Category: National

NC sex offender registry makes re-entry a balancing act of restrictions without resources

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Source: wunc.org 4/18/22 Chris Budnick is in an impossible position. As the leader of Healing Transitions, a peer-based recovery-oriented service for homeless and uninsured people located in Raleigh, Budnick is left scrambling if someone with a sex offense comes to him for housing. Some of society’s most vulnerable people come to Budnick, asking for help. He has to turn them away due to the location of Healing Transition’s men’s campus on the edge of the new Dorothea Dix Park. “I’ve heard people say you have a better chance if you…

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WI: Racine County judge rules violent sex offender may be released from supervision and leave state

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Source: journaltimes.com 4/15/22 RACINE — A violent sex offender from Racine County, Hung ____, 52, has been released from all supervision and is being allowed to live out of state. This move comes as Racine County is finding it increasingly difficult to find homes for offenders who have served their criminal sentence — both in part due to community resistance to having offenders placed in certain neighborhoods, and because there are a limited number of landlords willing to house sex offenders. Those compounding factors are not directly related to Hung…

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SC: Apparent leniency in 19-year-old serial rapist sentencing has been attributed by many to his father’s job at the District Attorney’s office

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Source: meaww.com 4/15/22 Bowen Turner’s sentence of probation in one convicted case after being accused of raping three girls has led to widespread public fury. The controversy has also sparked an interest in his personal life. Orangeburg County Judge Markley Dennis sentenced 19-year-old Turner to just five years of probation despite charges on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual misconduct for separate assaults in recent years. Furthermore, the perp will not have to register as a sex offender after serving probation. Bowen was also cited for violating the terms of…

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SC: Former deputy, victims advocate arrested, faces registrant embezzlement charges

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Source: wpde.com 4/11/22 CLARENDON COUNTY, S.C. (WACH) — On Friday, a former Clarendon County deputy and victims advocate was arrested by South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agents. Sabrina Mellerson, 34, has been arrested and faces charges of misconduct in office and embezzlement. SLED conducted the investigation at the request of Clarendon County Sheriff Tim Baxley.  According to reports, Mellerson is accused of taking money from sex offender registrants in her role as a deputy at the Clarendon County Sheriff’s Office. On April 7, Mellerson confessed to SLED Agents that she…

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TX: Protestors make alarming allegations about statewide sex offender treatment program in Littlefield

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Source: everythinglubbock.com 4/11/22 LITTLEFIELD, Texas – Protestors gathered in front of the Civil Commitment Facility in Littlefield on Saturday morning to shine a light on the injustices they said are happening within the barbed-wire fences of the former prison. Texas created the Civil Commitment Program in 1999; like 20 other states, this kind of program allows state agencies to mandate sex offenders, who have already served their time in prison, to partake in treatment programs intended to mitigate possible reoffending in the future. In 2015, Governor Abbott reformed the program…

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FL: ‘Groomer’ debate inflames GOP fight over Florida law

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Source: thehill.com 4/8/22 “Groomer” is the new favorite term being used by far-right commentators and activists to describe opponents of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, sparking outrage among LBGTQ advocates who say that it is a smear that feeds into a trope casting members of the community as pedophiles. The Florida bill signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis week, which opponents have decried as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, prohibits instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade. “Groomer” started to gain traction as…

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FL: Pennsylvania tourist to stay on Florida’s sex-offense registry

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Source: orlandosentinel.com 4/4/22 TALLAHASSEE — A Leon circuit judge has dismissed a Pennsylvania man’s challenge to a Florida law that kept him on a sexual-offense registry after a 10-day family vacation to Disney World in 2015. Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey dismissed the case last week, in part finding that a statute of limitations had expired. The man, identified in court documents as John Doe, reported to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office when he came to Florida because he was on a Pennsylvania registry at the time as a result of…

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OR: Oregon to join most states in compensating the wrongfully convicted

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Source: oregoncapitalchronicle.com 4/1/22 Wrongfully convicted Oregonians will now be eligible for financial compensation for time of false imprisonment.  … The act will pay $65,000 for each year of wrongful conviction and $25,000 per year of parole and supervision and each year an individual was wrongfully put on the sex offender registry.  Read the full article  

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FL: [1970’s Teen] convicted in 2000 of molesting Boy Scout ordered to move out of home near family pool in The Villages

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Source: villages-news.com 3/24/22 A [1970’s teen] convicted of molesting a[nother] Boy Scout has been ordered to move out of his parents’ home located near a family pool in The Villages. [His alleged victim in the mid 1970s claimed that an older boy had molested him. Siegfried Hepp Jr who was born in 1961 took a plea deal 30 years later as he was obviously unable to prove he had not abused the younger boy scout in the mid 1970s, when he himself was just a teenager.  When sentenced, his sentence…

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MO: Missouri proposes online list of murderers out on probation

