Source: wdbj7.com 12/10/22 The Virginia State Police has charged a former Radford Police Captain with “one felony count of “use of communications systems to facilitate certain offenses involving children” in violation of Virginia Code 18.2-374.3. Christopher L. ____, 47, of Pulaski, Va. turned himself in on Saturday. The Pulaski Co. Sheriff’s Office had requested that State Police begin looking into an allegation against ____ in early September. The Radford City Police Department says they were made aware of this on September 4, 2022. ____ was informed on September 6 and…
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Supported by lawmakers, opposed by reformers, youth sex offender registries have a long history
Source: jjie.org 12/8/22 In Wisconsin, two 15-year-olds whose foster parent caught them having consensual sex were charged with felony sexual assault and put on the sex offender registry for at least 15 years. In Arizona, it’s possible for a minor who streaks nude at a football game to be charged with a sex offense and put on a registry. In Massachusetts, teens caught sending a nude photo of themselves could end up on a registry. Existing in every state, registries list children as young as elementary school age; a small…
Read MoreGA: How Georgia’s Sex Offender Registry Traps People in Debt and Homelessness
Source: theappeal.org 12/8/22 In 2010, at age 20, after six years of engaging in sex work to survive, I was arrested and charged with pimping, pandering, and exploiting a minor who was over 16 years old. In 2012, I was convicted and sentenced to 30 years, with 14 to be served in custody, and forced to register as a sex offender. As my public defender so appropriately described it, I was depicted by the media as a sort of Guido the Killer Pimp and accused—I maintain falsely—of terrible acts befitting…
Read MoreKS: Judge tosses out sex offender’s lawsuit against Kansas sheriff
Source: fourstateshomepage.com 12/7/22 A convicted sex offender’s lawsuit against a Kansas sheriff for ruining his “good reputation” was dismissed by a federal judge. Kirk ____, of Grove, Okla. filed the federal lawsuit against Danny Smith, Crawford County Sheriff, and Lisa Luskar, Crawford County Court Clerk, alleging that they caused false statements to be made on Facebook about him, harming his reputation and causing him emotional distress. United States District Judge Julie A. Robinson dismissed ____’s lawsuit without prejudice, meaning he can refile his lawsuit later. Her ruling centered on…
Read MoreNV: Las Vegas police arrest 18 in undercover internet sting
Source: 8newsnow.com 12/7/22 An undercover operation conducted by Metro police and various other organizations resulted in 18 arrests, police said. On Dec. 1 and 2, 18 men were arrested after undercover agents posed as juveniles online. According to police, all 18 were booked in the Clark County Detention Center. They each face multiple charges, including luring a minor with a computer to engage in sexual acts and attempted sexual assault with a victim under 14. Reads the full article
Read MoreIL: Anglican church informs parishioners of sex offender attendee after three years
Source: religionnews.com 12/6/22 Church of the Resurrection, an Anglican church that serves as a diocesan seat in Wheaton, Illinois, whose leaders have faced criticism for how they handled sexual abuse allegations, informed congregants Friday (Dec. 2) that a registered sex offender has been attending the church since 2019. “We take with utmost seriousness the presence of someone who has committed a significant crime and will continue to show extreme care in the future,” Church of the Resurrection cathedral dean Steve Williamson wrote in an email to church members. … Hays…
Read MoreKS: Concern raised with registered sex offender coaching youth sports team
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Source: kwch.com 12/6/22 Can a registered sex offender coach children in Kansas? That question popped up after a concerned parent emailed FactFinder 12 about a registered sex offender coaching a youth sports team. Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said there is no criminal law in Kansas that prevents a convicted sex offender from coaching in youth sports. With the coach not doing anything illegal by coaching, 12 News is not naming him nor the team. Bennett did say, “There may be conditions of parole or probation that prohibit ‘unsupervised…
Read MoreMS: Youth Pastor Pleads Guilty to Molesting Girl Decades Ago
Source: hottytoddy.com 12/5/22 A pastor pleaded guilty Monday to touching a child for lustful purposes 38 years ago, avoiding prison time; however, he will forever be listed as a sex offender. Wade _____, of Corinth, stood with Oxford attorney Ray Garrett before Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge Gray Tollison on Monday and told the judge he understood the rights he was giving up by pleading guilty and that he was pleading guilty because he was “guilty of the charge.” _____, 60, was sentenced to five years in prison; however, the…
Read MoreFL: Gainesville commissioners vote to allow sex offenders to live closer to schools, day cares and parks
Source: wuft.org 12/5/22 The Gainesville City Commission passed an amendment Tuesday that allows people convicted of sexual offenses involving children under age 16 to live closer to schools, day care centers and parks, reducing the prohibited radius from 2,500 feet to 1,000 feet. The amendment also establishes a cut-off date that was previously not recognized by the City of Gainesville, meaning people convicted of this offense before the ordinance was first adopted in 2005 no longer have this restriction on where they live. With these changes, the ordinance now matches…
Read MoreQAnon Leader Inadvertently Outs Himself as a Groomer
