Source: bangordailynews.com 12/1/23 Orrington residents will choose if they want to enact an ordinance that prohibits people on the sex offender registry from living within 750 feet of schools and churches About 35 residents, the board of selectmen, Town Manager Chris Backman and town attorney Andrew Hamilton gathered at the Center Drive School on Thursday to discuss which of three ordinances voters should choose if they decide to vote for the restriction of where registered sex offenders can live. A special town referendum is scheduled for Dec. 11. The public…
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NJ: Governor, in veto, recommends barring sex offenders from mental health diversion programs
Source: newjerseymonitor.com 11/29/23 Gov. Phil Murphy this week conditionally vetoed a bill that would expand an intervention program to divert some nonviolent criminal defendants to mental health programs, with Murphy recommending lawmakers bar people arrested for sex offenses subject to Megan’s Law. Lawmakers narrowly passed the bill in June along party lines, with Republicans warning it would push violent offenders onto the street. Murphy issued a statement on Monday supporting the spirit of the bill, saying: “Mental health issues should not be unnecessarily criminalized.” “This bill ensures that individuals whose criminal behaviors…
Read MoreTN: Class action lawsuit challenges retroactive placement on Tennessee’s sex offender registry
Source: tennessean.com 11/29/23 Eight people on Tennessee’s legally troubled sex offender registry filed a federal class action lawsuit last week asking that thousands of people with decades-old convictions be removed from the registry. The eight plaintiffs, who are using pseudonyms in the lawsuit, all have convictions from before or shortly after 2004, when the state’s current sex offender registry law, the Tennessee Sexual Offender and Violent Sexual Offender Registration, Verification, and Tracking Act, was passed. They are seeking class status for people on Tennessee’s sex offender registry whose convictions predate the law…
Read MoreSD: Advocates looking to add ‘stealthing’ to sexual assault laws
Source: dakotanewsnow.com 11/27/23 SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Community advocates and now state legislators are looking to tackle a growing issue nationwide and in South Dakota this upcoming session in Pierre. That’s the growing trend of sex stealthing. It can already be tough for victims of sexual assault to speak up about their experience, or even report it in the first place. That’s the situation that Georgilee Flynn found herself in. “This is something that is near and dear to me, because I was a victim of stealthing,“…
Read MoreIL: Illinois Supreme Court Weighs Constitutionality of Lifetime Restrictions on Child Sex Offenders
Source: news.wttw.com 11/15/23 SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court is weighing whether it is constitutional to impose lifetime restrictions on where a person can live after they’ve been convicted of a sex crime involving a minor. “It’s been 21 years – almost 21 years since my conviction,” Martin Kopf told the court’s seven justices on Wednesday. “I have been totally offense-free. Not even a moving violation. But yet, they still say that I’m dangerous.” … In court challenges, Kopf has represented himself while arguing, among other things, that the law…
Read MoreMO: Registrants Refused Shelter from Sub-Zero Weather by Half-Empty Salvation Army of Jefferson City
Source: newstribune.com 11/27/23 Nine years into offering an overnight shelter, the Salvation Army of Jefferson City is ready whenever winter weather strikes. “It’s something we’re kind of accustomed to now,” Center of Hope director Brian Vogeler said. Sunday marked the end of the first full week the Salvation Army’s Center of Hope offered cold cots, Vogeler said. About seven people utilized them each night, filling about half the shelter’s capacity. … People on the sex offenders’ list cannot use the cots. Read the full article
Read MoreSC: Man charged with 35 child sex crimes in Charleston pleads guilty, gets no prison time
Source: live5news.com 11/22/23 [Note: ACSOL is posting this as an example of unusual sentencing] CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – A man facing dozens of charges in connection to attempted child sexual exploitation is now out of jail and will spend no time in prison despite his guilty plea this week. Edward Borne, who is originally from Texas was slapped with 35 charges in Charleston County in July 2023. An investigation by the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office shows Borne solicited someone he believed was underage for sex and encouraged them to…
Read MoreTX: Here’s how certain Texas sex offenders are getting their information taken off the registry
Source: news4sanantonio.com 11/20/23 For certain Texas sex offenders, a lifetime on the sex offender registry may not always be a lifetime. A little known law that has been around for more than a decade allows certain offenders to have their information removed from the list. While some believe the state statute negatively impacts public safety, others, including licensed sex offender treatment provider, Bruce Cameron, believe the law improves public safety. “I have guys that have told me, ‘Hey, doing prison was easy. Being on the registry – that’s a life…
Read MoreNY: The Adult Survivors Act launched over 2,500 sex abuse suits. Now, it’s expiring
Source: apnews.com 11/20/23 ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — For a year, a special New York law has cleared the way for a wave of headline-grabbing lawsuits against famous men accused of sexual misconduct, including former President Donald Trump, hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and the comedian and actor Russell Brand. But when the Adult Survivors Act expires after Thanksgiving, it also will have led to a multitude of legal claims by women who say they were sexually abused while serving time in the New York’s prisons and jails. More than…
