Police break net pedophile ring

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/web/police-break-net-pedophile-ring/2008/03/22/1206206971557.html#

Police break net pedophile ring
Frank Walker | March 23, 2008

AUSTRALIAN police have played a leading role in smashing an international pedophile internet network.

More than 22 pedophiles who thought their super encryption code was unbreakable have been arrested in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia.

Police around the world are using a new high-tech program - Child Exploitation Tracking System (CETS) - that links millions of files on child abusers. It was developed on the orders of billionaire Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and given to Australian police this month.

Australian Federal Police High Tech Crime Centre director James McCormack said police were getting on top of the internet criminals.

"It is a war being fought on many fronts. They do have very sophisticated means to hide their crimes but we are also using more and more sophisticated techniques and we are now having great success in this area," he said.

"I am very confident we are going from strength to strength in beating these people in the high-tech war."

In recent weeks:

? NSW police made their first arrest using a new law that makes it a crime to "groom" children for sex over the internet.

? NSW and Queensland police swooped on 24 people after a tip-off from the FBI they had been paying for access to internet child porn.

? Queensland police were key in breaking an international cabal of pedophiles known as "The Group", who were so secretive they were regarded as untouchable in the murky world of internet crime.

The breakthrough came after a tip from New Zealand police, who spotted heavily encrypted images being flashed to Australia. Queensland police then set up Operation Achilles. (See graphic).

With Australian police now adding CETS to their high-tech arsenal they will be more able to track peoples who click on to child-sex sites.

"The internet is no longer an anonymous place. The trade in these images is estimated to be up to $20billion. We are finding more and more of it but that may be because we are getting better at tracking it," Mr McCormack said.

AFP agent Melissa Northam is one of those trackers. "We have seen all facets of abuse, stuff we didn't even realise was possible. It is extremely traumatising in what we see but we know these children are relying on us to rescue them and we are their only hope.

"We get a lot of psychological help and it is tough. But seeing those images makes us more determined to catch these people and free the children from their abusers."

fwalker@sunherald.com.au
Operation Achilles

1 New Zealand police discover secret internet trade in heavily encrypted child pornography.

2 New Zealand investigators find a link to Australia.

3 Queensland detectives penetrate pedophile network "The Group".

4 They intercept European-made child-porn videos and notify Interpol, France.

5 Interpol sets up operation with police in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

6 Australian police identify two abused girls, later rescued. Belgian police arrest their father.

7 Police arrest an Italian filmmaker, who shot films to order.

8 Police trace 2500 customers in 19 countries. Nine people in Australia arrested; 48 targeted.

9 US joins forces with Australian undercover officer who penetrated The Group.

10 Arrest of 22 core members in the US, Canada, Germany and Britain. Arrest of 100 people who paid for images.

11 Two people arrested in Australia - in Queensland and Victoria.

Conversing with children causes arrest of Folsom man

By Roger Phelps The Telegraph

After an El Dorado Hills mom reported observing a strange man speaking with her two children at each of three children's-story events, deputies arrested the man at his Folsom home.

Victor Emmer, 49, was arrested March 13 on suspicion of loitering where children gather.

"It's an odd charge," said sheriff's Sgt. Jim Byers, noting the statute intends chiefly to protect school-grounds neighborhoods. "The family was at the Folsom Borders Books story-telling time, where he (spoke to one of the children), and for lack of a better term, he creeped the mom out. Then, a few days later at the

El Dorado Hills Library story time, she saw him again striking up conversation with her children. And then, he does it again. We felt it justified a criminal complaint, she signed it and he was arrested."

The case appears unrelated to recent report of unwelcome advances to children in the area by a middle-aged man driving a dark-colored van or SUV, Byers said.

When investigators heard a low bail amount set for Emmer, they explained to a judge that they believed it was too low. Now bail in the case is set at $100,000, and Emmer has bailed out of custody, Byers said.

Investigators want to hear about any similar incidents, he said.

“He is not a registered sex offender in Folsom or California and we have not found any information to indicate he has any prior offenses,” said Lt. Sheldon Sterling of the Folsom Police Department.

[Ed: Okay so... this guy talks to children in a public setting and, because of that and because a mother thought him to be "creepy", he is arrested and given a $100,000 bail? Did I hear this correctly? When did "loitering where children gather" become a crime? Apparently, it's a felony, and a rather serious one that warrants a high bail. Did you know about this?]

