Category: National

TX: More than a dozen sex offenders in Lamesa ordered to move

R H

Source: kcbd.com 10/6/22 LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – More than a dozen registered sex offenders are living too close to children, that’s according to the Lamesa Police Department. The chief of police confirmed that 19 residents received notices stating they were in violation of the city’s code of ordinances. Eugene Gaspar is a registered sex offender who said the department gave him 90 days to move, or face a fine of up to $500 a day. Gaspar said the notice came as a surprise because officers at the Lamesa Police Department…

Read More

German Court Grants Protection to former Florida Sex Offense Registrant on Human Rights Grounds

R H

Source: floridaactioncommittee.org 10/7/22 Taken from the FAC article: SOURCE: Steven Whitsett, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Sending registrants back to prison for mere administrative violations of Florida’s sex offender registry violates human rights law.  How’s that for a bit of good news? After paying my “debt to society” by completing a lengthy prison term in Florida and two years of supervision, I decided that I didn’t owe anything further and was not going to be persecuted in my own country for the rest of my life.  So, I packed my bags and boarded…

Read More

FL: Gainesville city commissioners consider changes to city’s sexual offender ordinance

R H

Source: mycbs4.com 10/6/22 Gainesville, FL — Gainesville City Commissioners passed a motion to craft a proposed amendment to the current Sexual Offender and Sexual Predator Ordinance in place to mirror the state statute. “I think it just makes a consistency and so it’s legally defensible. You know, that we’re not sort of afield of what is already accepted through the courts and through the upheld state practices and just creates that predictability and consistency,” City Mayor Lauren Poe said. The City of Gainesville’s ordinance adopted in 2005 is similar to…

Read More

OH: Woman quits haunted house job in Columbia Station over registered sex offender co-workers

R H

Source: news5cleveland.com 10/3/22 COLUMBIA STATION, Ohio — A registered sex offender may have been scaring your children for fun at a Northeast Ohio haunted house. It’s a tip received by News 5 Investigators, and in less than 24 hours, we learned two felons were fired. Kim Neubauer says she worked at the Spooky Ranch in Columbia Station for one day this season before quitting. “I did not want to go back this year but I thought I’d try it. I want to go have some fun and make some money. I wish…

Read More

11th Circuit upholds Alabama’s sex offender registry law after waiting seven years

R H

Source: talkingpointsmemo.com 8/3/22 The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in a case on Monday more than seven years after the matter was first filed, and hours after TPM published an article about the delay. The 81-page ruling was per curiam, meaning that all three judges on the panel – Ed Carnes, Jill Pryor, and Kenneth Ripple, visiting from the 7th Circuit – signed off on it, but no one judge claimed authorship. The case first hit the 11th Circuit in 2015. Michael McGuire, a homeless Black man…

Read More

IA: Former Iowa City schools counselor awarded $12 million after being wrongfully imprisoned for 6 years for sex offense

R H

Source: press-citizen.com 9/30/22 Donald Clark won $12 million in a lawsuit he filed against the state of Iowa on Thursday, years after being exonerated and released from prison on false charges that he sexually abused a student while working as an Iowa City elementary school counselor. A jury awarded Clark $8 million in past emotional distress damages and $4 million for future damages after he spent six years in prison starting in 2010. He was released in 2016 when his conviction was vacated. That year, the court found that his…

Read More

NM: GOP uses racism to promote anti-registrant occupational limits to win votes

R H

Source: abqjournal.com 9/29/22 An altered image of darkened hands cutting a white child’s hair sure does appear to play on racist fears and should be denounced by the political party that created it. The Republican Party of New Mexico recently mailed flyers to voters in several state House districts showing a barber with darkened hands. “Do you want a sex offender cutting your child’s hair?” the flyer asks. Democrats are calling this political flyer created by the Republican Party of New Mexico a racist “dog whistle.” The flyers cite two…

Read More

OH: Man charged with raping child found dead with alleged victim’s relative, troopers say

R H

Source: fox19.com 9/14/22 ASHTABULA COUNTY, Ohio (WOIO/Gray News) – A child rape suspect was found dead along with a family member of the alleged victim Sunday morning. The deaths are still being investigated, but Ohio State Highway Patrol said they believe it was a murder-suicide. Troopers found the bodies of 34-year-old Wesley Thomas and his 31-year-old girlfriend at the New Lyme Wildlife Area in Ashtabula County around 8:20 a.m. Sunday. Officials said the bodies were found with gunshot wounds on the ground near a vehicle, and a gun was found…

Read More

MI: Ex-MI GOP House Speaker says sex with a minor was not assault because she consented

R H

Source: dailykos.com 9/26/22 The Michigan State Police (MSP) began investigating Lee Chatfield, 34, for sexual assault after Rebekah Chatfield, 27, filed a complaint with the Lansing Police Department on December 21, 2021. Rebekah accused Lee of sexually assaulting her starting when she was 14 or 15 (in 2009 or 2010) — and ending in July 2021 when she was 26. The MSP has completed its investigation and has handed over its discoveries to MI’s Attorney General Dana Nessel. The MSP made no public recommendation. But the duration of the investigation, plus…

