[abc27.com 5/15/18] HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – A man we will call “Tony” first sat down with ABC27 News in November to talk about what it’s like being a registered sex offender. “There were many times I tried to commit suicide,” Tony said. “I am not a monster like people portray.” The former combat medic and EMT says being on the registry for his child pornography conviction only prevents him, and others like him, from moving on with life and becoming productive citizens. “When I first got on [the list], I…
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KS: Gov. Jeff Colyer signs bill to compensate wrongfully convicted in Kansas
[hutchnews.com 5/15/18] KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Gov. Jeff Colyer stood on Tuesday in the modest sanctuary of Mount Zion Church of God in Christ to belatedly draw the hands of justice closer to Lamonte McIntyre, Richard Jones, Floyd Bledsoe and any other Kansan wrongfully convicted of a crime. Bledsoe, of Burrton, along with the other men spent a minimum of 16 years in institutions operated by the Kansas Department of Corrections for serious offenses they didn’t commit. Each was part of a coordinated effort to build bipartisan support in the…
Read MoreFL: Sex Offender Homeless Camps in Miami-Dade County
[UPDATED LINKS 5/15/18] [cbslocal.com 5/13/18] Ron Book, the chairman of the Homeless Trust joins Jim DeFede to debate the ongoing problem in Miami Dade County where sex offenders are living in homeless camps Watch the video Related links: FAC Letter to Jim DeFede and CBS [floridaactioncommittee.org 5/14/18] A Heartless Man Without A Soul [blog.womenagainstregistry.org 5/16/18]
Read MoreOR: Let ________ live his life: Letter to the editor
[oregonlive.com 5/11/12] _______ should be given the opportunity to live his life (“Oregon State’s _______ denies molesting girl, says ‘nothing ever happened,’ ” May 7). The accusations and subsequent punishment he received is enough. This story has received national attention and there seems to be a vicious campaign by the accuser’s mother to make him pay for this transgression for the rest of his life. This is brutally unfair and begs the question, “Why does she hold onto so much hatred?” Read more
Read MoreFL: Police Move Remaining Homeless Sex Offenders Out Of Encampment
[nbcmiami.com 5/12/18] All of the homeless sex offenders living in a make-shift encampment in northwest Miami-Dade have been moved out of the area, police say. Dozens of sex offenders and predators were residing in tents near NW 71st Street and 36th Avenue due to a Miami-Dade ordinance that required registered sex offenders to live about 2500 feet away from schools and child-care centers. The make-shift homes are within those parameters, but the Florida Department of Health determined the homes were a health hazard and unsanitary living spaces. “At night, there’s…
Read MoreMS: Some People to Be Removed From Mississippi Sex Offender List
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — About 30 people will be removed from Mississippi’s sex offender list after the state agreed that people convicted under a Louisiana law no longer have to register. However, the legal challenge continues for at least one man who’s on the registry because of convictions under Mississippi’s own statute banning consensual oral and anal sex. Full Article
Read MoreOH: Judge removes former Steubenville football player from sex offender list
[10tv.com 5/11/18] COLUMBUS, Ohio A judge on Friday ordered that an ex-Ohio high school football player convicted of rape be removed from the state’s sex offender registry for juveniles, as allowed by law. The ruling by Judge Thomas Lipps came in the case of Ma’Lik Richmond, a former Steubenville High School football player who in 2013 was convicted of raping a 16-year-old West Virginia girl at a party that followed a football scrimmage the previous year. Richmond served a one-year sentence and later rejoined the Steubenville football team. Now 21,…
Read MoreVA: Sex Offender Kicked Out of Meeting Sues Stafford County School Board
[nbcwashington.com 5/10/18] A registered sex offender has filed a lawsuit against the school board and a deputy in Stafford, County, Virginia, claiming his First Amendment rights were violated when he was kicked out of a meeting. Melvin Allen was convicted in 2004 of attempting to take indecent liberties with children in an online chat room. He served 30 days in jail. As a registered sex offender, Allen is prohibited from being on a school campus. In 2016, a school in Stafford County asked Allen to pick up his sick grandson…
Read MoreFL: Update: Miami-Dade Encampment
[floridaactioncommittee.org 5/11/18] Registrants are still at the Miami-Dade Encampment. Some, because their GPS monitoring will trigger if they leave the area (probation has them designated to) and they don’t want to violate probation and go back to prison for that. Others, because they realize there’s noplace for them to go and they will be violating the overnight camping ordinance wherever they are, so might as well stay put. News crews are on site, waiting for enforcement action. This NBC6 video is from earlier this AM, where you can still see…
Read MoreUnintended Consequences: Sex Offenders in Motels
[nbcchicago.com 5/7/18] In April of 2014, a 5-year-old girl was playing with her brothers on the grounds of the Econo Lodge in Terre Haute, Indiana, where she was staying with her family, when a man grabbed her, took her into his motel room, hit her, pulled off her clothes, and molested her. Court records show that the man, Timothy Blazier, 50, was a recently paroled, twice-convicted child-molester. He’d been living at the Econo Lodge for three months when he molested the 5-year-old girl. He’s now back in prison, serving a…
Read MoreFL: Central Florida YMCA to screen members for sex offenders
[floridaactioncommittee.org 5/11/18] ORLANDO, Fla. – The YMCA of Central Florida announced to its members that it will begin screening all members and guests to see if they’re registered sex offenders before being let inside their buildings. The announcement came in the form of a letter sent to members signed by Chief Operating Officer Daniel Ickes. Ickes sent an explanation to News 6. “At the YMCA of Central Florida, there is nothing more important to us than the safety and security of our members, staff and volunteers. For that reason, we…
Read MoreFL: Homeless sex offenders lose court fight to keep Hialeah tent camp. Where to next?
