CA: Montgomery County man gets $431,000 for time wrongly listed on sex offender registry

Source: wsls.com 7/13/24 MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Va. – A Montgomery County man is finally getting closure after he was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Closure in the amount of nearly half a million dollars. David Kingrea received over $55,000 last year from the Commonwealth for the time he spent in jail in 2014 for a crime he didn’t commit. But that’s not where David’s story ends. There was more money to come for the eight years Kingrea wrongfully spent on the Virginia Sex Offender Registry. “Being on the registry…

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VA: Alleged Predator Granny: A Life Ensnared By Virginia Sex Offender Registry

Source: legal-eagles.org 2/9/24 Recent Denial of Appeal: Tammy Lawson’s Ongoing Struggle for Justice In the realm of legal battles, few narratives are as poignant as that of Tammy Lawson, whose life has been ensnared in the complexities of the justice system. Despite her unwavering innocence, Tammy’s journey has been fraught with unjust consequences, the most recent being the denial of her appeal. see our previous May 31, 2023 Blog Tammy’s saga dates back to a series of unfortunate events, where she found herself wrongly implicated in a legal quagmire. Accused…

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VA: Parents demand removal of Chesapeake PTA president, citing sex-offender spouse

Source: 13newsnow.com 9/20/23 CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Concerned parents in Chesapeake are sounding the alarm about a registered sex offender they say is married to a local PTA president and has attended at least one school-related event. In an email sent to 13News Now and an online petition signed by more than 200 people, parents of students at Greenbrier primary and intermediate schools are lobbying for the removal of their Parent Teacher Association president. The petition, which was created on Change.org September 12, alleges the PTA president is married to a…

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VA: Wrongfully convicted man says “Being on the registry itself has been a death sentence” and wants more restitution money

Source: wsls.com 9/6/23 MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Va. – David Kingrea lives in rural Montgomery County with his wife, Michelle, and their son, Dylan. David’s life hasn’t always been that simple. In 2011, his life was flipped upside down when his ex-girlfriend’s son accused David of sexually abusing him. “We had a very bad relationship to say, but nevertheless I never would have thought that this would even never come up,” said David. From the day David was arrested for the alleged crimes, he maintained his innocence. “It was their word versus…

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VA: Governor approves compensation payment for man wrongfully convicted of molestation

Source: roanoke.com 3/27/23 David Wayne Kingrea’s long search for justice took another step this month as Gov. Glenn Youngkin approved more than $50,000 in compensation for Kingrea’s wrongful conviction and the year he spent in jail. Kingrea, 49, of the Pilot community in Montgomery County, said Thursday that the money will help him and his wife care for their special-needs son Dylan. What is planned to be a series of payments and community college tuition waivers is to begin in July. “It’s a new beginning once this comes,” Kingrea said.…

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VA: FCPS changes bus stop location over concerns of proximity to sex offender

Source: msn.com 1/22/23 Fairfax County Public Schools changed the bus stop location for students in Mount Vernon after a parent raised concerns over its proximity to a registered sex offender. The bus stop in question sits at the corner of Cedar Road and Black Alder Drive. FCPS announced that starting on Tuesday, the new pick-up and drop-off spot will be at the corner of Black Alder Drive and Teak Court, about a block away and out of view from the home. A father, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he recently…

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VA: ‘Enough is enough’: Rock Church pastor previously accused in prostitution case speaks out

Source: wric.com 12/6/22 A Virginia Beach pastor previously accused of soliciting sex from a minor says “enough is enough.” During a recent service, Rev. John Blanchard returned to the pulpit to address his congregation. Blanchard was among 17 men accused of solicitation of prostitution after an online sting operation by law enforcement. Blanchard was the senior pastor at Rock Church International in Virginia Beach at the time of his arrest. The Chesterfield County Police Special Victims Unit said the suspects believed they were soliciting sex from minors through online and…

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VA: Former Radford Police Captain arrested Courtesy: Carroll Co. Sheriff’s Office

Source: wdbj7.com 12/10/22 The Virginia State Police has charged a former Radford Police Captain with “one felony count of “use of communications systems to facilitate certain offenses involving children” in violation of Virginia Code 18.2-374.3. Christopher L. ____, 47, of Pulaski, Va. turned himself in on Saturday. The Pulaski Co. Sheriff’s Office had requested that State Police begin looking into an allegation against ____ in early September. The Radford City Police Department says they were made aware of this on September 4, 2022. ____ was informed on September 6 and…

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VA: Victory in Supreme Court of Virginia against out-of-control prosecution

Source: ajustfuture.org 9/20/22 Justices declare effort targeting leading advocate illegal, ending 5-year court battle On Thursday, the highest court in Virginia ended the Commonwealth’s 13-year campaign to indefinitely detain a prominent advocate on criminal justice matters, Galen Baughman. In a victory for justice the Supreme Court ruled that the petition filed against Baughman in 2017 was illegal. A Short History of Baughman’s Fight Baughman has been targeted by the Virginia attorney general’s office under the state’s civil confinement scheme since 2009 when prosecutors filed a petition to send him to…

