Zach Anderson of Elkhart is off the Indiana sex offender registry after a months-long court battle over a criminal sexual conduct case. Anderson pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal sexual conduct earlier this year after having sex in December with a 14-year-old Niles, Mich., girl who told him she was 17. Anderson’s sentence included 25 years on the sex offender registry — a punishment his family thought was too harsh considering both Anderson, who was 19 at the time, and the girl said he did not know she was underage. Full…
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IN: 20-year-old on sex-offender registry gets leniency
An Indiana man, who was looking at spending more than two decades on the sexual offender registry for a dating app hookup, got some good news. A judge has resentenced Zach Anderson to two years’ probation — a decision that will keep him off Michigan’s list and possibly off Indiana’s as well. Anderson was 19 when he had sex with a 14-year-old Michigan girl who had told him she was 17. Even if the sex was consensual and even if the girl did lie about her age, it is not…
Read MoreIN: Suit – Law impedes sex offender’s voting rights
HARTFORD CITY – The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on Tuesday filed a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of a Hartford City man concerned that a change in state law might impede his ability to vote. A new law went into effect July 1 that prohibits “serious sex offenders” from entering school property. “One of the consequences of this is that these persons will be prohibited from voting at their designated polling place if it is located on school property,” the ACLU’s suit, filed in U.S. District Court in…
Read MoreIN: Indiana sex offender’s porn ban tossed out by appeals court
A federal appeals court panel has overturned a lower court’s order banning an Indiana sex offender from viewing adult pornography. The panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit ruled Thursday that a probation requirement barring convicted sex offender Jeffrey P. Taylor of Logansport from accessing “legal adult pornography” was not supported by evidence in his criminal case. The decision, however, has little actual impact on Taylor. His probation period ended Friday — the day after the appeals court decision was issued. “Since the service…
Read MoreIN: ACLU – RFRA must let sex offenders worship at churches with schools
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed Wednesday what appears to be the first lawsuit that invokes the state’s new new Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Their clients? Registered sex offenders who believe their religious freedom is being denied by another new law that bans them from attending any church located on the same property as a school. Full Article
Read MoreIN: LGBT proposal still faces debate, but a provision protecting the transgender community is spurring concern
Some fear the ordinance, if approved, could be used as a pretext by sexual offenders falsely claiming transgender identities to enter bathrooms of the opposite sex. … Concerns like his aren’t lost on Councilman Brian Dickerson. Registered sex offenders, Dickerson worries, “could use this to prey upon future victims,” claiming transgender identities to enter public restrooms of the opposite sex. He doesn’t support the ordinance “in whole or in part in any way.” Full Article
Read MoreIN: Campaign for Elkhart 19-year-old underscores broader concerns about sex offender registries
ELKHART — The requirement that 19-year-old ____ ____ register as a sex offender as part of his conviction for involvement with an underage girl isn’t just a concern for him and his parents, Les and Amanda Anderson. It’s part of a larger movement against what some critics see as indiscriminate and unfair placement of certain offenders on such registries. Full Article Related MI: ‘Old-fashioned scarlet letter’: Elkhart 19-year-old fights sex offender status after encounter with Michigan teen
Read MoreIN: Sex offender fights restraint law Challenges Hartford City child safety zones
Challenges Hartford City child safety zones – Convicted sex offender ____ ____ would like to take his daughter bowling. And to church. And although it’s been more than 20 years since he was convicted of the crime in Los Angeles County, California, the 47-year-old Blackford County man is prohibited from doing those and other activities with his daughter because of a Hartford City ordinance. Full Article
Read MoreIN: Unregistered sex offenders featured on local billboards
NDIANAPOLIS –Marion County is launching a new effort to go after sex offenders who have not registered by putting them out there for the world to see. It is required by law for sex offenders to register with their local law enforcement so police – and citizens – know where they live. Those who have not registered in Marion County now risk being featured on billboard around town. The pictures of 40 unregistered sex offenders will be placed on one of three billboards around town to help police find them.…
Read MoreIN: Court – Sex offender doesn’t have to register
MUNCIE – A Muncie man convicted of sex crimes in Florida does not have to register locally as a sex offender, the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled. In a 3-0 ruling, the appeals court also ordered local authorities to dismiss two criminal charges pending against 44-year-old ____ ____ ____ that stemmed from his failure to register with the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office. Full Article
Read MoreIN: Many sex offenders fail to register with the state
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – I-Team 8 has learned deputies in Colorado were after an Indiana sex offender the day they say he murdered a mother and her two children, just five and nine years old. I-Team 8 Chief Investigative Reporter Karen Hensel has uncovered ___ ___ once on parole in Indiana, failed to register. ____ moved from Indiana to Colorado in 2012 where he was required to register four times a year. Colorado deputies tell I-Team 8 he was supposed to register March 4. A five day grace period meant the…
Read MoreIN: Sex offenders told to move after I-Team 8 investigation
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) Dozens of sex offenders are being told they are in violation of the law and need to move after an I-Team 8 investigation. Tuesday night, I-Team 8’s story showed sex offenders living near schools and day cares. After seeing the I-Team 8 evidence showing where sex offenders live, Sheriff John Layton launched his own investigation and is taking immediate action: 41 sex offenders have been told they are in violation. Full Article
Read MoreTaking a Stand: Women Against Registry responds to our 14 News investigation
EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) –In this week’s Taking a Stand, Vicki Henry with Women Against Registry has a response to our 14 News investigation of sex offenders and school bus stops. The Women Against Registry is based out of Washington, D.C., but she e-mailed her response to us; Vicki wrote the following: If we think about registered sex offenders at all, most of us fear them as monsters who have committed terrible sexual crimes against innocent children and are people who need to be carefully watched when released to make sure…
Read MoreIN: Special Report – Stopping Near Sex Offenders
VANDERBURGH CO., IN (WFIE) – Thousands of students in the Tri-State ride the bus to and from school each day. Many of those stops are alarmingly close to registered sex offenders. 14 News followed several bus routes throughout the Tri-State and found children, some as young as five-years-old, waiting for the bus just feet away from registered sex offenders. Some parents are already vigilant, but for some parents, it was a wake up call. There are 471 sex offenders in Vanderburgh County. By law, those offenders cannot live within 1,000 feet of a…
Read MoreIN: Sex offenders face hurdles rejoining society
Just mentioning the housing needs of convicted sex offenders is sure to raise the ire of many, with the prevailing attitude being “not in my neighborhood.” It’s an understandable reaction, because those who commit sex crimes often prey on the most helpless and vulnerable victims, our children. To say it’s an especially harmful crime falls short of describing the emotional havoc left in its wake. That’s why many states and locales have enacted laws requiring convicted offenders to register where they live and work; where and how they use the Internet,…
Read MoreIN: Frigid temperatures leave ex-offenders out in the cold
There’s controversy in Muncie over where convicted sex offenders should be allowed to live and the issue is becoming more heated because of the bitter cold. Mark called the city’s Jackson Street bridge home after his release from prison, where he served time for a sex offense involving a minor. When temperatures turn dangerously cold, Mark and four to eight other child sex offenders came to Christian Ministry Shelter, until the director got the news they must all leave. Full Article
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