[amp.miamiherald.com 5/10/18] A Miami-Dade judge on Thursday cleared the way for the county to dismantle a tent village of homeless sex offenders outside Hialeah, and a lawyer for some of the residents said the ruling leaves them no choice but to live on a roadside or street somewhere else. “They’ll most likely be relocating to another street corner,” Legal Services lawyer Jeffrey Hearne said after the hearing before Judge Pedro Echarte Jr. in Circuit Court. “New encampments will pop up. And this cycle will continue.” Kendall residents have already been…
Read MoreTX: Father of Texas Teen Doesn’t Want Son Labeled Sex Offender
[floridaactioncommittee.org 5/10/18] Richard Culley, a former Army sergeant plans to fight to prevent his son, Ryan, from being labeled as a “sex offender” for having sex with a 15-year old girl who lied about her age. He was convicted solely based on the age of the girl. In Court, it was stipulated that the sex between Ryan and the girl was consensual and there was no coercion, the girl claimed on Facebook that she was 18 years old, the girl was the one who initiated contact with Ryan. Ryan received…
Read MoreCO: Owner of polygraphy firm would have to quit sex-offender management board or give up $1.9M contract under measure heading to Colorado governor
[denverpost.com 5/9/18] Members of the Colorado board that decides how the state’s sex offenders are managed no longer will be able to profit from multimillion-dollar state contracts related to their work with sex offenders under a law legislators passed Wednesday. House Bill 1427 bars members of the Sex Offender Management Board from having direct financial benefits from the standards and guidelines adopted by that board. The legislation, which passed 27-8 in a final Senate vote, now goes to Gov. John Hickenlooper for consideration. Legislators reacted in part to a report…
Read MoreFighting the Fees That Force Prisoners to Pay for Their Incarceration
[truth-out.org 5/6/18] This past January, prisoners in Florida went on strike to protest what they called modern-day slavery in the state’s prisons. As of March, not only had the Florida Department of Corrections not responded to the demand for paid labor and improved living conditions, it had also placed some of the prisoners who were demanding fair wages into solitary confinement. As Heather Ann Thompson, author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy succinctly said on Democracy Now!, “If you do not treat…
Read MoreScam Alert: $2,000 Fine for Moving Without Reporting
[sosen.org 5/9/18] The following is from one of our member families. We had a scare yesterday. Someone called saying they were from (our) County Sheriff’s Department and that my loved one had moved without reporting it within three days. They wanted $2,000 dollars to cover his court fees then directed us to a specific street downtown which is where my loved one’s registration office is located. They indicated he would not be arrested, but would have to show up in court next Friday. They kept him on the phone and…
Read MorePart I: Just another day in the life of a registered sex offender
[narsol.org 5/8/18] By Sandy . . . Each day’s emails and email alerts in my inbox always include at least one especially disturbing situation that threatens the ability of those on the registry to be allowed to resume a normal life, no matter how long ago the offense that caused the registration. The planets must have been in a particularly evil alignment when I started opening today’s offerings. First was a story from several days ago where the art work, highly acclaimed art work, was ordered pulled from a university…
Read MoreIN: 7th Circuit prohibits sex offender from voting at local high school
[theindianalawyer.com 5/8/18] In a decision handed down one day before Indiana’s 2018 primary election, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals found a rational relationship between an Indiana statute prohibiting sex offenders from entering school property and the state’s interest in protecting children. The court ruled the state does not violate a convicted sex offender’s voting rights by prohibiting him from voting at a polling place located in a high school, and instead requiring him to vote via one of three alternatives. In Brian Valenti v. Connie Lawson, et al., 17-3207,…
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