Category: National

NE: Prison ordered for a man who tried to burn alive a registrant in his house

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Source: newschannelnebraska.com 5/15/23 NEBRASKA CITY – A Nebraska City man was sentenced to prison Monday for starting a fire after bragging he would deal with residents on the Nebraska Sex Offender Registration.   Otoe County Attorney Jennifer Panko-Rahe said 20-year-old Seth Buller went to a residence listed on the registry with intent to harm whoever was living there. She said when his attempt to gain entrance to the residence failed, he started a fire in a garage. Panko-Rahe said investigators found evidence of fuel spread to a work bench and…

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PA: Megan’s Law hearing canceled

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Source: altoonamirror.com 5/12/23 HOLLIDAYSBURG — Blair County Senior Judge Timothy M. Sullivan won’t be hearing arguments today on the constitutionality of the state’s law requiring sex offenders to regularly register their addresses and other information with state police. Because the state Supreme Court is taking up the constitutional issue on May 23 when it reviews a Chester County case, today’s hearing before Sullivan was canceled. Decisions by the state Supreme Court, expected after the May 23 arguments in Commonwealth v. Torsilieri, are likely to be influential on Blair County cases.…

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OK: Sex offender searches in Oklahoma prove more complicated than one would think

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Source: kjrh.com 5/12/23 TULSA, Okla. — The case involving registered sex offender Jesse McFadden has rocked the Henryetta community. Investigators have already taken in mounds of electronic evidence from inside the home that has victims’ families concerned about possible sex ring ties. The case has prompted a lot of you to dig into your own communities and the sex offender registry. One woman alerted 2 News that a simple web search isn’t as easy as it sounds and there could be some serious flaws. “This started by the McFadden case…

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FL: Orlando man arrested by DeSantis’ election police works to rebuild his life — again

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Source: orlandosentinel.com 5/12/23 Peter Washington Jr. had never voted in his life. But, in May 2019, he filled out a voter application so he could join his wife and “do something good.” “We had just gotten married,” he said. “We were doing a lot of things together.” Days after submitting his application, he was cleared by the state and received his voter ID in the mail. In October of the following year, the couple walked into the Hiawassee Library, near their home in Pine Hills. “I was anxious … scared,”…

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NJ: New Lawsuit Challenges New Jersey’s Lifetime Child Abuse Registry

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Source: reason.com 3/7/23 “Lifetime registries are wrong,” said the plaintiff’s attorney. “They’re wrong based on the science and they’re wrong based on the reality that risk is not static. It is dynamic.” In New Jersey, individuals found to have committed any act of child abuse or neglect are placed on the state’s child abuse registry for life—creating a permanent stigma that bars them from a litany of professions. Even though the evidence in favor of such registries is sparse, they continue to be popular across the nation. However, one New…

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AL: Cullman County man sentenced to 75 years for failure to register as sex offender

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Source: cullmantribune.com 5/11/23 CULLMAN, Ala. – Cullman County Circuit Court Judge Greg Nicholas on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, sentenced David Lee ____, of Hanceville, to 75 years in prison. The sentence stems from ____’s March 1 conviction for failing to register as a sex offender with the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office in violation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. “As I stated after the trial our sex offender registration laws are tough for good reason and we will not only prosecute those who break them to the fullest,…

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John Legend knows the obstacles of life after prison. He wants you to know them too

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Source: npr.org 5/4/23 When incarcerated people leave prison, are they actually free? Turns out, the singer/songwriter John Legend is one of 113 million American adults who has had a family member incarcerated. He tells his family’s story in this 30-minute documentary that asserts people can’t be free unless they have the necessary resources when they leave prison. From the get-go HOME/FREE lists the problems with re-entry into their community. “I have the ability to go where I want. I do. But at what cost?” says Anthony Ray Hinton, one of…

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FL: Officials: Florida Sex Offender Charged With Illegal Voting

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Source: usnews.com 5/10/23 MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) — A registered sex offender in Florida has been arrested on charges that he voted illegally in the November 2020 election. Louis Palmieri, 77, of Melbourne, was charged Tuesday with false affirmation in connection with an election and voting by an unqualified elector, both third-degree felonies, according to Brevard County jail records. Melbourne is on the Atlantic coast, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Orlando. Palmieri voted in the November 2020 election after signing paperwork claiming he was eligible to vote, the Florida…

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FL: ‘Justice’ reformer, ex-BSO deputy Bleiweiss avoids prison but must submit to sex-offender treatment

