A former Carbondale man forced from his home because his son is registered under Megan’s Law is suing the city and the mayor, alleging he was targeted for enforcement because he challenged the constitutionality of a city ordinance that limited where sex offenders could live. ____ ____ of Archbald claims his son, ____, was among 15 Megan’s Law offenders living in Carbondale in 2012, but he was the only one singled out by Mayor Justin Taylor for enforcement of the ordinance, which precluded registered sex offenders from living within…
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OR: Sex offender safety in question after deaths at prison
The safety of sex offenders at two Eastern Oregon prisons has been put in the spotlight this month after a lawsuit and a series of unexpected deaths. Early February marked the third unexpected death of an inmate convicted of sex crimes in as many months at Two Rivers Correctional Institution, Umatilla. At the same time, an inmate at Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution, Pendleton, is awaiting a judge’s decision after suing the prison for separation of sex offenders from the rest of the population to protect them from other inmates. ____ ____, 41,…
Read MoreIN: Frigid temperatures leave ex-offenders out in the cold
There’s controversy in Muncie over where convicted sex offenders should be allowed to live and the issue is becoming more heated because of the bitter cold. Mark called the city’s Jackson Street bridge home after his release from prison, where he served time for a sex offense involving a minor. When temperatures turn dangerously cold, Mark and four to eight other child sex offenders came to Christian Ministry Shelter, until the director got the news they must all leave. Full Article
Read MoreIL: Sex Offenders May Be Banned From Illinois County Fairs
A bill under consideration would ban registered sex offenders from going to county fairs. “There is a loophole in the current sex offender law that says you can’t work at the county fairs or you can’t be a vendor at the county fairs, but you can attend them,” Illinois State Representative Mike Smiddy told News 8′s Angie Sharp on Wednesday, February 12th, 2014. State Rep. Smiddy heard about the loophole following the 2013 Whiteside County Fair. The State’s Attorney for Whiteside County called him and explained an instance where a…
Read MoreTX: Dallas man says he was wrongly included in sex offender database
DALLAS — ____ ____ says the City of Dallas wrongfully made him register as a sex offender for 13 years. Now he wants the city to pay up. “I just feel like I deserve to be recompensed for what’s done happen in all this,” said ____, 43. “I just feel like it’s wrong.” ____ filed a $3 million federal lawsuit early last month, saying police violated his civil rights by refusing to recognize that he did not have a legal obligation to register. He filed the lawsuit after the city ultimately agreed…
Read MoreVA: Judge orders former Stafford teen’s name removed from sex offender registry, vacates sentence
Circuit Judge Jane Marum Roush on Monday ordered former Stafford County teen ____ ____’s name removed from the state’s Sex Offender Registry and vacated the convictions that put him there. The order resulted from Roush’s ruling that court-appointed attorney Denise Rafferty failed to provide effective assistance of counsel to Coker in 2007 as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Since January 2009, a team of attorneys with the Innocence Project at the University of Virginia School of Law, the law school’s Child Advocacy Clinic and JustChildren/Legal Aid of Charlottesville has been working…
Read MoreNV: County to charge inmates for food, doctor
ELKO — Between food, services, housing and utilities, taxpayers are footing a bill of about $85 per day for each inmate locked in the Elko County Jail, according to Sheriff Jim Pitts. With a jail population that’s almost constantly at the facility’s 120 inmate capacity, lock-up expenses add up to more than $10,000 per day and millions of dollars each year, according to Pitts’ estimation. But the sheriff has proposed shifting a portion of those costs onto the inmates. The county commission on Wednesday wholly supported the idea, which outlines a $6…
Read MoreOH: Sex offenders living in nursing homes
If you have a loved one in a nursing home, they may be living under the same roof as a sex offender — and have no idea that they do. An exclusive Channel 3 investigation found 29 sex offenders living in 16 nursing homes in Northeast Ohio. Two of those nursing homes — one in a small village in Summit County — had up to four convicted sex offenders living in them. “You would not want to live in a nursing home or have a loved one live in a nursing…
Read MoreKY: RSO Registered sex offender wants permission to practice law [UPDATED]
UPDATE: Kentucky court rejects sex-offender bar exam (3/20/2014) The Kentucky Supreme Court has turned away a request from a convicted sex offender to reconsider his bid to take the bar exam and become a practicing lawyer. The seven justices on Thursday unanimously rejected a rehearing in the case. Full Article — A University of Kentucky law school graduate who finished in the top third of his class is asking the state Supreme Court to reconsider its decision barring him from taking the bar exam because he’s on the state sex-offender registry. The…
Read MoreVA: Teen Girl Accused Of Posting Nude Selfies, Arrested For Child Porn