Molestation case against music teacher dropped

San Francisco Chronicle

(03-24) 18:03 PDT LAFAYETTE -- Contra Costa County prosecutors dropped child-molestation charges Monday against a Lafayette music teacher who had been accused of assaulting three teenage boys, after a judge ruled that an investigator in the case had shown a "reckless disregard for the truth."

Prosecutors dropped the case against James Toland, 63, after Superior Court Judge John Sugiyama granted a defense motion to throw out evidence obtained under a warrant to search Toland's computers.

Sugiyama agreed with the defense that the Contra Costa sheriff's investigator had made misstatements and omissions in asking a judge to approve the search warrant.

The investigator reported that one of the alleged victims, a 15-year-old boy who took singing lessons from Toland, said the teacher had "grabbed his penis and buttocks and moved it around," said Ellen Leonida, an attorney for Toland.

But Toland had simply touched the boy's lower back and abdomen to adjust his posture, a standard technique in voice lessons, Leonida said. The boy was offended by Toland's actions, but the sheriff's investigator warped his statement with a false assertion that the teacher had touched the boy's genitals, the defense attorney said.

Prosecutors contend that the boy did report being molested, saying the incident was separate from being touched on the back or stomach.

Authorities said two other teenage boys had alleged that Toland molested them. Toland has taught choir and other music programs at Campolindo High School in Moraga, Acalanes High School in Lafayette and Miramonte High School in Orinda.

"We are, of course, gratified that the case has been dismissed, although the damage already done to Jim's reputation may be irreparable," Leonida said. "From the beginning, I have been confident of Jim Toland's innocence, and I sincerely hope that he can now put this painful chapter of his life behind him." [Ed: The public's respect for the veracity of law enforcement or, for that matter, the press is ill-deserved. This is one case where a judge had the integrity to reject police and D.A.'s attempts to railroad a defendant but there are many, many more defendants who have been wrongly accused and imprisoned for decades and for whom there was no justice.]

John Stossel: Politicians and Sex: Grandstanding Hyprocrisy

Are Politicians Really Protecting Us?
Opinion by JOHN STOSSEL

Mar. 20, 2008 —

When New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was caught using a prostitution service, the irony was that he was a tough-on-prostitution politician. He took pride in locking up the same kind of people he is said to have done $80,000 worth of business with. He supported "tougher laws" to imprison customers like him.

In his statement to the news media, Spitzer called the scandal a "private matter." Good point. Adults' paying for sex ought to be a private matter, but when Spitzer was attorney general, he didn't consider paid sex private. He's one of many politicians who were eager to punish others for doing what he did.

What's going on here? Maybe these men want to punish others for acting on the same forbidden impulses they know they can't control themselves?

Former Rep. Mark Foley of Florida was a big advocate of punishing any adult who had sex with minors. "They're sick people; they need mental health counseling," he shouted.

But then ABC News caught Foley sending sexual instant messages to minors.

Politicians should cut back on their grandstanding, says Arizona public defender Chris Phillis, because while it's bad enough to call what consenting adults do "sex crimes," it's even worse to criminalize kids who do what kids have always done.

Phillis, who defends teens accused of sex crimes, says common sexual experimentation is now prosecuted. "If a 15-year-old touches a 13-year-old, touches their breasts, they are now guilty of a felony crime. And I would love to tell you that 13-year-olds aren't engaging in this conduct. I have a 13-year-old. But telling you that isn't going to change the fact."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 25 percent of America's 15-year-olds say they've have had sex. Nearly 40 percent of 16-year-olds and almost half the 17-year-olds say they have. All are under Arizona's age of consent, which prompted Senate committee chairwoman Karen Johnson to try to change Arizona's sex-offender laws. She wanted to give kids a break.

But the political winds are not on her side. Few politicians want to spend political capital weakening sex-crime laws -- even when such laws have horrendous unintended consequences.

Arizona's Speaker of the House Jim Weiers defends Arizona's tough laws, saying that if you are a sex offender, "Arizona is becoming very quickly known as a state you don't want to stay in." But Weiers acknowledges that Arizona's sex-offender registry has 15,000 names on it.

I asked him how putting young people who engaged in noncoercive sex play on Arizona's registry protects the public. "I don't know if it does. ... You can't take each and every individual & "

But it is individuals whose lives are wrecked by these laws. When Garrett Daley was 14, his 9-year-old adopted sister, Devon, said he molested her. Their mom called the police.

