An Iowa Park man was turned down after asking the City Council on Monday night to consider an exemption to the code of ordinances. After recently writing a letter to the city of Iowa Park, James H. Pappas stood in front of the City Council and requested an exemption for his son, ___ ____, who is in his 60s and was convicted of having child pornography in Duluth, Minnesota. However, the City Council denied the exemption based on Texas state law. Councilwoman Sherrie Williams said, “We’d have to void the…
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TX: Rowlett Couple Harassed After Mistaken Sex Offender Notice
ROWLETT (CBSDFW.COM) – A Rowlett couple fear for their safety after police mistakenly listed their address as belonging to a sex offender. The Texas Department of Public Safety sent postcards to neighbors within four blocks of the house on Kirby Road, alerting them a “high risk” offender, ____ ____, lives there. “It’s been a nightmare, and I want it to be over,” said Michelle Swindle. Full Article
Read MoreHow a Plano legislator’s remarks bred strict sex offender laws
Recent research has challenged long-held assumptions that convicted sex offenders are very likely to commit new sex crimes and questioned how those assumptions were reached in the first place. Prior to that, though, one Texas legislator’s words were particularly influential on sex offender laws across the country. (Italics added for clarity.) July 1997: State Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, a former schoolteacher and proponent of the state’s strict 1995 Ashley’s Laws for sex offenders, attends a conference in Bellevue, Wash., about sex offender registries. She begins her speech by noting that…
Read MoreTX: Program to corral ballooning sex offender registry failing
… In 2011, Texas began a so-called deregistration process. The intent was to remove those who were unlikely to re-offend from the list and, in so doing, save taxpayers money. By focusing police attention on truly dangerous offenders, it would also improve public safety. By that measure, however, the program has been a bust. In the 5 1/2 years it has been in existence, only 58 sex offenders have been permitted to deregister from the Texas list — less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the current registry. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Sex with 17-year-old girl is legal in Texas—sexted pics of her are kid porn
Try to follow along. In Texas, it’s legal to have sex with somebody as young as 17 years old. But it’s considered child pornography to have nude pictures of somebody under 18, even if he or she is 17. Full Article
Read MoreTX: HOA bans homeowners renting to sex offenders, but is it legal?
HOUSTON – A Fort Bend County neighborhood’s homeowners association has put a ban on any homeowner renting to a registered sex offender. Lots of families with young children live in the Kingdom Heights neighborhood. The deed restrictions established by the HOA for the quiet suburban Houston community are crystal clear — no homeowner may lease to a residence to a registered sex offender. Full Article
Read MoreTX: On the cost-benefit analysis of enforcing sex-offender registry conditions vs. investigating violent crime
Dallas PD has shut down its monitoring unit charged with driving around to make home checks for people on the sex-offender registry, reported WFAA’s Tanya Eiserer in somewhat breathless tones. The story quickly devolved into Chief David Brown’s critics taking pot shots at him for being soft on sex offenders, or whatever. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Dallas PD shuts down sex offender unit
DALLAS — ____ ____ maintained a Facebook page presenting himself as a teenage girl. The convicted sex offender was caught with 100,000 child pornography images last year. He was recently sentenced to 13 years in federal prison. ____ ____ was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender until police could get enough evidence to charge him with raping a woman inside a Baylor University Medical Center parking garage. He’s still in jail. What do these two men have in common? They were captured through the efforts of the Sex Offender Apprehension Program,…
Read MoreTX: Mentally ill offender to stay in treatment program officials say he cannot understand
At the state’s home for sex predators, the Billy Clayton Center, the word “detention” has been removed from the facility sign. – The Texas Civil Commitment Office will create a special mental health treatment program for one man at a West Texas lockup after losing a fight with the state health department over which agency should house and treat a felon it says is too ill to benefit from – or even understand – the sex offender treatment he has been ordered to undergo. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Defending Sex Offenders One City at a Time
Richard Gladden might be considered a superhero among civil rights activists if he weren’t representing one of the most despised segments of the population: sex offenders. The 55-year-old attorney has been defending them in court for more than a decade, fighting for their rights in a society hell-bent on taking them away. Full Article Texas Voices for Justice and Reason
Read MoreTX: Court orders 83-year-old sex offender freed
AUSTIN — In a decision that could presage other releases, a state appeals court in Beaumont on Thursday ordered an 83-year-old man be immediately freed from a controversial supervision program for sex offenders because he no longer qualifies to be in it. The order by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was the first complete release of an offender from the program in its 16-year-history, even though one other man was freed on a provisional basis and another left the state after an appeals court overturned his commitment — before…
Read MoreTX: Families stunned that towns repealed sex offender laws
JUSTIN, Texas — Parents in this community southwest of Denton expressed outrage and disappointment Wednesday after learning that Justin is one of a growing number of small towns that have decided to repeal their sex offender ordinances to avoid a legal battle. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Small town sex offender laws in jeopardy
DENTON COUNTY — The fight over sex offender laws has come to Denton County in a big way. And it isn’t the only place. Five small towns near Denton now face legal challenges over their local sex offender ordinances. A sixth, the town of Justin, repealed its ordinance in December. “I’m not surprised,” said Denton attorney Richard Gladden. “I think the law is clearly on our side.” Gladden recently filed a string of lawsuits across the state on behalf of the group Texas Voices for Reason and Justice. The petitions target “general law” communities with a…
Read MoreTX: City denies illegality of sex offender ordinance
The Texas Voices for Reason and Justice, Inc. filed a petition in Travis County District Court alleging the city of West Lake Hills’ sex offender ordinance is in violation of state law. In response, the City Council voted Jan. 13 to instruct City Attorney Alan Bojorquez to file a denial of the allegations. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Appeals court overturns seven convictions for online ‘dirty talk’ to minors
AUSTIN — The state’s top criminal court on Wednesday reversed the convictions of seven men who were sentenced to prison for talking dirty to minors online. Five men from Harris County, one from Collin County and another from Montgomery County are among the first to see their convictions reversed after a 2013 Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decision overturned a 2005 law criminalizing sexually explicit online communication with minors. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Former Wise County deputy sentenced for taking nude photos of sex offenders
FORT WORTH – A former deputy with the Wise County Sheriff’s Department was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison Wednesday for taking nude photographs of sex offenders. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Kids or Criminals? series – Locked up at 11, sex offender earns parole at age 32
Khristopher Hood has something he hasn’t had in decades. Hope. Hood was just 11 when he cried alone in his cell, locked up for molesting two younger female relatives. Now 32 and behind bars ever since, he just earned parole. The state will release him next year after he has nine months of intensive therapy. Sentenced to 40 years in 1995, Hood spent his childhood in state juvenile lockup and then, after he turned 17, in adult prison. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Under lawsuit threat, small cities loosen laws restricting sex offenders
The cities of Pottsboro, Gunter and Whitewright all repealed existing laws restricting sex offenders from schools and public parks at recent city council meetings. This decision came on the heels of a legal notice the cities received from the Texas Voices for Reason and Justice. The advocacy group’s attorney sent this notice threatening to file a legal claim against these three unless their sex offender regulations were repealed. Full Article
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