Category: National

ICE Worker Arrested in Sex Trafficking Sting Told Police, ‘I’m ICE, Boys’

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Source: newsweek.com 11/19/25 A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement worker was among 16 men arrested in a Minnesota trafficking investigation that targeted individuals seemingly attempting to solicit a minor for sex, police said. Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said at a news conference on Tuesday that the three-day “Operation Creep” began on November 5 and focused on identifying people seeking to purchase sex from a 17-year-old girl. “When he was arrested, he said, ‘I’m ICE, boys,’” Hodges said. “Well, unfortunately for him, we locked him up.” Alexander _____, 41, of Robbinsdale, is…

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Trick-or-Treating Laws: Age Limits, Curfews, and Other Restrictions You Need to Know

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Source: nolo.com 10/24/25 Discover how some states and cities pass legislation—ranging from quirky to serious—designed to ensure a safe Halloween for all. By Ann O’Connell, Attorney  UC Berkeley School of Law Updated 10/24/2025   Halloween—the one night a year when it’s socially acceptable to dress as a monster and demand candy from strangers. But before you grab your plastic pumpkin and hit the streets, you might want to check your local laws. Across America, dozens of cities and towns have ordinances that could turn innocent trick-or-treating into a criminal offense. From age restrictions…

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ICE Agent Who Took Upskirt Photos of Flight Attendant Says It Wasn’t a Crime Because He Was Sneaky

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Source: reason.com 10/16/25 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Billy Olvera just wanted more cookies—or so he told an American Airlines flight attendant. Meanwhile, he used the ruse to take photos and videos of the attendant’s butt, legs, and feet. A police examination of his phone uncovered 23 photos and 20 videos of the flight attendant, who goes by A.G. in court documents. Olvera’s “clandestine video voyeurism,” as his lawyer would later describe it, took place while Olvera was on duty, working as a deportation officer transporting a detainee on a…

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Allegedly False Rape Accusations as Sexual Harassment for Title IX Purposes

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Source: reason.com 9/29/25 “[P]ersistent and unfounded branding of a man as a ‘rapist’ cannot be easily dismissed as anything other than sex-based harassment.” From Friday’s decision by Judge Paula Xinis (D. Md.) in Doe v. Univ. of Md, College Park (for more detail on the factual allegations, see pp. 4-12, and for more on two claims that were dismissed, see pp. 21-23): In October 2020, University of Maryland student Jane Roe … alleged that John Doe …, the plaintiff here, and another student had sexually assaulted her in separate incidents on the…

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OH: 135 Arrested in ‘Operation Next Door’ Crackdown on Sex Workers renamed to “Human Trafficking Survivors”

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Source: ohioattorneygeneral.gov 9/29/25 A statewide human trafficking operation conducted last week by more than 100 law enforcement agencies resulted in the arrest of 135 people seeking to buy sex – including from minors, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced today. “Operation Next Door was named to highlight the proximity and prevalence of human trafficking,” Yost said. “Too often, we are lulled into the false narrative that these crimes happen only in the shadows. This is simply not true – human trafficking occurs in plain sight and, unfortunately, may even be…

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Police using drones to read your license plates, warns EFF

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Source: malwarebytes.com 9/24/25 Police are using drones as flying automated license plate readers (ALPRs), according to a report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). And where there is a market, a provider will jump in. Or was it the other way around this time? Flock Safety, for example, recently told a group of potential law enforcement customers interested in Drone as First Responder (DFR) programs that its drone can be used as a flying license plate reader camera as well. An ALPR system is an intelligent surveillance system that automatically identifies…

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Sex offenders, terrorists, drug dealers, exposed in spyware breach

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Source: malwarebytes.com 9/29/25 We’ve covered spyware and stalkerware leaks many times before, but we don’t often see such exposure in software used by law enforcement. According to a report by Straight Arrow News (SAN), the hacker “wikkid” said the intrusion against RemoteCOM was “one of the easiest” they’d ever carried out. RemoteCOM describes itself as “the premier computer, smartphone and tablet monitoring service for the management of pretrial, probation and parole clients”. According to a leaked training manual, its software, sold as “SCOUT”, says it can be used to track targets ranging from sex offenders, sex traffickers,…

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Dallas Congresswoman Looks to Federally Criminalize Certain Protests

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Source: dallasobserver.com 8/25/25 Beth Van Duyne’s bill is seen as an infringement upon First Amendment rights. Some states are already making similar steps.   Beth Van Duyne wants to use federal racketeering laws to seize the assets of people and groups that organize or fund protests that turn violent. But a bill the Republican representative for parts of Dallas, Irving and Richardson introduced in Congress to make that possible could infringe on the right of free speech. It is also unlikely to become law and, even if enacted, won’t deter local activists.…

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What Happens After A Child Pornography Conviction In Federal Court?

