A Donegal man convicted of assaulting a 14-year-old girl on a walking trail is challenging the constitutionality of lifetime registration with police ordered for certain sex offenders. _____ _____’s contention that he should not be required to register for life because it exceeds the maximum prison sentence for his offense is one of several such appeals filed through the Fayette County Public Defender’s Office. Full Article
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Va: Teen Could be Jailed for “Sexting” Girlfriend
A Virginia teen is facing two felony charges after he was caught sexting with his girlfriend. If he’s convicted, he could be forced to register as a sex offender and spend time in jail. Full Article Related: Manassas Virginia 17 Year Old (a minor) Who “Sexted” His 15 year old Girlfriend is Forced by a Warrant to Allow the Virginia Authorities to Take Photos of His Genitalia
Read MoreAL: ACLU – Law banning sex offender camp might violate Alabama’s constitution
CLANTON, Alabama — A new law used to shut down a church-affiliated camp for convicted sex offenders in rural Alabama violates a state constitutional amendment designed to protect religious liberty, the American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday. Randall Marshall, legal director of the ACLU’s Alabama office, said the law that went into effect this week is in apparent conflict with the Alabama Religious Freedom Amendment, passed in 1998 to make it tougher for government to infringe on religious rights. Full Article
Read MoreSex Offenders Cannot Even Be Garbage Men?
Anyone that is a registered citizen or has a loved one or friend who is, knows first-hand how difficult it is for a registrant to find employment. First, there are restrictions on where a registrant can work; not only geographically but also in which positions. Second, there is the stigma of hiring a registrant and the potential social and economic backlash that might come when clients or customers of that business learn of the employee’s history. Now, some recent articles have exposed a third challenge… employers can be liable for…
Read MoreOH: Ohioans can search sex offender phone, email info
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohioans can see whether phone numbers, email addresses or screen names belong to registered sex offenders under a new feature added to the state’s online database. Attorney General Mike DeWine announced the change Thursday in a news conference with the Buckeye State Sheriffs’ Association. Full Article
Read MoreMD: Court Rules Sex Offenders Who Committed Crimes Before 1995 Removed From Registry
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) — A major and controversial court ruling could strike a quarter of all names off Maryland’s sex offender registry. It’s now just a question of when. Full Article
Read MoreAlabama Crushes Sex Offender Reform Camp for No Good Reason
In rural Clanton, Alabama, a pastor named Ricky Martin has operated a camp on his property to help convicted sex offenders reform themselves. Martin’s program has since 2010 provided a refuge for over 50 men as they try to assimilate back into society. Not anymore, though. C.J. Robinson, the chief deputy district attorney of Chilton County, thought the group was icky or dangerous or something, so he went out of his way to put an end it. Full Article
Read MoreLA: Sex offender’s 3-year prison sentence for failing to register not excessive
A state appeals court has upheld the three-year prison sentence a Jefferson Parish judge gave a Plaquemines Parish man for failing to complete his sex offender registration. ____ ____, 39, says the punishment is excessive, because he tried to register as a sex offender when he moved to Jefferson Parish but could not afford the $630 notification fee the Sheriff’s Office charged him. Full Article
Read MoreAL: Alabama shuts down church’s sex offender housing
CLANTON, Ala. (AP) — Believing it was his calling to reach out to people Jesus called “the least of these,” Pastor Ricky Martin built a little church and opened a camp out back for some of society’s most unwanted people: Sex offenders. With the help of some former inmates convicted of rape, sodomy, child sexual abuse and other crimes, Martin raised a gray-block chapel in a rural patch of central Alabama in 2010, and parked old campers and recreational vehicles behind it to house the men. More than 50 convicted…
Read MoreMA: SJC ruling leads to release of sex offenders
SALEM — Dozens of sex offenders have been released from custody in the two weeks since the state’s highest court ruled that the state’s lifetime community parole law violates the state constitution, the county’s chief prosecutor said this week. And District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said he’s concerned that they’re hitting the street with almost no advance notice. “It’s a dire safety issue for us to have these people on the street with no notice,” said Blodgett, who believes as many as 40 offenders are being released in Essex County as…
Read MoreMD: Ruling could scrub quarter of sex offender registry
One-fourth of the names on Maryland’s sex offender registry could be removed after the state’s top court expanded Monday on an earlier ruling that adding offenders from before the list was created violated the state constitution. The Court of Appeals declared last year that the state could not require the registration of people who committed their crimes before October 1995, when the database was established. State officials removed the one name in question in that case but maintained that federal law required them to keep older cases in the database.…
Read MoreOH: Public housing residents illegally allowed registered sex offenders to live with them
CLEVELAND, Ohio – More than two dozen men and women who illegally allowed registered sex offenders to live with them in federally subsidized housing have been charged with theft and tampering with records, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office said Monday. Each of the 27 defendants were charged with theft and the grand jury indictments also include 89 counts of tampering with records. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Did the police entrap student during sex sting?
There are few things worse than a 24-year-old man seeking sex from a 13-year-old girl, or so it would seem. They should lock him up and throw away the key, or so it would seem. But sometimes, things aren’t what they seem. Full Op-Ed Piece
Read MoreMN: Sex offender’s case gets review board hearing
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal hearings in July will focus on whether one man in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program should be released. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank and U.S. Magistrate Jeffrey Keyes put the man’s case on a fast track after attorney Dan Gustafson argued that every day his client is still confined is a violation of his rights. Full Article
Read MoreWA: Benton County judge bars county from providing sex offender data
KENNEWICK — A Benton County judge’s signature Friday on four separate orders cleared the way for Donna Zink to appeal in her pursuit to get information on low-level sex offenders. Superior Court Judge Bruce Spanner has barred the county from fulfilling the Mesa woman’s request for the names of more than 400 Level 1 sex offenders, their registration forms and letters sent to them after Zink first filed for the public records last year. Spanner ruled in January that the personal information is confidential and could cause irreparable harm to…
Read MoreAL: New law forces Chilton. Co. sex offenders to leave pastor’s backyard
Since 2010, 53 sex offenders released from prison have moved in to trailers in Ricky Martin’s backyard. The property is located at 40 County Road 374 in Chilton County. Of those 53 convicted offenders, 32 are convicted rapists and 21 have been convicted of molestation. 43 committed crimes against children. Martin pastors Triumph Church, also on his property. Neighbors tell WIAT 42 they do not feel safe in their homes. Full Article
Read MoreAZ: Kindergartner, 5, is accused of sexual misconduct
An Arizona mother is outraged after her 5-year-old son was accused of sexual misconduct for pulling his pants down on the playground. Erica Martinez says her little boy, ____, was playing at Ashton Ranch Elementary School in April when another student told him to pull his pants down or else he would do it for him. Her son complied, pulling down his pants and underwear in front of several other students, but then he was hauled into the principal’s office by his teacher, she says. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Duty to Register – The Requirements and Limitations of a Sex Offender
Every year, some 360 individuals in Tom Green County are required to report to local offices and fill out forms listing their addresses, places of employment and vehicles. Some are required to submit DNA samples and contact information for their nearest relatives. Others complete the process every 30 or 90 days. Three hundred thirty-two of them live in five San Angelo zip codes, ranging from 76901-76905. They’re registered sex offenders, and the majority will remain so for the rest of their lives.Full Article
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