It turned out Devon had lied. It was she who initiated sex with Garrett. She later told the police, but they didn't believe her. Today, seven years later, prosecutors still won't let her change her testimony.

To avoid a jail sentence, Garrett plea-bargained to "attempted molestation of a child." What choice do these kids have? "They're told they'll go to jail for 90 years or 50 years or something, unless they accept this plea, and the plea almost always requires lifetime sex-offender registry," Johnson says.

Garrett didn't realize his plea bargain would put him in a different kind of jail. Once you're on the sex offender registry or on probation, your life is wrecked, public defender Phillis told "20/20."

"They can't go anywhere children frequent. So that's McDonald's, that's Jack in the Box. ... They've actually been told if you go to a movie and another child walks in, even if it's a R-rated movie, then you're to get up and leave."

I told Weiers about the public defender's comments. "The public defenders say all laws go too far," Weirs replied.

Give me a break. State sex-offender registries could separate consensual teen sex from pedophiles who prey on 5-year-olds. Minnesota does that.

Too often, American criminal law is a blunt instrument designed to make it look as if politicians are protecting us. I think the politicians usually protect themselves, at our expense.

Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
[Ed: John Stossel is virtually alone amongst t.v. journalists willing to report honestly (and bravely) on the sex hysteria sweeping our country today]

DPS to post Texas sex offenders' job data

[Ed: Yes, you read that correctly. Now the sex offender registry website in Texas will include the place of employment of registered sex offenders. Imagine the implications...]

By TRACI SHURLEYStar-Telegram staff writerThis year, visitors to the Texas Department of Public Safety's Web site can find out where the state's registered sex offenders are working and can sign up for a notification system for their home ZIP code.The changes, which resulted from a $1.2 million software upgrade, will be welcomed by some North Texans.
In Mansfield, members of one neighborhood group that recently organized around concerns about where sex offenders live say they're glad to get any information they can. Sex offender employment information will help residents keep tabs on those they consider dangerous, said Steve Kyle, a Mansfield father of two who helped organize a recent meeting about a registered sex offender in his neighborhood.
"The guy comes and goes at very odd hours," Kyle said. "In our community, we'd at least be able to know if he's working, and if we knew where he was working, it might give you some indication of when he would be coming and going."
The changes
About 47,000 registered sex offenders live in Texas. Their names, birth dates, addresses, physical descriptions including shoe size and limited information about the conviction for which they are required to register is available on the DPS Web site, said Tela Mange, an agency spokeswoman.
The upgrade came about in part because of federal regulations related to the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, Mange said. That act requires states to comply with a number of disclosure rules by 2010 or risk losing some federal funds. The new features also reflect Attorney General Greg Abbott's opinions about what information should be available to the public.
Twice in February 2007, Abbott issued opinions that law enforcement agencies should release sex offenders' employment information.
Besides work information and e-mail notifications, the new system will also allow people to search for a full listing of sex offenders in their ZIP code. The software doesn't now allow generation of a ZIP code list of more than 100 names, Mange said.
Restrictions in place
Registered sex offenders can be restricted in where they live and work as long as they are on parole or probation.
But those restrictions don't continue after an offender successfully completes supervision.
As a result, many Tarrant County communities, including Arlington, Southlake, Watauga and Richland Hills, have adopted ordinances in the past few years to limit where sex offenders can live, typically more than 1,000 feet from schools or other places where children gather.
In Mansfield, the subject of sex offender residency restrictions has been discussed among city leaders for several months and played a large role in the resignation of the mayor this year. Now, in part because of concerns from Kyle's community, the issue is once again on the City Council's agenda.
Mansfield's Web site has its own listing of sex offenders with a link to the state database. Residents can also sign up for computerized RSS alerts that notify them of any new or changed registration in the city.
Kyle said he didn't know about the city's notification system until after a man convicted of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl moved into his Walnut Creek Valley neighborhood.
Now, he said, parents in the neighborhood are cautioning their children more than ever and keeping an eye on their new neighbor. Giving the public more information about offenders would make that easier, he said.
Caution offered
Shari Julian, who teaches in Texas Wesleyan University's criminal justice and sociology department, said she worries that the workplace information could result in "collateral damage" by creating dangerous situations for businesses that have chosen to give a registered sex offender a second chance.
Julian said she's not justifying sex offenders' crimes. But, she said, the state needs to do a better job of separating classes of offenders if authorities are going to continue making more information available about their lives and adding more restrictions.
"We have to figure out who got on there because somebody's dad was ticked off because their 16-year-old daughter was seeing a guy who just turned 20 and they ended up getting married and having kids," Julian said.
Sgt. Cheryl Johnson, who oversees the Fort Worth Police Department's sex crimes, registration, apprehension and monitoring unit, said the addition of work addresses to the registry will be helpful to the public. But she cautions that people need to remember that not every sexual predator can be found by looking on the registry Web site.
"I'm just as concerned about the sex offenders we don't know about as I am the ones that are registered with us," Johnson said.
This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.
PROPOSED MANSFIELD ORDINANCE
The Mansfield City Council is scheduled tonight to consider regulations that would apply to registered sex offenders who were convicted of crimes against children younger than 16. Offenders who have completed their probation or parole are not now limited in where they can live. The first of three required votes and the first of two public hearings are set for the 7 p.m. meeting at City Hall, 1200 E. Broad St.
The proposal would:
Prohibit offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, day care, playground, youth center, public swimming pool or video arcade.
Forbid renting a house or trailer to an offender not allowed to live within a 1,000-foot safety zone.
Require police to mail alerts to neighborhoods when an offender moves nearby. Police would also notify the school district.
Fine an offender up to $500 for each day of a violation.
In the know
Texas Department of Public Safety Web site: www.txdps.state.tx.us