Source: thedailybeast.com 11/30/22 Believers in the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory are always on the hunt for the powerful pedophiles they imagine run the world—like the cabal of pedophiles they say controls the Democratic Party, or the one operating out of the imagined basement of a Washington pizzeria. But now, new court records reveal that QAnon leader Phil Godlewski has a criminal past of his own involving an inappropriate relationship with a minor that police records suggest turned sexual. Thanks to an ill-conceived defamation lawsuit against a local newspaper, Godlewski has…
Read More‘I lost my retirement, my career, my home’: the Americans imprisoned for being HIV-positive
Source: theguardian.com 12/1/22 Thirty-three states maintain laws tied to exposure or transmission, many developed long before the illness was understood Robert Suttle was 30 when he was arrested and imprisoned for the felony of “intentional exposure to the Aids virus”. He had met the man at a gay club on New Year’s Eve 2007 and they had quickly begun a relationship. Suttle says he disclosed his status as HIV-positive to his partner immediately. However, when the couple separated a few months later, the man pressed charges claiming that Suttle had…
Read MoreTX: Shenandoah denies request in sex offender ordinance to allow end-of-life care at relative’s home
Source: yourconroenews.com 11/25/22 An elderly bed-ridden registered sex offender will not be allowed to move in with relatives in a Montgomery County home for end-of-life care after Shenandoah city leaders declined to amend an ordinance that restricts residency. The daughter of the 79-year-old man sought a waiver to the ordinance adopted in 2018 which restricts registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a child safety zone per state law. That zone includes schools, parks and public swimming pools. City Attorney William Ferebee said neither state law nor the…
Read MoreTwitch is, Vaguely, Working to Fix its Child Predator and Groomer Problem
Source: gizmodo.com 11/23/22 Twitch has been hounded for months after a September report showed just how many sexual predators were stalking the streaming platform’s halls, targeting children that were not supposed to be there in the first place. Now the company says it’s developed systems to combat child sexual abuse material, though it’s not exactly sharing the details. In a Tuesday blog post, Twitch said it is working on a “constantly evolving approach” to limit harm to young people. The user-streaming platform said it’s creating phone verification requirements for “potentially…
Read MoreNY: Hundreds of New York Women Are About to Sue Alleged Rapists (and Enablers) Under a Revolutionary New Law
Source: motherjones.com 11/23/22 For years, former president Donald Trump has been able to push off a lawsuit filed against him by E. Jean Carroll, a writer and advice columnist who says he raped her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. When Carroll decided to come forward—describing the alleged assault in a book excerpt in 2019—Trump had been president for two years, and the statute of limitations to bring criminal charges or a lawsuit against him had long since passed. Carroll sued Trump for defamation instead, arguing that he’d smeared her in…
Read MoreNational organization works to eliminate sex offender registries
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Source: alaskasnewssource.com 11/22/22 When Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, it required states to enact a sex offender registry for those convicted of certain sex crimes. In the 28 years since the law has passed, sex offender registries have become a tool for the public to identify offenders and find out where they live. Now one national organization is working to eliminate those registries altogether. Robin Vander Wall serves as the chair of the National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws, or NARSOL. “Our…
Read MoreAR: Arkansas lawmakers begin pre-filing bills ahead of coming legislative session
Source: ktlo.com 11/21/22 Arkansas state lawmakers filed 11 bills during the first four days of the period for lawmakers to file legislation in advance of the regular session that starts Jan. 9, 2023… … Separately, under his House Bill 1004, state Rep. David Ray, R-Maumelle, said the bill would require a complete address on the public sex offender website, and the current statute only requires the street name and block number. “Arkansas is one of only four states (the others being Maine, Washington, and Vermont) that does not give a…
Read MoreKOSA Would Let the Government Control What Young People See Online
Source: eff.org 11/17/22 The latest version of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is focused on removing online information that people need to see—people of all ages. Letting governments—state or federal—decide what information anyone needs to see is a dangerous endeavor. On top of that, this bill, supposedly designed to protect our privacy, actually requires tech companies to collect more data on internet users than they already do. EFF has long supported comprehensive privacy protections, but the details matter. KOSA gets the details consistently wrong, and that’s why we’re…
Read MoreUT: Audit: Staff shortage at Division of Adult Probation and Parole contributing to repeat offenses
Source: ksl.com 11/16/22 A legislative audit blames recent “serious crimes” committed by people on probation or parole on high turnover rates and inexperience on one of Utah’s parole boards. The Utah Department of Correction’s Division of Adult Probation and Parole lacks the staff to adequately supervise and screen sex offenders and offenders with mental illnesses, according to the Legislative Auditor General Office’s new audit. The office presented its findings to the Legislative Audit Subcommittee on Tuesday, along with two other audits addressing the Board of Pardons and Parole, and cooperation…
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