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Source: newsbreak.com 8/25/25 The are a staggering number of people in prison in Washington State for sex crimes.  Just over 3,300 inmates, or roughly 24% of the entire prison system population, were convicted of some type of sex crime. The federal prison system doesn’t break data down the same way, so the total number of inmates that committed sex crimes in the only federal prison Washington State is unknown.  That said, we do know of one person heading to federal prison for a disgusting crime that falls under that category.  Pete Serrano,…

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‘Sammy’s Law’ would help parents monitor kids online. It’s gaining steam.

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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…

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Hegseth May Be Required to Create Public Military Sex Offender Registry

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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…

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Denied for old crimes: The complex challenge of long-term care for America’s aging PFR

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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…

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Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is Deporting Cruise Ship Crew Over Child Pornography Allegations Without Evidence

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Source: reason.com 8/13/25 Advocacy groups say more than 100 cruise ship crew members have been deported in recent months, and they’re not being shown the evidence against them or given any due process.   When Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents marched the housekeeper down the gangplank of the Victory I cruise ship in the Port of Detroit on the morning of July 11, she didn’t know what was wrong, but she was confident it would get sorted out. The crew member, originally from South America, had worked for 20 years on…

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U.S. Sentencing Commission Announces Appointment of Sentence Impacted Individuals to New Advisory Group

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Source: ussc.gov 8/11/25 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Judge Carlton W. Reeves, Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, today announced the appointment of nine individuals to serve on the newly established Sentence Impact Advisory Group (SIAG).  Advisory groups provide Commissioners with important perspectives that help them in policy making and ensure fairness in federal sentencing.  The newly appointed SIAG members include those individuals who have been impacted by federal sentencing or have family members that have been. Judge Reeves said, “I am very grateful to those who have accepted this appointment to…

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US Sentencing Commission Unanimously Adopts Policy Priorities

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Source: ussc.gov 8/6/25 WASHINGTON, D.C. ― Today, the U.S. Sentencing Commission has unanimously voted to adopt priorities for the 2025-2026 guideline amendment cycle.  Each year, the Commission solicits comments from the public on how the agency can improve federal sentencing.  Similar to years past, the Commission received insightful feedback on a range of issues from judges, members of Congress, executive branch officials, probation officers, advisory groups, attorneys, academia, advocacy organizations, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals, and others. In reflection of the comments and ideas it has received, the Commission voted…

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Donald Trump praises registered sex offender invited to speak at White House event for children’s fitness

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Source: yahoo.com 8/1/25 President Donald Trump’s attempt to revive the long-defunct Presidential Fitness Test veered into political scandal and absurdity Thursday after he launched the children’s health initiative alongside a convicted sex offender, boasting that there’s “nobody like him.” It was meant to be a nostalgic salute to American fitness. Instead, it became a microcosm of the Trump presidency: chaotic, controversial, and colliding with decades of unresolved questions about power, accountability, and abuse. In front of cameras, Trump signed an executive order reinstating the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools. Framed as a national push…

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Former Moderator Sues Chaturbate for ‘Psychological Trauma’

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Source: courtwatch.news 7/27/25 “Without these safeguards, Mr. Barber eventually developed full-blown PTSD, which he is currently still being treated for,” the former mod’s lawyer said.  A former content moderator for Chaturbate is suing the live-streaming porn platform for psychological trauma he claims he suffered after being exposed to “extreme, violent, graphic, and sexually explicit content” every day without industry-standard safeguards, according to a new lawsuit. Neal Barber, who was hired by Bayside Support Services and Multi Media LLC—the parent company of Chaturbate—in 2020, filed a lawsuit on July 22 claiming…

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Trump’s Executive Order Confirms the Registry Machine Isn’t Going Anywhere

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Source: substack.com 7/26/25 For anyone holding out hope that a second Trump administration might bring meaningful change to the nation’s sex offense policies, the July 24, 2025 executive order should clear up any confusion: the registry is here to stay—and it’s growing teeth. President Donald J. Trump has made it unmistakably clear that he supports the continued enforcement, expansion, and surveillance of the sex offender registry. This isn’t a course correction or a fresh approach. It’s a doubling down. The executive order, issued under the guise of addressing homelessness, public safety, and…

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