Read MoreTN: Issues with the Sex Offender Registry
Source: newschannel5.com 11/16/23 NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Local constitutional rights attorney Kyle Mothershead joins Levi Ismail on OpenLine to advocate for people who struggle with still being registered as a sex offender – even years after conviction. Watch the video
Read MoreIL: Chicago judge finds ban on guns for felon unconstitutional in controversial ruling
Source: newsbreak.com 11/16/23 In a ruling that seems fated to find its way before the U.S. Supreme Court, a judge in Illinois has recently found that the gun rights of a felon convicted of multiple armed robberies are protected by the Second Amendment. Ex felons prohibited from owning guns unless ex sponged, pardon etc. Is unconstitutional without historical support and the state failed to meet its burden to show any relationship to increase in gun violence Read the full article
Read MoreIL: Disabled Man on Sex Offense Registry Pardoned by Illinois Governor
Source: news.yahoo.com 11/16/23 In 2012, when Adam Nesteikis was 25 years old, his friend told him to pull down his pants in front of a young girl. Adam did exactly that. Adam is intellectually disabled, which means he didn’t realize he had done something wrong. He also didn’t understand what it meant when, after a trial, he was placed on the sex offense registry. He just knew that for some reason, he lost the job he loved wiping tables. He could no longer participate in the Special Olympics. And he…
Read MoreIL: State Supreme Court weighs constitutionality of lifetime restrictions on child sex offenders
Source: ipmnewsroom.org 11/15/23 SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court is weighing whether it is constitutional to impose lifetime restrictions on where a person can live after they’ve been convicted of a sex crime involving a minor. “It’s been 21 years – almost 21 years since my conviction,” Martin Kopf told the court’s seven justices on Wednesday. “I have been totally offense-free. Not even a moving violation. But yet, they still say that I’m dangerous.” Kopf, now 54, pleaded guilty in 2003 to aggravated criminal sexual abuse for an incident involving…
Read MoreGA: 73 Sheriff’s Offices Searched 9,232 Registrants to Find Only 3 Re-Offenses
Source: wnegradio.com 11/14/23 Thanks to an initiative involving 73 Georgia Sheriffs,… Due to the overwhelming success of the original initiative, Georgia’s Sheriffs have made this an annual operation… Preliminary reporting by the 73 participating sheriff’s offices reveals 12,092 registered sex offenders, 466 predators and 552 homeless sex offenders are currently living in their counties. During the one week operation, 9,232 residence verifications were conducted, … 3 warrants were issued for new sex offenses Read the full article
Read MoreNC: Registered sex offender found living near school put on $100,000 bond
Source: witn.com 11/13/23 [ACSOL note: we are posting this arrest to make registrants aware of the excessive secured bond] PITT COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) – Deputies with the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office say that they have arrested a registered sex offender who did not update his address when he moved. According to deputies, 29-year-old William Ford of Greenville is a registered sex offender who did not change his address with the Sheriff’s Office within three days when he moved recently. Deputies say that they found Ford living less than 1000 feet…
Read MoreWA: Washington panel recommended treatment over jail time for child porn
Source: thecentersquare.com 11/10/23 (The Center Square) – The Washington Sex Offender Policy Board last year recommended the Legislature consider treatment rather than imprisonment for those convicted of possessing or viewing child pornography or caught in an internet sting operation. The recommendations among several contained in a report to the House Public Safety Committee regarding “treatment alternatives for certain sex offenses; lifetime supervision; failure to register; washouts; and system improvements.” Read the full article
Read MoreNC: Child psychiatrist in Charlotte used AI to create child pornography images of minors, DOJ says
Source: wyff4.com 11/9/23 CHARLOTTE, N.C. —A child psychiatrist in Charlotte is headed to prison for using artificial intelligence to create child pornography images of minors, Dena J. King, U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, announced this week. David Tatum, 41, was sentenced to 40 years in prison followed by 30 years of supervised release for sexual exploitation of a minor. Tatum was also ordered to pay restitution in an amount to be determined within 90 days, a $100 special assessment per count of conviction, and a special…
Read MoreMA: Reforms are sorely needed at Sex Offender Registry Board
Source: dotnews.com 11/8/23 Serving as Massachusetts state auditor doesn’t just mean reviewing finances. A big part of my role, as I often speak about with folks across the state, is reviewing the performance and efficacy of the Commonwealth’s agencies and entities. A great example of the responsibility to look beyond number crunching is our office’s recently released audit of the Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB). People are familiar with the concept that Massachusetts registers convicted sex offenders, maintaining a database of where such people live and work in an effort…
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