Posts Tagged registered sex offender

GA: Another Cop Accused Of Child Molestation

wsbtv.com(GA): Cop Accused Of Child Molestation.

We have lost count of how many police officers have been arrested for sex crimes against children just since the beginning of this year alone. Remember that these are the same men who speak out against the heinous nature of sex offenses in our neighborhoods and do everything they can to cause pain and destruction to anyone even accused of a sex crime. In many cases, they communicate the nature of a sex offender’s arrest to other inmates in jails and prisons in order to cause the accused sex offender to be harmed while in custody. But being a police officer, it is likely that he will be kept protected while incarcerated. And as police officers, enjoying favorability with courts, it is also likely that these men will not be required to register as sex offenders.

Fayette County, Ga. — A Tyrone police officer was arrested, accused of child molestation. Matthew New, 38, of Fayetteville was arrested March 11 by the Fayetteville Police Department on a charge involving child molestation. Mr. New faces at least 40 additional charges on related crimes, investigators said.

According to investigators, more than one child was victimized. The children were under age 16 at the time of the incidents, investigators said, and one of the children was related to Mr. New.

Information from the investigation has resulted in 40 additional charges and of those, New will be charged with one count of sexual battery and multiple counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes and multiple counts of child pornography, investigators said. Mr. New’s computer was seized during the investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, investigators said.

Officials said Mr. New was placed on administrative leave from the Tyrone Police Department immediately when the agency was notified of the investigation by Fayetteville police on Feb. 2. New had been with the Tyrone Police Department for about nine years, according to police officials.

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GA Supreme Court : Non Sex Crimes Must Register on Sex Registry

ajc.com: Ga. Supreme Court rebuffs sex offender registry challenge - requires some people who have not committed sex crimes to register as sex offenders..

The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld a provision of the state’s sex-offender registry law that requires some people who have not committed sex crimes to register as sex offenders. Under the law, those convicted of kidnapping or false imprisonment of a minor must register as a sex offender, whether or not a sexual crime was involved.

The challenge was brought by Jake Rainer, convicted in 2000 in Gwinnett County of a drug robbery. Rainer, then 18, and his co-defendants picked up a 17-year-old girl who was going to sell them some marijuana. Instead of buying it, they drove her to a cul-de-sac, took the pot and left her. Rainer pleaded guilty to robbery and false imprisonment. Because of the latter conviction, he has had to register as a sex offender, meaning he cannot live or work within 1,000 feet of places where children congregate, such as parks, schools and swimming pools.

Writing for a 5-2 majority, Justice Harold Melton rejected Rainer’s arguments that the provision, as applied to him, was cruel and unusual punishment. Sex offender registry laws, Melton wrote, “are regulatory, not punitive, in nature.” “Because the registration requirements themselves do not constitute punishment, it is of no consequence whether or not one has committed an offense that is ’sexual’ in nature before being required to register,” Melton wrote.

(this has long been a bogus argument. Anyone who knows anything about these registries knows fully-well how punitive and destructive they are in the lives of those who must publicly register)


The law also advances a legislative goal of requiring the state to inform the public for purposes of protecting children from those who would harm them, Melton said.

Writing in dissent, Chief Justice Carol Hunstein said that although registration as a sex offender may not be considered punishment, “it is no mere administrative formality or minor inconvenience.”

Overall, this decision should actually be viewed positively. Flooding the registries with robbers, kidnappers and other violent criminals will only help destroy the registries in the end.

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NY Sheriff Deputy Pleads Guilty to Sexual Abuse

spotlightnews.com: Sheriff deputy pleads guilty to sexual abuse, will likely face jail time.

Saratoga County Sheriff’s Deputy Donald Harder III will likely face jail time come May. Accused of sexual abuse by four women between June and August of 2009, he pleaded guilty to a felony Menacing in the First Degree, a misdemeanor Official Misconduct and four misdemeanor counts of Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree on Thursday, March 11, according to Saratoga County District Attorney Jim Murphy.

Harder was accused by four separate women of making sexual demands while in uniform and making them fear physical injury if they didn’t comply. Harder was said to be in uniform, wearing his service weapon on his gun belt and standing next to his marker patrol unit while on duty when demands were made. The incidents occurred between June and August 2009 and all four women came forward individually and on separate occasions, according to information from Murphy’s office.

No mention of whether he will be required to be registered as a sex offender, although many of these law enforcement officials and politicians get away without being put on the lists.

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NFL Combine Player Admits to Being Registered Sex Offender


reporternews.com: Former ACU football player: I am registered sex offender.

