Source: wbur.org 4/11/24 A U.S. Air Force veteran who fled a charge of possessing sexually explicit images of a child told his lawyer he joined Russia’s army, and video appears to show him signing documents in a military enlistment office in Siberia. Wilmer Puello-Mota, a former elected official in Holyoke, Massachusetts, was expected to enter a guilty plea in Rhode Island in early January, but did not show up to court, according to prosecutors. Last week, video surfaced that appears to show the 28-year-old in Russia and expressing support for…
Read MoreTag: Massachusetts
MA: A father did everything he could to protect his son. Until he couldn’t.
Source: bostonglobe.com 2/22/24 BRAINTREE — Kevin Berner hung up the phone and — in a daze — headed toward the kitchen and his 12-year-old son. Hey buddy, can we talk? Minutes earlier, Berner had received a phone call from another father in the neighborhood who shared a disturbing story. He said his son had been in a carpool recently when another boy pulled up a cellphone photo of Berner’s son. The seventh-grader was naked in the photo “from head to toe.” Berner knew that his son — whose learning disabilities…
Read MoreMA: Reforms are sorely needed at Sex Offender Registry Board
Source: dotnews.com 11/8/23 Serving as Massachusetts state auditor doesn’t just mean reviewing finances. A big part of my role, as I often speak about with folks across the state, is reviewing the performance and efficacy of the Commonwealth’s agencies and entities. A great example of the responsibility to look beyond number crunching is our office’s recently released audit of the Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB). People are familiar with the concept that Massachusetts registers convicted sex offenders, maintaining a database of where such people live and work in an effort…
Read MoreMA: Hampden County Probation visits sex offenders on Halloween to ensure their lights are off
Source: masslive.com 10/31/23 SPRINGFIELD — Children dressed as superheroes, a ghost and one with an inflatable bat costume were running down the sidewalk trick-or-treating but when they hit Merimac Street they found one home dark and unwelcoming. While the children may have been disappointed to have to skip the house, a team of officers from the Hampden County Probation Department were happy to see it looking forbidding since at least two men who live there are registered sex offenders. When John Sandillo pounded on the door unannounced, they could hear…
Read MoreAction Alert for MA: Call/Write to stop H 1342 from ban of registrants from state-subsidized public housing
Source: lowellsun.com 7/3/23 H 1342: – The Housing Committee held a hearing on legislation that would prohibit Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders from being placed in public housing in Massachusetts. The bill is similar to a 1998 federal law that bans some sex offenders from federally subsidized housing. “[The bill] is common-sense legislation that would extend the same protections that are currently in place for residents of federally-subsidized public housing to tenants living in state-subsidized public housing,” said sponsor Rep. Brad Jones (R-North Reading).” Read the full article…
Read MoreMA: Ex-Roman Catholic cardinal, now 92, is not competent to stand trial in sex abuse case, expert says
Source: news.yahoo.com 6/29/23 BOSTON (AP) — Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is not competent to stand trial on charges accusing him of sexually assaulting a teenage boy in Massachusetts decades ago, an expert for the prosecution says, raising doubts about the future of the criminal case against the 92-year-old. Prosecutors this week disclosed the findings of their expert to the judge, who will ultimately rule on the once-powerful American prelate’s ability to face charges that he abused the boy at a wedding reception at Wellesley College in 1974. McCarrick…
Read MoreMA: Judge considers requests for triple damages in SORB head ouster
Source: salemnews.com 3/6/23 NEWBURYPORT — A judge is now considering a request to triple the $820,000 awarded by a jury last November to the former chair of the Sex Offender Registry Board over her removal by former Gov. Deval Patrick in 2014. Saundra Edwards, of Lawrence, a career prosecutor who was tapped by Patrick to head the agency, was removed from her position just three months before the end of Patrick’s term — a move Patrick admitted was linked to the agency’s handling of his brother-in-law’s first spousal rape case.…
Read MoreMA: Boston doctor arrested in child sex trafficking sting, told officer he wasn’t ‘in mood’ to get caught: report
Source: 11/4/22 foxnews.com A Boston doctor who unknowingly told an undercover officer he was “just not in the mood to get arrested today” has been detained in a federal child sex trafficking sting, a report says. Sadeq ____, an anesthesiologist at Tufts Medical Center, is now facing a charge of attempted sex trafficking of a child after allegedly agreeing to pay $250 to have sex with an imaginary underage girl, according to WFXT. “When we learned today of the disturbing allegations made against Dr. ____, we immediately suspended his medical staff…
Read MoreMA: ‘Glaring failure’ in criminal and sex offender background checks for professional license applicants
Source: boston25news.com 9/15/21 BOSTON — The state agency that oversees the granting of professional licenses for hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts workers is falling short when it comes to criminal and sex offender background checks on those applicants, according to a newly-released audit. Auditor Suzanne Bump’s report finds the the Division of Professional Licensure (DPL), which is now referred to as the Division of Occupational Licensure, has been unable to determine whether its boards and commissions were performing Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) and Sex Offender Record Information (SORI) checks…
Read MoreMA: High court takes up whistleblower claim that Sex Offender Registry Board violated law
[gloucestertimes.com – 5/4/21] SALEM — Lawyers for the state will be back in front of the state’s highest court this week, this time trying to convince the court to find that the state’s whistleblower protection law does not apply in the case of the former sex offender board chairwoman ousted by then-Governor Deval Patrick over her handling of his brother-in-law’s case. The hearing Wednesday before the Supreme Judicial Court stems from the long-running lawsuit brought by the former head of the Sex Offender Registry Board, who sued Patrick and the…
Read MoreMA: 6-Year-Old Accused Of Sexual Misconduct, School Calls Police. Mother Alleges Racism.