Kansas Lawmakers clash over sex offender policy

Costly program keeps inmates for treatment

By Scott Rothschild

March 23, 2008

Program’s escalating price tag

The costs for the Sexual Predator Treatment Program:

Fiscal year 2003 — $2.4 million

Fiscal year 2004 — $4.5 million

Fiscal year 2005 — $7.8 million

Fiscal year 2006 — $9.5 million

Fiscal year 2007 — $11.5 million

Fiscal year 2008 (present) — $13.4 million

Source: Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services and Governor’s Budget Report.

Sexual predator treatment program

• Judge: State hospital retaliated against complaining patients (06-11-07)
• New trial ordered in sexual predator case (04-01-06)
• Sexual predator program may be shelved (02-06-06)
• Senate nears approval of bill imposing harsher penalties on sex offenders (01-27-06)

Topeka — Kansas’ controversial program that indefinitely holds sexual offenders past their prison sentence continues to produce friction among lawmakers.

Last week, a move to require an audit of the program was defeated by legislators who said the request was a threat to public safety and jobs.

“The program works,” said House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, D-Greensburg. “It protects the public, and it provides economic development for Larned.”

State Rep. Eber Phelps, D-Hays, said many of the employees of the Kansas Sexual Predator Treatment Program are from the Greensburg area and were set back from last year’s tornado that devastated the town.

“I don’t think we need to put them through this type of anguish and have them worry about whether they are going to have their job,” he said.

[Ed: Did these guys just say that? They admit to it? Incredible! Obviously, the economy of "Larned" and Greensburg and government jobs for the marginally employable is more important than the Constitutional rights of the men locked up in an ersatz treatment program!]

But some lawmakers believe the program, which is on the grounds of Larned State Hospital, has shortfalls.

Program history

The program provides treatment for convicted sex offenders who have completed their prison sentences and have been civilly committed under the law because they have been deemed a continuing threat to the community. The law was prompted by the 1993 rape and murder of a Pittsburg State University student by a sex offender who had been released from prison seven months earlier.

The law was challenged up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which on a 5-4 vote ruled that the program was constitutional.

But the costs of the program continue to increase while some legislators are doubtful that the treatment received by the offenders is doing much good.

In recent weeks, lawmakers have approved $1.3 million in supplemental funding for staffing and operations at both the program at Larned State Hospital and transitional housing for patients at Osawatomie.

The proposed budget for the sexual predator treatment program for the present fiscal year is $13.4 million to treat 171 patients. That is five times more than the program cost in 2003.

State Rep. Bob Bethell, R-Alden, who chairs a budget subcommittee that oversees the program, said since the program’s start in 1994, two have graduated through the various phases of treatment and been released.

That’s not very effective, he said.

“Let’s look at the program and see how we can actually affect the treatment of these folks,” he said.

Mark Brull, who has been committed to the sexual predator program since 1999, said the program is a waste of taxpayer’s money.

Brull said he would rather serve time in prison, which is about one-third the expense of the program.