Former Abilene Christian University football player Tony Washington disclosed during the NFL Combine in Indianapolis that he is a registered sex offender.

Washington, an All-American offensive tackle for the Wildcats the past two seasons, was convicted of having sex with his 15-year-old biological sister in May 2003 while a student at Alcee Fortier High School in New Orleans. Washington was 16 at the time and received five years probation. He didn’t serve jail time but he had to register as sex offender wherever he lived. He told scouts and college coaches the sex was consensual.

Washington, 24, told SportsFanLive.com: “I made a mistake at the age of 16 and for that, I am deeply sorry. I will not try and excuse or justify anything. I have worked extremely hard to do everything right so that I might have an opportunity to give back. I only hope that someone in the NFL will give me the same opportunity that Abilene Christian and Trinity Valley gave me.”

After his performance at the combine, Washington, who is 6-foot-7, 305 pounds, is considered to be a high-round draft choice.

With every-increasing numbers of Americans being labeled on the sex offender registries across the nation (estimated at 700,000 and growing each day) , these high profile cases should highlight the need for reform of the sex offender laws. The more people we put on sex offender registries, the more we dilute the stated purpose of the registries. We need to limit sex offender registration to only the most high-risk and repeat offenders. We must give first time offenders a chance to prove themselves and “work” their way off the registry. And we must allow judicial review of individual cases to establish risk levels (all of which the Adam Walsh Act does not allow).

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CA: Another Law Named for a Dead Child

ABCnews: ‘Chelsea’s Law’ Could Track Sex Offenders Via GPS.

Known sex offenders should be outfitted with GPS devices that would track their movements and immediately alert police if predators travelled to restricted areas near schools or parks, a California lawmaker told ABC News.com.

Following the alleged rape and murder of 17-year-old high school student Chelsea King by convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner III, Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, R- San Diego, called for a complete review of California laws intended to monitor known offenders.

Fletcher said California law requires sex offenders to register where they live, but not where they go. Police in the nearby towns of Escondido and Rancho Bernardo are working to determine if in Gardner’s routine travels between his residence and his mother’s home he attempted to abduct girls along the way.

“I’m really concerned where these sex predators go because where you live is one thing, but where you go is another matter. If you’re a certain category of sex offender you can’t go where kids congregate. You can’t go to parks, you can’t go to bus stops, you can go to schools,” Fletcher said.

“We’re looking at the possibility of using technology. Using a GPS device that’s a passive device, but the minute you cross into one of these safe zones it immediately pings a 911 call and you’ve committed a crime by violating it,” he said.

Not only was Gardner already a registered sex offender, but these pile-on sex offender laws named after dead children have proven to do nearly nothing to prevent sex offenses. This idiot Assemblyman Fletcher now wants to outfit tens of thousands of Californians with GPS monitors which would alarm police if they walk near a school or park. How ridiculous is this going to become ?

Contact this fool here:
District Office:9909 Mira Mesa Blvd., Suite 130, San Diego, CA 92131
858-689-6290, 858-689-6296 fax
Capitol Office: State Capitol, Room 2111, Sacramento, CA 95814
916-319-2075, 916-319-2175 fax
Email here.

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Men Accused of Killing Sex Offender to Stand Trial

mydesert.com: Men accused of killing convicted sex offender to stand trial.

A self-avowed white supremacist and a reputed drug dealer accused of using California’s Megan’s Law registry to hunt down and kill a convicted sex offender must stand trial on felony charges, a judge ruled Monday.

Steven Banister, 28, and Travis Martin Cody, 27, face first-degree murder charges in the Aug. 10 death of Edward Vaughn Keeley, whose body was found in his backyard in the 64000 block of 16th Avenue in North Palm Springs.

The suspects also face two special circumstance allegations of committing a murder during a robbery and a burglary, which makes them eligible for the death penalty if convicted. Prosecutors have not decided whether to seek capital punishment for the men.

Following a preliminary hearing that started Friday and continued through part of Monday morning, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Stephen Gallon ruled there was enough evidence to proceed to trial.

Keeley’s address was listed as the home of a convicted sex offender on a publicly available database created by Megan’s Law.

Banister had allegedly bragged in prison that he planned to assault homosexuals, rapists and pedophiles. He used Megan’s Law to target pedophiles and sex offenders for his burglaries, Button alleged in the declaration.

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Sex Offender Registration Does Not Stop Rape

mercurynews.com(Calif): Sex offender Web site didn’t help in Calif. rapes.