[dailywire.com – 2/22/21] It was November 12, 2019, when Flavia Peréa received a phone call from her 6-year-old son’s school saying a girl in his first-grade class had accused him of touching her inappropriately. The phone call was from the dean of students, who, according to the Boston Globe, indicated that her son’s alleged behavior was a form of sexual harassment, something the boy wouldn’t even be able to understand at that age. The dean vaguely explained the situation to Peréa before adding as what the Globe characterized as “an…
Read MoreMA: Mass. legislators call for hearing after report details sex offenders received trade licenses
[wickedlocal.com – 12/17/19 – Employment restrictions] The chairs of the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure want an oversight hearing and an “immediate and thorough investigation” into how sex offenders were able to obtain state licenses to work in various trades and professions. Sen. Paul Feeney and Rep. Tackey Chan issued a joint statement on Monday afternoon, responding to a Boston Globe report that found 68 registered sex offenders held state licenses, including 21 electricians, and that officials at the Division of Professional Licensure had failed to check…
Read MoreMA: Tougher child rape penalties pushed
[gloucestertimes.com – 12/3/19] BOSTON — Convicted child rapists who commit new crimes could be sentenced to life without parole under a proposal by Gov. Charlie Baker to toughen sex offender laws. Baker’s proposal, which went before the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, would increase the penalty for rape of a child with force by someone who has already been convicted of sexual offenses to life without parole. It establishes new charges for the rape of multiple children with force, which would carry a mandatory life sentence. It also would require…
Read MoreMA: O’Connell sponsors bill to prevent sex offender name change
[tauntongazette.com – 9/19/19] TAUNTON – State Rep. Shaunna O’Connell, R-Taunton, wants to put an end to what she calls a loophole that allows registered sex offenders to legally change their names. O’Connell, who is running in this year’s Taunton mayoral race, filed legislation a week ago to prohibit convicted sex offenders from changing their name to hide their identity. She said that more than a dozen cosponsors in the House signed the bill that she says in the end will protect children and families. A story last January by Boston…
Read MoreMA: Doe v. Sex Offender Registry Board
The Supreme Judicial Court vacated and set aside a superior court judgment affirming a Sex Offender Registry Board (SORB) decision to classify John Doe as a level two sex offender, holding that there was not substantial evidence to support the hearing examiner’s decision to classify Doe as a level two sex offender by clear and convincing evidence. SORB classified Doe as a level two sex offender after Doe was convicted of two counts of open and gross lewdness. The superior court affirmed. The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the judgment, holding…
Read MoreMA: Baker to refile bill on sexual predators
[eagletribune.com – 5/20/19] Gov. Charlie Baker will ask lawmakers once again to limit the release of sexual predators from prison. The move follows last week’s ruling by the state’s highest court clearing the way for the eventual release of Wayne Chapman. Convicted of raping two Lawrence boys in 1975, Chapman is also a suspect in the 1976 disappearance of Angelo Puglisi Jr., 10, of Lawrence. He has admitted to raping as many as 100 boys in eight states and Canada. Chapman, 71, has been in prison for more than 40…
Read MoreMA: State’s Highest Court Orders Release Of Sex Offender Held Since 1970s
Massachusetts’ highest court ruled Thursday that a 71-year-old convicted sex offender held for more than 40 years as a sexually dangerous person can be released, after two mental health professionals ruled that he was no longer a risk. The court essentially upheld an earlier decision from 2009 in ruling that ___ ___ can’t continue to be held at the Massachusetts Treatment Center. Full Article Related Calling for change before offender ____ is free Tough on sex offender legislation not refiled
Read MoreMA: Harvard professor loses post for defending an unpopular client
[theappeal.org – 5/14/19] As soon as it was revealed earlier this year that a house faculty dean at Harvard University, Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., had decided to join the legal team of Harvey Weinstein, students spoke out. Two undergraduates wrote an op-ed in The Crimson, calling on Harvard to “remove” Sullivan, because he chose to defend Weinstein, “the man whose infamous sexual misconduct and assault of over a dozen women initiated the #MeToo movement.” The students say that they “condemn Sullivan’s decision to represent Weinstein” while serving as dean, and…
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