He said the treatment program fails to advance patients toward re-entering the community, such as allowing patients to go to work under supervision. He said he is prohibited from talking about his current problems, but must constantly re-hash his past.

“All we do is sit here all day and talk about deviancy,” he said.

‘Backed-up system’

Tim Burch, another patient in the program, said the treatment has good things to offer but that there needs to be a better way to assess who should enter the program and who should graduate from it.

“You could put ankle bracelets on a lot of them and let them out so they could work, and everyone benefits,” he said, referring to devices sometimes used to keep track of suspects and offenders.

“You have such a backed-up system,” he said of the program. “The people who could benefit from the program can’t get into it, and the people who shouldn’t be in the program can’t get out.”

But Don Jordan, secretary of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, defends the program.

SRS, Jordan said, “has implemented a rigorous treatment and evaluation system to assure each person committed in this program remain in treatment until a court determines he is able to safely return home without posing a risk to his family, neighbors or community at large.”

Kan. lawmakers reject audit of sex offender treatment program

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) - Some legislators say the state program that indefinitely holds sexual offenders doesn't seem to be effective, while others say the treatment is working.

Lawmakers last week rejected an effort to require an audit of the program at Larned State Hospital.

Opponents said the move would threaten public safety and the jobs of the program's employees.

But Representative Bob Bethell, a Republican from Alden, says that since the program started in 1994 only two people have finish the various phases of treatment and been released. [Ed: Oh, but don't you see, Bob? That's the SUCCESS part! These laws were enacted as a "work-around" to the Constitution, enabling government to imprison these guys (and they are almost always "guys") for the rest of their lives or, at least, until they are so old and infirm that they become too expensive for the State to keep. The whole IDEA is to EMPHASIZE TREATMENT as a way of justifying "civil" incarceration while laughing at those so gullible as to believe that treatment is their real aim!]

Under Kansas law, sex offenders who have finished their prison sentences can be kept in the program at Larned State Hospital if they are determined to be a continuing threat to the community.

But costs of the program have increased. The proposed budget for the sexual predator treatment program for this year is $13.4 million to treat 171 patients.

Proposed law would bar high-risk sex offenders from voting places

By John P. Kelly, GateHouse News Service
BOSTON —

Their photographs hang in police stations and on Internet sites. Towns restrict where they live. Soon, the state’s most dangerous sex offenders might find rejection elsewhere — at the polls on election day.

A proposed law that would block high-risk sex offenders from voting at polling sites in schools and libraries overcame its first hurdle on Wednesday with an endorsement from lawmakers on the Joint Committee on Election Laws.

But objections are already being raised over the constitutionality of the measure, which would force many of the most dangerous sex offenders to vote by absentee ballot or not at all. The American Civil Liberties Union, the only group to speak out against the bill, argued that it is at odds with the state constitution, which reserves absentee ballots for the physically disabled or out-of-town voters.

The proposal was not prompted by any instance where a sex offender attacked a child at a polling place. But it has taken on new urgency since the alleged rape of a 6-year-old boy in New Bedford’s public library on Jan. 30 by Level 3 sex offender Corey Saunders.

Rep. Demetrius J. Atsalis, a Barnstable Democrat who sponsored the bill, said he was trying to be “proactive instead of reactive.”

He said his goal is to protect against a rapist wandering undetected down a school hallway or into a library bathroom.

Atsalis, the father of three children, pointed out sex offenders are routinely barred from school zones, “yet on election day we allow this.”

“We all know it takes only a matter of seconds for something to happen,” said Atsalis, who sits on the election law committee.

The Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board, which classifies and tracks sex offenders, considers the bill a “reasonable restriction” given its aim of improving public safety, spokesman Charles McDonald said.

If passed by the Legislature and signed into law, it would affect only Level 3 sex offenders, the most dangerous classification, reserved for those considered likely to reoffend.

There are 1,544 in the state, but it is unclear how many are registered voters whose precincts are at schools or libraries.

In the region, the number of Level 3 sex offenders varies widely from community to community — from 21 in Quincy and 12 in Randolph to none in Scituate and Hingham.

Atsalis’ proposal initially included Level 2 sex offenders. But constitutional privacy concerns led him to confine it only to the most dangerous offenders, who are subject to stricter reporting rules.

The ACLU claims the bill still violates the state constitution.