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VA: Youthful offender law nixes sex assault prosecution

Source: rutlandherald.com 9/10/22 A man charged with sexual assault on a 14-year-old got the charges against him dismissed due to a gap in Vermont’s youthful offender law, prosecutors said this week. In a decision handed down Friday in a case that originated in Rutland County, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that the state could not appeal the family court’s dismissal of a juvenile delinquency petition, overturning a precedent from 1991. “In crafting the juvenile-delinquency statutes, the Legislature explicitly intended to protect minors from the consequences associated with a criminal record,”…

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VA: Chiropractor accused of sex crimes against patients will be allowed to attend son’s graduation

Source: wtvr.com 5/16/22 RICHMOND, Va. — A chiropractor accused of sexually assaulting multiple patients went before a judge Monday morning for what was supposed to be a plea agreement hearing, but instead his attorneys asked that the hearing be pushed back so he can attend his son’s high school graduation. Dr. Michael ____ entered an Alford plea that will take affect June 10. Part of that plea requires him to register as a sex offender. Because of that, he would not have been allowed on school property for his son’s…

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VA: Convicted Sex Offender Pleads Guilty to Violating Federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act

Source: justice.gov 5/5/22 BLUEFIELD, W.Va. – A convicted West Virginia sex offender pleaded guilty today to failing to provide information related to foreign travel as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). According to court documents and statements made in court, Andrew Todd Smith, 32, of Peterstown, Monroe County, admitted that he traveled to South Africa in November 2021 without providing the required advanced notification. Smith was required to register as a sex offender under SORNA after he was convicted of three counts of third-degree sexual assault…

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VA: Chesterfield police arrest 16 in online operations involving sex solicitation of minors

Source: richmond.com 5/4/22 Chesterfield County police special victims’ detectives conducted two recent online sting operations involving sexual solicitation of minors that resulted in the arrest of 16 suspects on a total of 31 charges, many of them felonies, police announced Wednesday. The planned operations were the department’s seventh and eighth of this type since June 2020. As in past cases, detectives on March 31 and April 28 intercepted suspects who believed they were soliciting sex from minors through various social media platforms. The suspects communicated with people they believed to…

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VA: Former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam pardoned a state senator with a misdemeanor for his relationship with his 17-year-old assistant

Source: businessinsider.com 1/23/22 On his way out of office, former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam pardoned a state senator who was convicted in 2014 for dating his 17-year-old law firm assistant who would later become his wife and the mother of his children.  Northam issued a simple pardon for State Sen. Joe Morrissey, a Democrat from Richmond, for a misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.  “To say that I was extremely pleased with what the governor did would be, perhaps for me, the…

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VA: Professor’s redefinition of pedophilia could help offenders demand rights

Source: nypost.com 1/1/22 On Nov. 8, Old Dominion sociology and criminology professor Allyn Walker gave an interview in which he asserted the need to destigmatize pedophiles by redefining them as “minor-attracted persons” (MAPs). Walker stated, “We have a tendency to want to categorize people with these attractions as evil or morally corrupt,” and that when people “hear the term ‘pedophile,’ they automatically assume that it means a sex offender, and that isn’t true.” Shortly after this interview, students at Old Dominion protested over the professor’s attempt to obfuscate the nature…

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VA: Virginia professor to step down after backlash to research on ‘minor-attracted’ people

Source: nbcnews.com 11/24/21 An academic in Virginia whose research on “minor-attracted people” sparked threats and a petition calling for their removal announced their resignation Wednesday, university officials and the scholar said in a joint statement. Allyn Walker will remain on leave until they step down as an assistant professor of criminal justice and sociology at Old Dominion University in May. “We have concluded that this outcome is the best way to move forward,” university President Brian Hemphill said in the statement. He added that he hoped the move will help…

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VA: ODU professor on leave amid protests over research on pedophilia

Source: axios.com 11/20/21 Old Dominion University put a professor on administrative leave following an uproar over their research into people who are sexually attracted to children. Driving the news: “Reactions to Dr. Walker’s research and book have led to concerns for their safety and that of the campus,” the public university wrote in a statement on Nov. 16, adding that Professor Allyn Walker’s leave is “effective immediately.” Walker, an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice, sparked controversy over the use of the term “minor-attracted people” in their academic research.…

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VA: Top Republican Donor Killed in Prison After Serving Nearly Two Decades for Sexually Assaulting His Own Children

Source: msn.com 8/8/21 A once-lauded Republican donor and former businessman was killed in prison late Tuesday by another inmate, the Associated Press and a collection of news organizations reported this week. According to the Virginia Department of Corrections, Mark A. Grethen, 63, who was initially not identified by name, died “following an apparent attack by another inmate inside the victim’s cell.” The attack occurred at the Lawrenceville Correctional Center, a for-profit prison operated by The GEO Group, Inc., a news release indicated. “The victim was serving a 26-year sentence for…

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