San Diego—Authorities say the sex offender charged with killing a San Diego teen initially eluded suspicion in her disappearance because he was registered on California’s sex crimes database as living in a neighboring county.

Investigators in Riverside County say convicted child molester John Albert Gardner III similarly wasn’t a suspect in last year’s disappearance of a 14-year-old girl and an attack on another teen. That’s because at the time Gardner was registered in San Diego County.

Officials said Thursday the discrepancies show how Gardner could apparently comply with California’s offender registry law and still avoid suspicion. Gardner has pleaded not guilty to murdering 17-year-old Chelsea King.

We have said this many times, whenever one of these horrific crimes occurs. Online sex offender registries and residency restrictions do nothing to prevent crime. Think about it. Banning a sex offender from living near a school or park does not prevent him from traveling to that park or school. And posting a sex offender’s photo online does not prevent him from committing a crime !

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AWA/SORNA: Send Your Fax to President Obama

Many readers ask what they can do to help in this fight. Here is something you should do, today. With President Obama making news today in his support of the Adam Walsh Act funding ( see post below), we must do the following before the end of this week, if possible:

ConstitutionalFights spoke to a representative at the White House today who expressed interest in our concerns about the Adam Walsh Act and how it violates constitutional rights of 700,000 Americans. She gave potentially useful instructions on how to communicate effectively to President Obama on this issue.

She said to FAX A ONE PAGE OUTLINE summary sheet to 202-456-2461.
You can email but faxes will be MUCH more effective she said, because they receive millions of emails.

1. At the top of the page, put a clear subject line- re: Adam Walsh Act.

2. List clear concise bullet points, not narrative. She said outline form is much more likely to be read than a narrative story.

Now, I no longer use faxes, but I am sure many of you have access to fax machines. And there are some online alternatives to fax from your computer. So while this may result in a lower number of us sending a fax, if many of us do this, it could be effective (according to the secretary).

You know the bullet points to make: constitutional violations of Ex Post Facto/Retroactivity, Separation of Powers, Breach of Contract, ect, how it damages families and children of offenders, how it imposes life-long registration to many who committed a crime decades ago, ect..

Again, one page, in outline form! To download the sample outline below, download here: http://drop.io/whitehouseSORNA

Sample Outline:

Adam Walsh Act/SORNA : Destroying Families and Failing to Prevent Crime.

AWA/SORNA violates constitutional rights of 700,000 Americans by:

  • imposing retroactive punishment for crimes committed decades ago
  • breach of contract in plea agreements with states by increasing registration requirements, requiring new lifetime registration for many
  • violating separation of powers provisions by disallowing a court review of individual cases


Correcting Myths:

  • U.S. Department of Justice Statistics: Recidivism of Sex Offenders 1994 (latest available): “5.3% of sex offenders were rearrested for another sex crime.”
“An estimated 3.3% of child victimizers 4,300 were rearrested for another sex crime against a child within 3 years of release from prison”

Approximately 60% of boys and 80% of girls who are sexually victimized are abused by someone known to the child or the child’s family (Lieb, Quinsey, and Berliner, 1998).

  • Most-Recent Study Statistics from The National Criminal Justice Reference Service: “results DO NOT indicate an increase in child abductions by strangers”
  • A Comprehensive National Study (University of North Carolina, University of New Hampshire): “The great majority of sexual victimizations were perpetrated by acquaintances”
  • The Crimes Against Children Research Center studies:

a) “various forms of child mistreatment and child victimization declines as much as 40-70% from 1993 through 2004, including sexual abuse, physical abuse, sexual assault…”
b) ” sexual abuse started to decline in the early 1990’s after at least 15 years of steady increases. From 1990 through 2004 sexual abuse substantiations were down 49%”

  • National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System:

a) “Cases of substantiated sexual abuse have declined approximately 39% nationwide from 1992 to 1999. Despite the dramatic nature of the decline, little discussion of the trend has occurred at either the national or the state level. ”

Legal Challenges:

  • AWA/SORNA has been legally challenged in every county in Ohio and within every state. Many State and Federal Courts have ruled retroactive restrictions as unconstitutional.
  • The Indiana Supreme Court ruled retroactive application of SORNA as unconstitutional - Wallace v. State (2009
  • Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared in U.S. v. Juvenile Male, No. 07-30290 (9th Cir. Sept. 10, 2009) that part of the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act is unconstitutional as applied to former juvenile offenders:
  • The Ohio Supreme Court currently has four cases under review to decide retroactive implementation of SORNA.


