California RSOL will hold its monthly meeting for April in San Diego, on April 13. It will be held at 1155 Island Avenue, Room 229, in downtown San Diego, 92101 at 10 am. As always, topics will include issues of importance to registrants, including updates on current litigation. Only registrants, their friends and families and supporters are invited to attend. No media or government officials are allowed. There is no charge to attend the meeting.
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Certificate of Rehabilitation
The first comment below is a very detailed description of the Road to a Certificate of Rehabilitation. We believe it deserves its own post. Thanks to the poster for taking the time to share. Although this unfortunately is not an option for many (PC 290.5), hopefully it will help someone.
Read MoreGeneral Comments April 2013
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of April 2013. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it ‘professional’.
Read MoreTests found major flaws in parolee GPS monitoring devices
A little more than a year ago, California quietly began conducting tests on the GPS monitoring devices that track the movements of thousands of sex offenders. The results were alarming. Corrections officials found the devices used in half the state were so inaccurate and unreliable that the public was “in imminent danger.” Full Article Also on Huffington Post
Read MoreLawsuit alleges online extortion, a growing menace
Los Angeles (CNN) — The California man thought he put his past behind him, but then he became victim to an online scam associated more with the mafia than the Internet. He is alleging in a federal lawsuit that three websites are running an extortion racket preying on his history as a one-time registered sex offender. The alleged shakedown is a growing trend in cyberspace that also includes “ransomware” — another extortion scheme that uses fake police and FBI warnings to demand money in exchange for unfreezing data on your computer, experts…
Read MoreSex Offender Sites Accused Of Extorting Money In Federal Lawsuit In California
A recent federal lawsuit claims a group of websites is trying to extort money from some of society’s least sympathetic people: sex offenders. Privately owned sites OnlineDetective.com, SORArchives.com and, before it recently went dark, Offendex.com, attract viewers by advertising photographs, home addresses and personal information of rapists, child molesters and other sexual deviants. Full Article
Read MoreWA: Man sentenced to life for killing sex offenders; judge chastises supporters
A Washington state man convicted of fatally shooting two men “because they were sex offenders” was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without possibility of parole, KOMOnews.com reported. On June 2, Patrick Boyd Drum fatally shot his new roommate, Gary Lee Blanton Jr., 28, at their home in Sequim, Wash. Then, around 9 p.m., Drum drove to the home of Jerry Wayne Ray, 55, also a convicted sex offender, and shot and killed him. Full Article
Read MoreLancaster Repeals Sex Offender Ordinance
The Lancaster City Council, in a unanimous vote, repealed virtually all of its sex offender ordinance during a meeting on March 26. This was the second and final vote on that issue. “California RSOL did what had to be done by challenging an ordinance that violated both the state and federal constitutions,” stated President Janice Bellucci. “The Lancaster ordinance prevented more than 100,000 individuals and their families from visiting public places such as the museum and library as well as private places such as movie theaters and bowling alleys.” The…
Read MoreGA: FBI task force cases in jeopardy
An appeals court decision casts doubt on numerous North Georgia sexual predator convictions and raises further questions about the operations of an undercover FBI task force already under scrutiny for possible impropriety. On March 14, the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed a computer pornography conviction against ___ ____, who was charged in 2010 based on evidence obtained by the Northwest Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The court found that police were planting the idea of a crime in ____’s head and that the court didn’t have sufficient evidence…
Read MoreCalifornia RSOL Meeting May 18 – Los Angeles
California RSOL will return to L.A. on May 18. The meeting will be held at ACLU building at 1313 W. 8th Street and start at 10 a.m. As always, topics of discussion will include issues of importance to registrants and their family members, such as parole conditions and residency restrictions, as well as news about pending legislation and litigation. Attendance is free of charge and restricted to registrants and their friends / family / supporters. No media or government officials are allowed. Hope to see you there!
Read MoreCO: Civil rights lawsuits attack excesses of Colorado’s sex offender laws
Colorado’s tough sex offender laws are supposed to keep predators under tight supervision. But a series of lawsuits claim that the system is violating even minor offenders’ rights to free speech and association, prohibiting contact with family members — and, in one particularly bizarre case, telling a 62-year-old man that a discussion with a stepdaughter about her pregnancy constitutes unlawful “third party contact with a child.” Boulder civil rights attorney Alison Ruttenberg has filed at least three federal lawsuits in recent months challenging actions taken by probation officers and others responsible…
Read MoreWA: Bill would teach kids age-of-consent laws
Sexually active teens who don’t understand Washington’s age-of-consent laws could be committing crimes they aren’t even aware of, says state Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama. He’s championing a bill this session to educate young people about sexual offenses in the hopes of preventing inappropriate relationships from starting in the first place. According to the bill, public schools that already teach sexual health education would be required to also teach students about sexual criminal law in Washington and the legal consequences for committing a sex crime with a minor. Full Article
Read MoreLosing Sex Offender Scarlet Letter After 16 Years to Return Man’s Life, Claims Defense Lawyer
Orange County can be a pretty hostile place if you are a sex offender, witness the bans on pervs in parks the district attorney’s office has pushed for and the personal information about parolees made public thanks to the likes of county Supervisor Todd Spitzer. So, perhaps it is with some added gusto that a Tustin law firm is trumpeting a client getting his sex offender scarlet letter removed. The unidentified fellow had been arrested and convicted in 1996 for misdemeanor indecent exposure after removing all his clothing and running…
Read MoreIN: Mother crusades to save other bullied kids after losing daughter
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) – As a matter of policy, WLFI does not cover suicides. Numerous studies point to a potential “copycat effect” following media coverage of suicides. But when the mother of a 14-year-old girl who took her own life due to bullying reached out to us, we had to tell her story. Danielle Green’s daughter hanged herself from a tree outside the family’s mobile home park on March 5. … Danielle says the bullying started on Feb. 28 of 2012. She says Angel’s father was put in jail for…
Read MoreSex offender ‘named on Twitter’
A ban on naming a convicted child sex offender may have been breached on Twitter, the High Court heard on Thursday. Lawyers for the man, who is involved in legal action against Facebook, claimed the rival social media site was used to publish his identity. A judge was told the potential breach of his order could amount to contempt of court. Article
Read MoreSex offender village grows out of residency restrictions
Miracle Village is so remote, the residents compare themselves to lepers. Two miles of sugar cane separate 100 men from nearby Pahokee, itself a flyspeck on the shores of Lake Okeechobee. They fill the skeleton shacks of an abandoned sugar-company town. This is among the only places to live comfortably as a sex offender in South Florida. For many of these men, pushed to the fringe by residency restrictions, Miracle Village was the last net before homelessness. “In the beginning, no one wanted us around,” said Pat Powers, director of Matthew 25 Ministries,…
Read MoreSex offenders sue over personal info posted online
SEATTLE –A group of convicted sex offenders is suing three websites for posting their photos and personal information and then allegedly charging them to take the information down. In their federal lawsuit, the sex offenders claim that is extortion. “I was shocked and at the same time I was almost devastated,” said one of the sex offenders, who has asked to be referred to as John Doe. Article
Read MoreOffenders Complain of Online Extortion
Five Arizona men conspired to extort sex offenders by claiming they will take their names and photos off websites for $500, but leaving the information online whether their victims pay or not, 10 sex offenders claim in a federal RICO complaint. Eight John Does and two Jane Does sued five Arizona men, claiming they use websites to extort money from registered sex offenders, and from sex offenders who no longer have to register. Full Article
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