Gavi Wolfe, a legislative specialist for the group, testified at Wednesday’s hearing that lawmakers would be overstepping their authority by forcing sex offenders to vote absentee. The Massachusetts constitution specifies only three cases where someone may vote absentee: disabled voters; people who are out of town on Election Day; and voters whose religious belief keep them from the polls.

“We’re talking about the right to vote, which is the most sacred act of our democratic process,” Wolfe said. “We should not be in the business of carving that up.”

Illinois enacted a similar restriction last year, though it was targeted only at people convicted of sex crimes against a child. The law, which addressed only polling places at schools, requires cities and towns to establish early voting locations for sex offenders who prefer not to vote absentee. Opponents there questioned why paroled murderers and other violent criminals were not being targeted, if the purpose was heightened public safety.

Avi Green, executive director of the voting rights organization MassVote, gave lukewarm support to Atsalis’ proposal, calling it a “laudable concept.” He pointed out other states have outright voting bans on felons.

“But you could also argue, maybe we should bar them from shopping centers, parks, concerts,” Green said.

Scituate residents vote later this month on a town bylaw that would set up 2,000-foot buffers around schools, day care centers, parks, elderly housing and places of worship. Sex offenders who live within the zones would be given 30 days to move. A similar plan is under consideration in Weymouth.
[Ed: Is it possible that sex offender-voters have now grown so numerous as to pose a challenge to the reelection of those who have persecuted them? Perhaps not quite yet, but barring them from voting booths and thus depriving them of their most basic rights as citizens shows a clear contempt not just for sex offenders but for participatory democracy.]

Montgomery Co. inmate strangled at prison

CARLISLE, Ind. — A man convicted of sexual misconduct with a minor died after being attacked in his cell at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility.

Robert Crane, 27, who appeared to have been strangled, died while being treated at a hospital about 1:30 p.m. today, two hours after the attack, prison spokesman Rich Larsen said.

Indiana State Police and prison investigators named Crane’s cellmate, Michael Gibson, 33, as a suspect in the attack, Larsen said.

Gibson is serving a 119-year sentence for two attempted murders, battery, burglary and possessing a weapon, with an earliest possible release date of 2063, Larsen said. His crimes occurred in Morgan and Madison Counties.

The two prisoners were being held in protective custody, Larsen said.

After the attack, guards immediately tried to resuscitate Crane, Larsen said. He was rushed to Sullivan County Community Hospital.

Crane, who also had been convicted of attempted escape, was serving a 14-year term.

The Wabash Valley Correctional Facility houses more than 2,100 prisons in maximum and minimum security. It’s about 35 miles south of Terre Haute.

[Ed: The common wisdom regarding sex offenders killed or tortured by other prisoners goes something like this: "Even criminals have nothing but contempt for sex offenders, having been, in all likelihood, the victims of childhood sexual abuse themselves. It is understandable then that they should vent their rage, born of a childhood full of sexual abuse, upon those molesters close at hand within jail or prison". This argument suffers from several dubious claims, the first of which is that sexual contact in childhood with an adult is a leading cause of later criminality. There is little factual basis for this assertion and, to the extent that it exists, is vastly overstated in the facile pop psychology that has become the received wisdom of our times, stated endlessly as gospel on Oprah and infiltrating our very public policy.

The other assumption is that, despite being criminals themselves, there dwells in these jail house enforcers of morality an essential thread of decency that demands they act in the name of justice to murder molesters in a way in which no one else can, securing for themselves a measure of redemption that will allow them to climb several rungs up the ladder of social respectability. How unfortunate it is that the public is more than willing to accord them this redemptive respect, without questioning the dark and disturbing motivations which truly drive their vicious acts. It seems to occur to few that, by murdering someone lower on the social totem pole than themselves, these criminals are able to give full expression to their sadism and depravity while gaining both self-respect and the tacit approval of society. History provides countless examples of acts of cruelty disguised as acts of righteousness. By ignoring these lessons we become, ourselves, cruel.