Read More

Federal Court Denies Injunction, Allows Amended Complaint and New Motion

R H

Source: ACSOL A federal court today denied a motion requesting a preliminary injunction in a case challenging the SORNA regulations.  The court’s decision was based upon a determination that the sole individual plaintiff, John Doe, lacks legal standing because he has already registered for the time period required by his SORNA tier.  The judge then provided plaintiffs with an opportunity to file an amended complaint within 14 days as well as to file a subsequent motion for preliminary injunction. During today’s hearing, the parties discussed whether SORNA regulations apply to…

Read More

MI: Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate calls for tougher sentences for convicted sex offenders

R H

Source: michiganradio.org 9/16/22 Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon says if she’s elected governor in November she’ll push for stronger penalties for convicted sex offenders. Dixon is spending this week outlining her public safety plan. In a Thursday speech, Dixon laid out a plan that would, among other things, create mandatory minimum sentences for sex crimes, though the state does already have mandatory minimums for some sexual offenses. “Make no mistake sexual predators are going to prison and we aren’t going to think twice about that,” Dixon told supporters in Pontiac.…

Read More

PA: Judge grants work release for ex-guard who sexually assaulted Northampton County inmate

R H

Source: lehighvalleylive.com 9/22/22 A Northampton County judge sentenced a former county prison guard to jail Wednesday for sexually assaulting a female inmate, but also granted the man immediate work release. Kelvin Myers, 41, of Forks Township, previously pleaded guilty to institutional sexual assault and was in court Wednesday for his sentencing in the case. Judge Murray sentenced Myers to four months to 18 months in county prison. Under the institutional sexual assault charge, Myers must register as a sex offender for 15 years under Pennsylvania’s version of Megan’s Law. “This…

Read More

WV: West Virginia Man Charged with Federal Civil Rights Offenses for Sexual Assault of Two Victims

R H

Source: justice.gov 9/22/22 A former parole officer with the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation was arrested today after being charged in federal court with civil rights violations, obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal investigators. Anthony _____, 44, was charged in a seven-count indictment unsealed today, with five counts of acting under color of law to deprive individuals of their civil rights, one count of obstruction of justice and one count of false statements to federal investigators. The indictment alleges that, while _____ was acting in…

Read More

VA: Victory in Supreme Court of Virginia against out-of-control prosecution

R H

Source: ajustfuture.org 9/20/22 Justices declare effort targeting leading advocate illegal, ending 5-year court battle On Thursday, the highest court in Virginia ended the Commonwealth’s 13-year campaign to indefinitely detain a prominent advocate on criminal justice matters, Galen Baughman. In a victory for justice the Supreme Court ruled that the petition filed against Baughman in 2017 was illegal. A Short History of Baughman’s Fight Baughman has been targeted by the Virginia attorney general’s office under the state’s civil confinement scheme since 2009 when prosecutors filed a petition to send him to…

Read More

AZ: U.S. Marshals target sex offenders in Northern Arizona operation

R H

Source: kyma.com 9/20/22 YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) – The combined efforts of the United States Marshals Service, Navajo County Sheriff’s Office and state police departments led to hundreds of sex offender compliance checks. In a press release, only one arrest was made in a compliance operation across Northern Arizona. “The Marshals Service is committed to assisting our partner agencies with sex offender compliance checks. By determining if offenders are complying with court ordered requirements, especially in rural communities, we help protect those most vulnerable to sex offenders,” said District of…

Read More

FL: He Served 18 Months for a Sex Offense. He’s Re-Imprisoned Anyway, Possibly for Life.

R H

Source: flaglerlive.com 9/21/22 Under Florida law, imprisonment does not depend only on proven guilt of a crime. It can also result from the possibility of a future crime. The imprisonment can be up to life. The offender has few avenues of appeal. The case is not even public. The documents on which it is based are sealed from public view. It is a little known but disquieting side of Florida law, permissible under the so-called Jimmy Ryce Act, which allows the “involuntary civil commitment” of sexually violent and dangerous predators…

Read More

TX: Llano County man sentenced to 50 years for violating sex offender registration requirements

R H

Source: kvue.com 9/21/22 BURNET, Texas — John Benedict “J.B.” _____ pleaded guilty Tuesday and was sentenced to 50 years in prison for violating his sex offender registration requirements. _____ was required to register as a sex offender after multiple 1997 Williamson County convictions for victimizing two young girls over a four-year period, according to a release from the 33rd/424th District Attorney’s office in Burnet.  Years after he was paroled from prison, _____ used an unreported Facebook account to attempt to contact one of his victims, which is in violation of…

Read More

FL: What do you think about Jacksonville not enforcing the sign requirement for sex offenders on Halloween?

R H

Source: news4jax.com 9/22/22  JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two registered sex offenders filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Jacksonville because they want to decorate for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holidays. Thursday, the offenders asked the judge to pause the city sign requirement outside their home because they believe it’s unconstitutional. Sex offenders in Jacksonville are required to have signs posted outside their home that read “no candy or treats here” so that children don’t trick-or-treat at their homes on Halloween. Because of the lawsuit, the city of Jacksonville has…

Read More