The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) is dedicated to protecting the Constitution by restoring the civil rights of registrants and their families. In order to achieve that objective, ACSOL will educate and litigate as well as support or oppose legislation. The ACSOL website and recordings are provided as a service to registrants, registrants’ families, and others for general information only. The information on the website and in the recordings are not designed to provide legal or other advice or to create an attorney-client relationship. You should not take, or refrain from taking, action based on their content. Prior results and case studies do not guarantee a similar outcome in future representations. ACSOL accepts no responsibility for any loss or damages that may result from accessing or reliance on content on the ACSOL website and recordings and disclaim, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any and all liability with respect to acts or omissions made by registrants, registrants’ families and others on the basis of content on the ACSOL website.
Important News / Announcements
Janice's Journal
General News Feed
CO: Colorado board reverses controversial change to “sex offender” label
Source: denverpost.com 12/20/21 Under pressure from the governor and the state’s public safety director, Colorado’s Sex Offender Management Board has reversed its controversial November decision to scrap the term “sex offenders” in its own guiding principles in favor of “adults who commit sexual offenses.” The board, commonly referred to as the SOMB, voted 16-2 on Dec. 17 to “table” the language-change matter and refer...
Federal Circuit Court Affirms Below Guideline Sentence
Source: ACSOL The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed today a below guideline sentence issued to a registrant by a federal trial court. The registrant pled guilty to one charge -- attempted coercion or enticement of a minor -- and could have been sentenced to prison for up to 57 months. Instead, the trial court sentenced the registrant to time served...
ACSOL January 15, 2022 Meeting
Please join ACSOL Executive Director and civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci as well as ACSOL President and criminal defense attorney Chance Oberstein for our next monthly Zoom meeting. The meeting will be held on Saturday, January 15, 2022, beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific Time and will last at least two hours. There is no registration needed for this meeting. You can use the Zoom...
GA: Georgia sex offenders take fight over ‘no-trick-or-treat’ warning signs to 11th Circuit
Source: courthousenews.com 12/18/2021 A group of registered sex offenders have asked the appeals court to overturn a federal judge’s ruling in favor of a sheriff’s office that posted signs telling trick-or-treaters to keep away from the offenders’ homes on Halloween. ATLANTA (CN) — A class of registered sex offenders asked an 11th Circuit panel Friday to overturn a federal judge’s ruling allowing Georgia sheriff’s...
NC: Flat Rock Middle employee arrested, terminated on charges of having registered sex offender husband on campus
Source: blueridgenow.com 12/17/21 A Flat Rock Middle School employee has been terminated after her arrest by the Henderson County Sheriff's Office on charges of having a registered sex offender on campus, according to police. The Sheriff's Office was notified Dec. 16 that Maria ____ is married to a registered sex offender, Jeffery _____, and that he had been seen in a vehicle on the...
CA: Incarcerated individuals secure state job offers before leaving prison
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...
FL: Sex offender registry laws don’t work. Here’s what might.
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...
San Francisco Court Grants Registrant’s Petition
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,"...
FL: Ocala man torches neighbor’s home because of rumor victim was a pedophile, police say
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...
Federal SORNA Regulations Litigation Fund Now Has Matching Grant Program
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...
ACSOL Leaders Discussed New SORNA Regulations
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...
The Great (Fake) Child-Sex-Trafficking Epidemic
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,...
FL: Members of homeless camp arrested on charges of violating probation after camp was shut down
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...
MO: Former police officer, detective sentenced to five years probation in sodomy case
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...
FL: ‘Literally nowhere else they can go’: Homeless camp shutdown leaves people with few options
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...
New Zealand: Prison would be ‘utterly disastrous’ for man caught with child exploitation images, judge says
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...
Pakistan: Supreme Court says Child pornography suspects do not deserve bail
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
Federal Government Finalizes SORNA Regulations (and Emergency ACSOL Zoom meeting recording )
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,"...
IA: Iowa Supreme Court says State has ‘no duty’ to end what sex offenders call ‘silent mandatory minimum’
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...
Janice’s Journal: 23 Years of Registration For a Rape That Didn’t Happen
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...