Sex Offenders Collect Financial Aid

[Ed: Guess what? You can't have it both ways! You cannot say that, on one hand, sex offenders are being held past their prison release dates for non-punitive purposes and, on the other, that they are not entitled to the rights and privileges of any other U.S. citizen such as financial aid for college. That the Congressman is appalled by U.S. citizens receiving Pell grants says much about the legal fiction by which Civil Detainees are incarcerated. Everyone knows, as does the Congressman, that these men ARE being punished regardless of any legislative or judicial conceits to the contrary. So I say, go ahead; take away their Pell grants! That will be one more bit of damning evidence which can be employed to challenge civil confinement laws in future court battles.]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — James Sturtz is not your ordinary college student struggling to pay tuition.
The 48-year-old rapist is one of Iowa's most dangerous sex offenders, locked up in a state-run treatment center for fear he will attack again if released. Yet he has received thousands of dollars in federal aid to take college courses through the mail.
Across the nation, dozens of sexual predators have been taking higher education classes at taxpayer expense while confined by the courts to treatment centers. Critics say they are exploiting a loophole to receive Pell Grants, the nation's premier financial aid program for low-income students.
Prison inmates are ineligible for Pell Grants under a 1994 law. Students convicted of certain drug offenses are also ineligible. But sexual predators qualify once they are transferred from prison to treatment centers.
"This is the most insane waste of taxpayer money that I have seen in my eight years in Congress," said Rep. Ric Keller, R-Fla., who is pushing to stop the practice. "It is a national embarrassment that we are wasting taxpayer dollars for pedophiles and rapists to take college courses while hardworking young people from lower-class families are flipping hamburgers to pay for college."
Moreover, some institutions report that sex offenders are putting the financial aid to questionable uses by buying such things as clothes, a DVD player and music CDs — sometimes, after they have dropped out of school. Pell Grants can legally be put toward expenses that are education-related. But the unused portion of a grant is supposed to be repaid when someone withdraws from school.
Keller's plan would affect 20 states that allow authorities to hold violent sex offenders indefinitely after they have served their prison sentences. He predicted the measure would save taxpayers millions.
Some say taking away the financial aid for correpondence courses would be a mistake. They say education could help sex offenders build stable lives and reduce their chances of committing another crime if they are ever released.
The U.S. Education Department does not track how many sexual predators confined to treatment centers have received aid, in part because the offenders do not have to disclose their living arrangements on the application forms. But within the past five years, at least several dozen have received Pell Grants. And the department is only following the law.
"They are eligible," Education Department spokeswoman Stephanie Babyak said. She said the department generally does not track how recipients pay their expenses, "but if there is an issue with people getting overawards, we would look into that. We'll be happy to check it out."
The institutions and the government do not keep count of how much money sexual predators receive. The maximum Pell Grant is $4,310 per year. The government generally sends payments to colleges for tuition, and any leftover is sent to the student to cover expenses.
At the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Mauston, Wis., six patients are getting Pell Grants, and others did so in the past. Some patients used their grants for living expenses that were already being covered by the state's taxpayers, according to administrators.
"I think that the current practice — which results in large checks being sent to the patients for living expenses — is pretty much indefensible," director Steve Watters wrote in an e-mail to an aide last year.
In Iowa, 14 offenders in the Cherokee Mental Health Institute have received Pell Grants in recent years, said administrator Jason Smith. He said nine of them dropped courses after receiving money.
Some patients used their money to buy a DVD player, a television, a radio, music CDs and movies, Smith said. Because of vague guidelines, staff members could not determine whether those were inappropriate expenditures, he said.
In California, a number of predators living at the Coalinga State Hospital receive Pell Grants, said Department of Mental Health spokeswoman Nancy Kincaid. But she said the hospital has no way of tracking who gets them or how much money they receive.
Representatives of other states, including Kansas and Minnesota, said they could not recall sex offenders signing up for Pell Grants. Other states said they had no idea whether that was the case.
"They don't really tell us what they are doing. They have a lot of liberties they want to exercise without our oversight," said Dr. Henry Richards, superintendent of the Special Commitment Center in Washington state, where some patients take correspondence courses.
Keller introduced his bill to ban the practice after a newspaper reported in 2003 that 54 offenders at one Florida center got $200,000 in Pell Grants in one year.
Some Democratic members of Congress and others say it would be counterproductive to put up a barrier to education for sex offenders who are trying to rehabilitate themselves.
"These are people who we want to prepare to go into the communities. They need to have access to educational programs," Richards said. "I think the numbers of committed persons aren't so large they would significantly preclude other citizens from taking advantage of educational support. To preclude them seems mean-spirited to me."
Sturtz illustrates both sides.
The Iowa man was convicted in 1980 of sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl. He earned his high school equivalency diploma behind bars and trained to be a janitor. He was convicted again in 1989 of attempted rape after pulling a knife on a woman.
After another stint behind bars, he struck again in 1994. This time, he met a Coe College student waiting for a bus, persuaded her to get in his car and raped her at knifepoint. He was sent back to prison and then ordered to Cherokee after his sentence ended in 2006.
Sturtz said he signed up to take business courses through Kirkwood Community College and received B's in business communication courses. But he has put his schooling on hold.
He said he dropped algebra and two other courses that were too hard. And he said he was unable to complete one class because he was not able to watch the required movies. Like other sexual predators, he is not allowed access to the Internet, and that has complicated his schooling.
He said he used his $100 in leftover grant money to buy jeans and underwear and saved the rest in case he tries to take more courses.
So far, none of the 72 predators in the Iowa center has been released since it opened in 1999. Sturtz admitted he is not ready for freedom anytime soon.
"It wasn't about the money for me, man. It was about the education," he said. "God knows I'm going to need all the help to get a job."