A 16-year-old Virginia girl is facing child pornography charges, after police say she posted photos of herself naked on Twitter. Authorities received an anonymous tip describing the photos, which were posted to Twitter around Jan. 30. The girl, a student in James City County, admitted to posting “multiple” lewd photos of herself to the social networking website last week, according to police. Full Article
Read MoreNV: Supreme Court Delays New Sexual Offender Registry Law
LAS VEGAS — The Nevada Supreme Court has delayed the start of the sexual offender registry law, also known as the Adam Walsh Act. The new law, which was to go into effect Feb. 1, would make the names of more sex offenders publicly accessible. The law says a sex offender, as young as 14 years old, must now publicly register. The Nevada Department of Public Safety expressed concerns about the manpower required to implement the law and sought a delay. Source Related:Nevada Supreme Court orders delay in enforcement of sex offender registration lawhttps://all4consolaws.org/tag/nevada/
Read MoreOR: Bill proposes life sentences for certain sex offenders
Some sex offenders could be subject to mandatory life sentences without parole — a sentence currently reserved exclusively for murderers — under a bill introduced by Senate President Peter Courtney. Senate Bill 1517 wasn’t the product of lobbying by law enforcement, parent groups or the Department of Corrections, Courtney said. It was his idea and bubbled up from an experience he had years ago, serving on former Gov. Barbara Roberts’ task force on child sex abuse. “It messed me up for a while,” he said. “I learned a lot of lessons…
Read MorePA: Woman on Megan’s Law list, who never committed sex crime, breaks down
McKEES ROCKS, Pa. — A woman on the Megan’s Law list, even though she never committed a sex crime, broke down while talking to Channel 11 Friday. “I am not a sex offender. I would never hurt a child,” said ____ ____. ____ was in tears as she was about to face a judge in McKees Rocks for failing to register as a sex offender. Police said she moved without notifying state police. Four years ago, ____ was convicted of interference with custody of children. That crime falls under the newest version of Megan’s Law,…
Read MoreCO: Sex offender says parole officer made threat after testimony
A convicted sex offender who testified before a legislative committee Tuesday was threatened with “severe consequences” by his parole officer, according to a complaint filed in federal District Court. The Department of Corrections is investigating whether his free-speech rights were violated. ____ ____ spoke at a hearing where advocates for sexual-assault victims debated mothers of sex offenders about a consultant’s report that Colorado was wasting tax dollars by overtreating low-risk offenders. He told legislators that he came out of prison as a low-risk offender, but after two years of treatment at…
Read MoreDE: Sex offender restrictions ineffective
Regarding sex offender residency restrictions (Letter to the Editor): Patty Wetterling, whose son Jacob was kidnapped and never found, posted the following statement on the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center website: “Because residency restrictions have been shown to be ineffective at preventing harm to children, and may indeed actually increase the risks to kids, the JWRC does not support residency restriction laws.” Full Post
Read MoreFL: law enforcement may have entrapped alleged sexual predators
PINELLAS COUNTY, Florida – A document obtained by 10 News indicates law enforcement may have crossed the line when trying to round up alleged sexual predators over the weekend — and defense attorneys say entrapment cases could be built around the evidence. The multi-agency sting, led by the Pinellas Co. Sheriff’s Office and Clearwater Police Department, netted 35 arrests in “Operation Home Alone.” The effort was coordinated by the region’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force. ICAC guidelines instruct undercover officers to “allow the investigative target to set the tone, pace, and…
Read MoreNJ: Trying to Ban Sex Offenders from Social Media Is a Waste of Time
New Jersey has become the latest state to try to regulate how (and if) sex offenders can use social media, an increasingly tricky problem facing legislators around the country. But privacy experts say the laws are problematic, and probably unconstitutional. The proposed bill would require all sex offenders in New Jersey to disclose the fact on all of their social media accounts. A similar measure was introduced, but not passed, last year. The measure has been pre-filed for the 2014 legislative session. Donna Simon, an assemblywoman who sponsored the bill, said anyone caught violating the law,…
Read MoreTX: Grapevine Has Effectively Banned Child Molesters
For a portrait of the Kafkaesque nightmare criminal residency restrictions can create, go read about the permanent sex offender camp that took root several years ago beneath Miami’s Julia Tuttle Causeway. Thanks to a local ordinance barring them from living within 2,500 feet of any place that children congregate, there was quite literally nowhere else for them to go.It stands as an object lesson in how not to do public policy. It’s a lesson that Grapevine has yet to learn. Last week the Grapevine City Council, citing a “frightening and…
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