AWA/SORNA Damages Families:

  • Registries list offenders whose crimes date back decades, and whom have led productive lives since
  • Many of those on the registry were juveniles when the crime was committed
  • Many of those on registry pose little or no threat to re-offend
  • Public registries include home addresses and expose parents and their children to taunting and threats
  • Employment, education and living opportunities are severely limited to families with a registered sex offender
  • Socially stigmatizing Americans for a lifetime creates instability in their lives and actually increases chances of offending


Conclusion: We urge the President to repeal , or completely re-structure The Adam Walsh Act /SORNA to:

  • remove retroactive application
  • allow judicial review of individual cases
  • allow a means to earn a way off the registry
  • maintain registries for law enforcement use only, and not for public perusal


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College Bans Convicted Sex Offenders

mlive.com: Benton Harbor Lake Michigan College bans convicted sex offenders.
southbendtribune.com: Lake Michigan College suspends students for being child sex offenders.

Lake Michigan College has banned people convicted of sex crimes against children and listed on the state sex offender registry from attending classes on its four campuses, officials say.

Three students have been suspended under the new rule, although they will be allowed to take online courses, a spokeswoman for the community college told the Herald-Palladium of St. Joseph.

Administrators made the decision last month after a man signing up for winter semester classes at the Bertrand Crossing campus near Niles told school officials he was a registered sex offender and his victim had been a child, the newspaper reported. The man was not allowed to enroll.

“This brought to light that we could have other students enrolled who could have the same conviction on their record,” college spokeswoman Laura Kraklau said. “So that’s kind of what sparked it.” Officials describe the three students as “suspended” because they can take classes on campus once they are no longer required to register as sex offenders and are no longer on probation or parole. But because sex offenders must register for either 25 years or life under Michigan law, the students essentially have been expelled.

Aside from Bertrand Crossing, Lake Michigan College has campuses in Benton Harbor, Benton Township and South Haven. The ban does not cover students convicted of a sex crime against an adult.

U.S. Department of Education officials told the Herald-Palladium they did not know whether other colleges or universities have similar rules.

Miriam Aukerman, an attorney with Legal Aid of Western Michigan, said the Lake Michigan College rule was too broad and could punish people who pose no threat to children, including 17-year-olds convicted of having sex with 15-year-olds and other “Romeo and Juliet” offenses. The age of sexual consent in Michigan is 16.

Such a ban could be viewed as handing out additional punishment-and that’s not a job for schools, said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. “We tend to believe that the judicial system and the criminal justice system are the appropriate venues for working out who ought to have access to higher ed and who should not if it is a matter either of privilege or a matter of safety,” Nassirian said.
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Two of three students recently suspended from Lake Michigan College for being child sex offenders have filed appeals with the school.

The decision stemmed from a meeting earlier that month when a prospective student attempting to sign up for winter classes at the Niles Bertrand Crossing campus told administrators he was a convicted child sex offender. The student was not allowed to enroll. A few days later, the three current students were suspended after the school did a check of the entire school body of 4,200 students.

Kraklau said administrators looked at whether other colleges in the country had similar policies regarding the offenders. She added that it appears “a couple of other community colleges have similar rules and policies,” although she did not say which ones.

1. I hope these students sue the college and take this issue to court.

2. How can any responsible court say that these sex offender registries are not “punishment” when social outcasting such as this occurs?

3. Try putting yourself in other shoes; you have a nephew or niece who made a terrible mistake and ended up on a sex offender registry. Would you want them banned from attending a college?

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MD Legislators Try to Limit Voting Rights of Sex Offenders

Baltimoresun.com: Is state wise to treat all sex offenders the same?

I doubt it will be noted anywhere but here — because the bill was withdrawn Monday– but to give you an idea of the extent to which members of the Maryland General Assembly will go to protect “we, the public,” please consider House Bill 656. It would have prohibited convicted sex offenders from going to Maryland schools even to vote on Election Day.

I found this while searching through the dozens of bills that have been filed in Annapolis in this election year, ostensibly to tighten loopholes in the state’s sex offender laws.

HB 656’s sponsors included the following delegates: Impallaria, Boteler, Costa, Dwyer, George, Kach, Krebs, McComas, McDonough, Miller, Schuh, Shewell, Sossi and Stocksdale. (I would use their first names, but I don’t want to embarrass them.)

The bill, indexed under “sex offenses,” would have required “an individual who is a felon to vote only by absentee ballot.” It would have prohibited “a felon from voting at a polling place.” And it would have “limited a provision of law allowing specified registered criminal offenders to enter onto school property for the purpose of voting only to registered offenders who are not felons.”