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Source: floridabulldog.org 5/10/23 Self-appointed justice reformer Jonathan Bleiweiss, credibly accused of molesting 25 men when he was a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy, has shut down an attempt to send him back to prison for a long stretch. Prosecutors wanted substantial prison time to punish Bleiweiss for violating his probation. Under the terms of a generous 2015 plea deal, he served less than four years of a five-year sentence for multiple counts of battery, stalking and armed false imprisonment, at the same time ducking a possible life sentence for multiple sex…

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GA: Columbus prison inmate charged in cellmate’s homicide. Witnesses say he choked victim

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Source: news.yahoo.com 5/10/23 An inmate who was being held at Columbus’ Rutledge State Prison has been charged with murder in the death of a cellmate. Nicholas Kyle Shaw, 32, faced charges of murder and aggravated assault Wednesday during a bond hearing in Muscogee Municipal Court. He is charged in the April 23 death of inmate Daniel Tyler Nichols, 26, authorities said. An investigator testified that on April 22, other inmates found Shaw atop Nichols in their cell, choking him. They pushed him off, and finding Nichols unresponsive, told Shaw he…

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AL: What to do if a registered sex offender moves into your neighborhood

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Source: cbs42.com 5/10/23 SHELBY COUNTY, Ala. (WIAT) — What do you do if a registered sex offender moves into your neighborhood? That was a question posed to CBS42 by neighbors in Shelby County after they received a flyer in the mail from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, alerting them that a sex offender had recently moved into the Brook Highland area. “We’re gonna make sure the community knows who you are, we’re gonna make sure the community knows where you live,” Chief Deputy Clay Hammac with the Shelby County Sheriff’s…

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WI: The Child Victims Act aims to support survivors of childhood sexual abuse

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Source: weau.com 5/8/23 EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) – Wisconsin legislators have proposed a new bill that would help survivors of childhood sexual abuse. The Child Victims Act extends the amount of time that victims of child sexual abuse can file private lawsuits against their abusers. The new length of time for survivors would be up to 45 years old, the same amount of time that they’re able to file criminal charges. Sexual assault advocate at Family Resource Center in Eau Claire, Amanda S., said sexual assault is considered one of…

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FL: Sex Tape of Florida Middle School Students Airdropped to Other Students, Incident Under Investigation

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Source: ibtimes.sg 5/6/23 School officials and the Jacksonville Beach Police are investigating a situation at Fletcher Middle School that allegedly involves an explicit video that shows two students having sex. Officials say the video was sent out to via AirDrop and text messaging apps, popping up on the cell phones of their peers at the school. Principal Joe McKenzie called parents to inform them of the incident this week. “We’ve recently learned that someone shared an inappropriate, obscene video with students via text message and Airdrop,” McKenzie said, in part.…

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OK: Tulsa man convicted on child pornography charges

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Source: tulsaworld.com 4/28/23 A Tulsa man who boasted on social media about his preference for dating underage girls was sentenced to life in prison Friday after he was convicted earlier of enticing a minor to have sex and related child porn crimes. Chief U.S. District Judge John Heil III also ordered Alexander Nicholaus Sweet, 29, to simultaneously serve terms ranging from 10 years to 30 years in prison for six other related crimes. Sweet, who indicated through an attorney that he would appeal his convictions and sentence, continues to maintain…

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CA: Former federal agent from Riverside gets life in prison for sexual assault of 2 women

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Source: ktla.com 5/8/23 A former special agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) from Riverside was sentenced to life in federal prison for sexually assaulting two women and using his law enforcement position to prevent them from reporting his violent crimes, authorities announced Monday. The former federal agent, 48-year-old John Jacob Olivas, started his government career in 2007, working in Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He later moved to HSI but resigned in 2015 after working for the agency for just over six years, according to a news release from the United…

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OK: Henryetta family starts extreme petition filled with false statements to strengthen laws for sex offenders

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Source: ktul.com 5/9/23 TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — A Henryetta family has started a petition to strengthen laws for sex offenders in Oklahoma following the tragedy that took the lives of five children. The petition, which the family has titled “The Knights Law,” opposes sex offender sentencing and probation requirements. On the petition page, the family gave the following petition description and statement: After recent tragedy struck our small community of Henryetta, Oklahoma, we decided to write this petition to help change the law on sentencing and probation terms in Oklahoma…

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TX: First-Grade Students at Texas School Allegedly Force 6-Year-Old Girl to Perform Sex Act, Record Act on Ipad While Teacher was in the Classroom

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Source: ibtimes.sg 5/8/23 A large group of Texas parents were seen protesting outside of the administrative offices of the Plainview Independent School District, demanding answers from authorities over allegations that first-grade students forced a six-year-old girl to perform a sex act in the classroom. The incident took place at the South Elementary School in Plainview, Texas. According to the Plainview Herald, the parents of the girl received a phone call about the incident last month. School officials informed her mother that an inappropriate video was found on an iPad given…

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