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CA: Incarcerated individuals secure state job offers before leaving prison

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Source: cdcr.ca.gov 12/13/21 Nearly two dozen incarcerated individuals received conditional job offers during a recent hiring event at California State Prison, Solano. The civil service workshop and hiring event for incarcerated individuals was held November 17. Twenty-three individuals received conditional job offers for employment from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) before returning to their communities. “This hiring event is successful thanks to multiple state agencies coming together to improve the lives of others,” said CALPIA Acting General Manager Bill Davidson. “CALPIA thrives through partnerships, and it is rewarding to…

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FL: Sex offender registry laws don’t work. Here’s what might.

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Source: tampabay.com 12/16/21 The uncomfortable truth? Those who commit sexual offenses are usually not strangers. There are roughly half a million sexual assault incidents in the United States every year — and more than 11,000 in Florida alone. These numbers are troubling. So it’s no surprise that people search the sex offender registration website to make sure that no one convicted of a sexual offense lives near them or more worrisome, their children’s school, day care or neighborhood park. The premise is simple: to make people feel safer in their…

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San Francisco Court Grants Registrant’s Petition

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Source: ACSOL San Francisco Superior Court today granted a petition filed on behalf of a registrant who was assigned to Tier 1.  Local law enforcement determined that the registrant was eligible to petition and the District Attorney did not object to the petition.  The registrant was represented in court by ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “Another person has escaped the bondage of the registry,” stated Bellucci.  “We must continue to file petitions in order to maximize the number of people who are released from the registry.’ After a court grants…

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FL: Ocala man torches neighbor’s home because of rumor victim was a pedophile, police say

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Source: clickorlando.com 12/14/21 OCALA, Fla. – Ocala police arrested a man Monday who they believe started a fire that damaged a mobile home in early December. Kenneth Bryant, 42, was arrested at Wagon Wheel Mobile Home Park. According to the arrest report, Bryant told police he couldn’t remember the incident because he was too intoxicated but said he was not fond of the victim because of rumors that the man was a child molester. Police said they responded to an arson call at the same mobile home park in the…

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Federal SORNA Regulations Litigation Fund Now Has Matching Grant Program

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UPDATE FROM JANICE 12/15/21: We made it! During the past 6 hours, we crossed the finish line and will be able to fully match the $15,000 grant. That means ACSOL has raised at least $30,000 to challenge the new SORNA regulations. Sincere thanks to everyone who donated $5 to $500! Your donation made a difference and so will our litigation. Of course we welcome additional donations so we can continue to increase the fight for justice!   The federal government published final SORNA regulations last week that cause great uncertainty…

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ACSOL Leaders Discussed New SORNA Regulations

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UPDATED: Click here to find out how your donation to fight SORNA regulations will be doubled! ACSOL President Chance Oberstein and ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci discussed the new SORNA regulations during an “emergency” meeting held on Dec. 11 for two and a half hours.  The meeting was attended by about 250 people from at least 10 different states. “ACSOL thanks everyone who attended Saturday’s meeting regarding the new SORNA regulations,” stated Bellucci.  “It was an opportunity for registrants and family members to hear the views of two experienced and…

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The Great (Fake) Child-Sex-Trafficking Epidemic

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Source: theatlantic.com 12/9/21 A poster in the window of Cahoots Corner Cafe—great potatoes, good coffee—advertised a family event at the Oakdale, California, rodeo grounds. There would be food trucks, carnival games, live music, a raffle, and the opportunity to support the cause of “freeing child sex slaves.” The event, called the Festival of Hope, was a fundraiser for the anti-child-sex-trafficking group Operation Underground Railroad, which was founded in Utah in 2013 and has achieved immense popularity on social media in the past year and a half, attracting an outsize share…

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FL: Members of homeless camp arrested on charges of violating probation after camp was shut down

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Source: yahoo.com 12/11/21 Note: This article is a follow up to the original article: ‘Literally nowhere else they can go’: Homeless camp shutdown leaves people with few options (floridatoday.com 12/8/21) A group of homeless people was arrested Friday afternoon for violating probation after their camp, where they were required by their probation officers to stay, was shut down and there was nowhere else for them to go. Of the 13 people who had been living at the camp, at least seven had GPS monitors or ankle bracelets registered to the site —…

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MO: Former police officer, detective sentenced to five years probation in sodomy case

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Source: emissourian.com 12/6/21 A rural Washington man who previously worked as a municipal police officer and a county sheriff’s detective has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to sodomizing a boy that police say he met online. Ryan Shomaker, 48, who previously lived in the 600 block of Royal Oaks Court, pleaded guilty Nov. 22 to one count of second-degree statutory sodomy. He was originally charged with two counts of sodomy, but prosecutors dropped one of the charges in exchange for the plea. St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge…