That last reference - “specified registered criminal offenders” - is a reference to sexual offenders; they’re the ones we keep on an Internet registry that would grow larger, covering offenses that occurred up to 25 years ago, under legislation in the General Assembly this winter.

HB 656 would have protected Maryland schoolchildren even when they aren’t in school, Election Day. The bill got an unfavorable report after first reading and a hearing last month, and it was listed as withdrawn on Monday. So it’s not happening. But still, it provides more evidence of the strikingly transparent effort to score points with voters by exploiting public fears about the men and women among us convicted of sexual offenses. There are already numerous laws on the books restricting them from all kinds of activities - even their own children’s school events - and their names, photographs, addresses and offenses are listed on the state registry for the world to see. And still it’s not enough for the pols in Annapolis, who use the issue to prove their tough-on-crime bonafides.

Within the last week, I’ve received numerous comments from readers about this, and I’m surprised - and delighted -to report that the majority seem to see through the politicizing of this criminal justice issue. They question the effectiveness of the sex offender registries, and that includes some readers who are in law enforcement. There’s good reason for that — the majority of offenses, for instance, are committed by first-time offenders, and first-time offenders aren’t in the registry - but in the current hysteria, that doesn’t even seem to be a question in Annapolis.

Among those who’ve responded to my last two columns on this subject have been people convicted of sexual offenses, or their relatives — a constituency almost never heard from, and for practical reasons; they’re in the state’s sex offender registry and they have no desire to draw any more attention to themselves.

Sunday, I received an e-mail from a 56-year-old offender I’ll call Rick for the sake of this column. He asked not to be identified, saying he was concerned about the effect of further publicity on his teenage children and the reaction of his neighbors in a Baltimore suburb. He told me about his offense — sex with a minor in 2002, and a guilty plea on a third-degree sexual offense — and I checked it out. That has been his only crime, Rick said, and the records support him.

He, like other offenders, has been watching the news out of Annapolis as legislative leaders try to, among other things, expand the Internet registry to include older crimes and those committed by juveniles. Rick thinks that, instead of expanding the registry, the state ought to narrow its focus and concentrate money and resources on the most serious cases that pose the greatest risks to the public.

“Why can’t Maryland use the evaluation skills of professionals already in its employ and assign proper designation of recidivism danger to sex offenders?” Rick wrote in an e-mail.

“I completed all punishment and monitoring without incident. I haven’t had as much as a parking ticket, but due to a terrible decision on my part I am still paying, and will continue to pay, in ways that go far beyond my original sentencing. I completed the ordered sex offender treatment program and avoid any situation where I can be perceived as putting someone in danger.

“I cannot go to the park with my teenage children. I can’t join my local Y. I can’t go to my children’s school without getting written permission. I am on the registry for life, and now the politicos of our state are piling it on.

“We are not all monsters. Many are in loving relationships. Many have served their sentences, are honestly remorseful, have repented, and are trying to desperately move on with their lives and be productive citizens. All sex offenders are not serial offenders. They are not all predators.”

But right now we don’t seem to make much distinction and, if the registry expands, to comply with federal law, it seems reasonable to assume that money and resources will go into that effort rather than into performing the psychological triage to identify the real threats and make a real difference in public safety.

Since the Maryland Legislature removed this bill from their web site, we post here an image capture of the bill. Click on thumbnail image to view enlarged image.


Bill Synopsis:

Requiring an applicant for voter registration to specify whether the applicant is a felon; requiring that specified information concerning voting by felons be provided to an applicant for voter registration; requiring an individual who is a felon to vote only by absentee ballot; prohibiting a felon from voting at a polling place; and limiting a provision of law allowing specified registered criminal offenders to enter onto school property for the purpose of voting only to registered offenders who are not felons.

  • Sponsored by:
  • Delegate Rick Impallaria, District 7
  • Delegate Joseph C. Boteler, III, District 8
  • Delegate Robert A. Costa, District 33B
  • Delegate Don H. Dwyer, Jr., District 31
  • Delegate Ron George, District 30
  • Delegate Wade Kach, District 5B
  • Delegate Susan W. Krebs, District 9B
  • Delegate Susan K. McComas, District 35B
  • Delegate Pat McDonough, District 7
  • Delegate Warren E. Miller, District 9A
  • Delegate Steven R. Schuh, District 31
  • Delegate Tanya T. Shewell, District 5A
  • Delegate Richard A. Sossi, District 36
  • Delegate Nancy R. Stocksdale, District 5A
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