Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler’s department says the state needs tougher laws banning registered sex offenders from the N.C. State Fair. Sex offenders were arrested around the State Fairgrounds twice during last year’s fair. A Raleigh man was charged with flying a drone over the fair, and a convicted child molester was charged with posing as a state ride inspector to get into an area reserved for children’s rides. Full Article
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NC: Federal Judge Enjoins Enforcement of Sex Offender Premises Restriction
Federal Judge Enjoins Enforcement of Sex Offender Premises Restriction Posted on Dec. 17, 2015, 12:51 pm by Jamie Markham • 3 comments A federal judge has permanently enjoined all North Carolina district attorneys from enforcing G.S. 14-208.18(a)(3), the law intended to prohibit certain sex offenders from being at places where minors gather for regularly scheduled educational, recreational, or social programs. Full Article
Read MoreSCOTUS declines to hear Ex-Post Facto case
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a registered citizen the opportunity to further challenge whether a registration law applied to him retroactively violates the Constitution. As a result, the Court will not hear the case and his legal challenge to that law has ended. At issue was whether the retroactive application of a sex offender program violates the Ex Post Facto Clause of the United States Constitution where the program imposes numerous onerous obligations and restrictions upon a registrant for life, with no opportunity to terminate registration even upon a…
Read MoreNC: Officials say Brunswick sex offender court, while controversial, works
BRUNSWICK COUNTY — Southeastern North Carolina became the home of what officials there think is the first sex offender accountability and rehabilitation court program in the state after Ola Lewis noticed a trend in her Superior Court courtroom. Lewis, the senior resident Superior Court judge for Brunswick County, considered starting the court after several sex offenders came into her courthouse for violating the terms of their probation — namely not attending court-mandated treatment, which can cost about $40 a week. Full Article
Read MoreNC: Private school will not rehire principal in wake of sex offender scandal
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WNCN) – A Fayetteville private school principal will not return to her job after school board members voted not to rehire her after she allowed a sex offender to work on campus. In September, ____ ____ was sentenced to 11-months probation as part of a plea deal after she allowed a registered sex-offender to work at Freedom Academy. Dayton told Cumberland County Superior Court Judge James Ammons she was unaware of the law and thought the sex offender, ____ ____ , could work at the school as long…
Read MoreNC: First Amendment woes in North Carolina
As most VC readers know, First Amendment law is dominated by a single question, the 800-pound constitutional gorilla that’s always in the room: What “level of scrutiny” will the court apply to the challenged government action? How much will it demand from the government by way of justification for whatever it was that it did? How high will it set the bar? … I’ve said it many times before — these sex offender cases are of the deepest importance, not because of any special concern we might have for convicted…
Read MoreNC: Supreme Court bars registered sex offenders from some social media sites
RALEIGH – The N.C. Supreme Court has upheld a state law prohibiting registered sex offenders from using Facebook or other social networking sites that minors can join. In the split opinion issued Friday, the justices reversed an N.C. Court of Appeals ruling that found the 2008 law too broad and vague, and therefore unconstitutional. Full Article
Read MoreNC: just prosecuted a teenage couple for making child porn — of themselves
Is it possible to sexually exploit one’s self? That question is one of many conundrums in the recent case of a teenage North Carolina couple charged with making and distributing child pornography. Their alleged crime: snapping and sending nude photos — of themselves. Full Article
Read MoreNC: Teen Boy Will Be Charged As Adult For Having Naked Pics of a Minor: Himself
A North Carolina 17-year-old caught in a sexting scandal faces charges of sexually exploiting a minor that could land him in jail for up to 10 years, since the law considers him an adult. But one of the minors he supposedly exploited is himself—which raises an obvious question: how can a teen be old enough to face adult felony charges, but not old enough to keep a nude picture of himself on his phone? Full Article
Read MoreNC: Freedom Christian principal ‘exploded’ when told to keep sex offender off campus, documents say
When Joan Dayton, head of Freedom Christian Academy, was told she could not allow a registered sex offender on campus and keep it quiet, a former staff member said she “exploded,” according to court documents. Full Article
Read MoreNC: Sex offenders can visit public libraries
A trip to the library landed ____ ____ in jail. In 2011, authorities caught ____ with explicit photographs of 15-year-old girls on his computer. He served 15 months in state prison and, after his release last year, became homeless. Last December the 46-year-old visited the Chapel Hill Public Library to job hunt on one of its free computers, he says. His probation officer had suggested that visiting a library was permissible, provided that a children’s event wasn’t being held there. Full Article
Read MoreNC: Sheriff bans sex offenders from church
ROBBINSVILLE, N.C. – A sheriff in one of North Carolina’s smallest counties told sex offenders they can’t attend church services, citing a state law meant to keep them from day care centers and schools. Sheriff Danny Millsaps, in Graham County, told the registered offenders about his decision on Feb. 17, according to a letter obtained by the Asheville Citizen-Times on Friday. Full Article
Read MoreNC: Brothers cleared of murder, rape charges after 30 years in prison
LUMBERTON, NC (WMBF) – Two half-brothers who were convicted for raping and killing an 11-year-old girl in North Carolina 30 years ago have been cleared of all charges and will be released from jail Tuesday night. Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, now middle-aged, were locked up when they were in their teens. The details of the death of Sabrina Buie that led to their conviction are graphic. Full Article
Read MoreNC: Registered sex offenders given the boot at local homeless shelters
No more room at the inn for sex offenders. That’s the word from the Mecklenburg County Sheriff. We’ve learned that a number of offenders have used the uptown shelter as their registered address, but no more. 1210 North Tryon is a well known address near Center City Charlotte. It is listed as the Uptown Men’s Shelter. Type in the address in this state run search engine, and a place known for housing homeless still comes up as a residence for sex offenders. Keeping tabs on offenders here been a thorn in the side of Sheriff…
Read MoreNC: Sex offender pleaded to living near day cares
GRAHAM — A registered sex offender pleaded guilty Monday to violating the state’s sex offender laws by living within 1,000 feet of two child-care centers. Before he was charged in April, Alamance County Sheriff’s deputies told ____ ____ ____, 52, that he couldn’t live at his residence on Morningside Drive in Burlington. In warrants, deputies stated that ____’s residence was within 747 feet of Unique Ventures Child Care Services and 638 feet from Gospel Tabernacle day care. … He pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of sex offender residence violation and one…
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