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Source: myleaderpaper.com 3/18/22 (The Center Square) – Missouri residents soon could see whether any paroled murderers live in their neighborhoods. State representatives could hear House Bill 1705, which would create a separate list to Missouri’s sex offender registry that names parolees out of prison for first- or second-degree murder. The offenders would see their names fall off of the list once their parole time has been served. Rep. Lane Roberts, R-Joplin, said his bill would not intermingle the sex offender list with the tally of paroled murderers.  “It does not…

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TX: Public awareness event at the Texas Civil Commitment Program

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posted on FAC website 3/18/22 April 9th, 10:30am Central Time, in front of the Texas Civil Commitment Center, 2600 S. Sunset Ave, Littlefield, Texas 79339 @ 10:30am Please join us for a public awareness event at the Texas Civil Commitment Program on Saturday, April 9 to rally against abuses within the program and call for a meaningful pathway to release. Our plan for those who will be coming into town Friday the 8th of April, (the day before) is to stay at the Best Western Inn located at 2600 Hall…

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White House defends Jackson against GOP attacks on sex offense sentencing

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Source: miamiherald.com 3/17/22 The White House sought Thursday to combat a sharp attack against President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee by the same Republican senator who led the unsuccessful effort in the Senate to overturn Biden’s election. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., posted a lengthy Twitter thread Wednesday evening that portrayed federal appeals Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as taking a soft approach on child pornography cases during her tenure as a federal district judge from 2013 to 2021. The White House initially declined to comment on Hawley’s Twitter attack Wednesday evening,…

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NC: Operation False Haven: Convicted Child Molester Sentenced for Using a Fraudulently Obtained Naturalization Certificate and Civilly Denaturalized [lost citizenship]

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Source: justice.gov 3/11/22 WILMINGTON, N.C. – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced that today in federal court, Billy Efrain _____ , age 39, a naturalized citizen of the United States, born in Bolivia and residing in Pitt County, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II to two years’ probation following a guilty plea to using a fraudulently obtained naturalization certificate. Moreover, Billy Efrain was civilly denaturalized as a U.S. citizen [took away his citizenship]. … On November 14, 2012,…

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WI: Kenosha Sex Offender Residency Board votes to allow man to reside near middle school despite objections for constitutional reasons

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Source: apg-wi.com 3/11/22 The Kenosha Sex Offender Residency Board, in a decision decried by residents who spoke against it, authorized an exemption to the city’s restrictions to allow a registered offender to live near a middle school. The board voted unanimously Thursday evening to allow Ronald W. _____ to reside in the 7900 block of 46th Avenue. The board made up of Veronica King and Lester Wright met in closed session before reaching their decision. Roughly a dozen concerned residents attended the meeting to voice their opposition to the exemption.…

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NC: Child Safety Zones proposed at bus stops

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Source: taylorsvilletimes.com 3/10/22 Alexander County Commissioners held a public hearing at their March 7, 2022, meeting on a proposed county ordinance to establish child safety zones in Alexander County. Sheriff Chris Bowman said he received a call several months ago from a concerned parent regarding a registered sex offender parking at school bus stops. Detectives Buddy McKinney and Dennis Foster started investigating the matter, and discovered that the state statute doesn’t include bus stops in the “sex offender unlawfully on premises” section. Sheriff Bowman said that Henderson County has adopted…

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SC: Proposed Horry County law would ban any type of sex offender from owning child-focused businesses

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Source: wsav.com 3/9/22 HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — Sex offenders in Horry County could be banned from operating child-oriented businesses, under a new proposal. The push comes after a local business owner and parent spoke to the Horry County County Council in September about a local sex offender who wanted to park his ice cream truck in the business owner’s lot and sell ice cream to children. Adam Wiseman told county council that his neighbor suggested he should look up the ice cream truck’s owner. Wiseman asked the council to…

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PA: Rep. Matzie introduces bill that would require Megan’s Law guidelines for nursing homes

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Source: timesonline.com 3/9/22 HARRISBURG — State Rep. Robert Matzie, D-16, Harmony Township, recently introduced a bill that would establish care and reporting requirements in nursing homes, through Megan’s Law. “Right now, when a registered sexual offender is admitted to a Pennsylvania nursing home, the home is not required to disclose this to other residents or staff – or to develop any special plans to ensure their safety,” he said. “The situation has resulted in attacks on residents, and the threat will only grow as thousands of registered sex offenders continue aging and…

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Tinder to offer criminal background check on dates

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Source: boston25news.com 3/9/22 The popular dating app Tinder has announced it will offer users the ability to perform background checks on their date as a safety measure. >> Read more trending news The new tool will be integrated into the app’s “Safety Center” and will appear for users beginning this week, CNN reported.  Tinder, which is owned by Match Groups, announced last year their partnership with Garbo, a nonprofit group that collects public records and reports of violence and abuse, and plans to make the new feature available, as we…

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