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FL: ‘Literally nowhere else they can go’: Homeless camp shutdown leaves people with few options

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Source: floridatoday.com 12/9/21 Joshua Werbicki has made a home in the woods at 4820 Highway 192 near Melbourne. His driver’s license lists the campsite as his permanent residence. The GPS monitor he must wear as part of his probation requires him to stay at the camp at night. But Werbicki and approximately 12 others say they were told the property owner now wants the site bulldozed this week. They said they were originally given until 8 a.m. Wednesday to vacate by the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office. At least seven of them have GPS…

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New Zealand: Prison would be ‘utterly disastrous’ for man caught with child exploitation images, judge says

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Source: stuff.co.nz 12/9/21 A man who dumped a laptop on which he downloaded thousands of child exploitation images has avoided jail after a judge said it would not surprise him if the defendant “did not survive a sentence of imprisonment”. Jasper James Gallacher​ ____, 30, was sentenced to six months’ community detention, along with two years of intensive supervision, in the Christchurch District Court on Thursday. Read the full article  

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Pakistan: Supreme Court says Child pornography suspects do not deserve bail

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Source: geo.tv 11/27/21 Rejecting the bail application of a suspect Saturday, the Supreme Court of Pakistan stated that people involved in spreading child pornography videos on social media do not deserve bail. “The trial court must announce the verdict in the case against the suspect soon,” ordered the Supreme Court. Read the full article  

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Federal Government Finalizes SORNA Regulations (and Emergency ACSOL Zoom meeting recording )

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UPDATE: Read a summary of the SORNA meeting Listen to the recording of the meeting The federal government today published final SORNA regulations in the Federal Register.  According to this publication, the regulations will become effective on January 7, 2022.   “The only thing that can stop these regulations is a formal objection by Congress during the next 30 days which is unlikely to happen,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci.  “Therefore we must prepare to challenge the regulations through litigation filed in federal courts.” Despite acknowledging that more than 700…

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IA: Iowa Supreme Court says State has ‘no duty’ to end what sex offenders call ‘silent mandatory minimum’

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Source: desmoinesregister.com 12/7/21 Do prisoners have a right to be paroled? And if so, do they have a right to access programming required to be eligible for parole? As a new decision from the Iowa Supreme Court shows, there’s no easy answer to either question. The court’s ruling, issued before Thanksgiving, denied an effort by seven Iowa prisoners to challenge what they described in court filings as a “Catch-22” that forces some inmates to wait far longer than others to complete their sentences. The issue before the court involved Iowa’s…

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Janice’s Journal: 23 Years of Registration For a Rape That Didn’t Happen

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What if I told you that I know a man who spent 23 years on the registry for a rape that didn’t happen?  Your first instinct might be to deny that could occur.  After all, there are safeguards in the criminal justice system that should not allow it. First, the police must have evidence in order to arrest a man.  Second, the prosecutors must have evidence in order to try him.  Third, the public defenders must provide the man with sound legal advice regarding whether or not to enter a…

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FL: Florida Supreme Court makes it risky for a defendant to tell a judge ‘I’m innocent’

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Source: floridabulldog.org 12/7/21 The Florida Supreme Court is sending this message to criminal defendants: If you think you were wrongly convicted, keep it to yourself. Ignoring long-standing law, the justices decided that when defendants dare to dispute their guilt instead of owning the crime, state trial judges may pile on extra prison time. The court ruled last Thursday in the case of Alvin Davis, a 43-year-old black man with a lengthy rap sheet that includes convictions for attempted murder, robbery and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. After a jury…

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FL: Sex offender freed from prison moves in near family pool in The Villages!

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Source: villages-news.com 12/4/21 A 60-year-old sex offender released last month from a Florida prison has moved in with his mother near a family swimming pool in The Villages. Edward ______ was released Nov. 25 from a state prison. He has registered a permanent address at 1312 La Estrellita Way in the Village of Santiago, not far from the El Santiago swimming pool and recreation center, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Read the full article  

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LA: Lutcher Man Charged with Failure to Report International Travel as a Sex Offender

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Source: justice.gov 12/3/21 NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that WILLIE ______, age 56, was charged on Friday, December 3, 2021, by grand jury indictment with two counts of failure to report international travel as a sex offender under the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). If convicted, WILLIE ______ faces a maximum term of 10 years in prison, up to a $250,000.00 fine, a term of supervised release of between 5 years and life, and a $100 mandatory special assessment fee. Read the full…

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