Full Article
Read MoreReport: Alarming abuses seen at remote California prison
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Guards at an isolated state prison have created a “culture of racism,” engage in alarming use of force against inmates and have a code of silence encouraged by the union that represents most corrections officers, the California inspector general said Wednesday. The scathing report calls for management and other changes at High Desert State Prison in the northeast corner of the state. More broadly, the report finds rising violence statewide in special housing units designed to protect vulnerable inmates, including sex offenders, gang dropouts and prisoners with…
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