Sex Offenders Collect Financial Aid

By RYAN J. FOLEY – 10 hours ago
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — James Sturtz is not your ordinary college student struggling to pay tuition.
The 48-year-old rapist is one of Iowa's most dangerous sex offenders, locked up in a state-run treatment center for fear he will attack again if released. Yet he has received thousands of dollars in federal aid to take college courses through the mail.
Across the nation, dozens of sexual predators have been taking higher education classes at taxpayer expense while confined by the courts to treatment centers. Critics say they are exploiting a loophole to receive Pell Grants, the nation's premier financial aid program for low-income students.
Prison inmates are ineligible for Pell Grants under a 1994 law. Students convicted of certain drug offenses are also ineligible. But sexual predators qualify once they are transferred from prison to treatment centers.
"This is the most insane waste of taxpayer money that I have seen in my eight years in Congress," said Rep. Ric Keller, R-Fla., who is pushing to stop the practice. "It is a national embarrassment that we are wasting taxpayer dollars for pedophiles and rapists to take college courses while hardworking young people from lower-class families are flipping hamburgers to pay for college."
Moreover, some institutions report that sex offenders are putting the financial aid to questionable uses by buying such things as clothes, a DVD player and music CDs — sometimes, after they have dropped out of school. Pell Grants can legally be put toward expenses that are education-related. But the unused portion of a grant is supposed to be repaid when someone withdraws from school.
Keller's plan would affect 20 states that allow authorities to hold violent sex offenders indefinitely after they have served their prison sentences. He predicted the measure would save taxpayers millions.
Some say taking away the financial aid for correpondence courses would be a mistake. They say education could help sex offenders build stable lives and reduce their chances of committing another crime if they are ever released.
The U.S. Education Department does not track how many sexual predators confined to treatment centers have received aid, in part because the offenders do not have to disclose their living arrangements on the application forms. But within the past five years, at least several dozen have received Pell Grants. And the department is only following the law.
"They are eligible," Education Department spokeswoman Stephanie Babyak said. She said the department generally does not track how recipients pay their expenses, "but if there is an issue with people getting overawards, we would look into that. We'll be happy to check it out."
The institutions and the government do not keep count of how much money sexual predators receive. The maximum Pell Grant is $4,310 per year. The government generally sends payments to colleges for tuition, and any leftover is sent to the student to cover expenses.
At the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Mauston, Wis., six patients are getting Pell Grants, and others did so in the past. Some patients used their grants for living expenses that were already being covered by the state's taxpayers, according to administrators.
"I think that the current practice — which results in large checks being sent to the patients for living expenses — is pretty much indefensible," director Steve Watters wrote in an e-mail to an aide last year.
In Iowa, 14 offenders in the Cherokee Mental Health Institute have received Pell Grants in recent years, said administrator Jason Smith. He said nine of them dropped courses after receiving money.
Some patients used their money to buy a DVD player, a television, a radio, music CDs and movies, Smith said. Because of vague guidelines, staff members could not determine whether those were inappropriate expenditures, he said.
In California, a number of predators living at the Coalinga State Hospital receive Pell Grants, said Department of Mental Health spokeswoman Nancy Kincaid. But she said the hospital has no way of tracking who gets them or how much money they receive.
Representatives of other states, including Kansas and Minnesota, said they could not recall sex offenders signing up for Pell Grants. Other states said they had no idea whether that was the case.
"They don't really tell us what they are doing. They have a lot of liberties they want to exercise without our oversight," said Dr. Henry Richards, superintendent of the Special Commitment Center in Washington state, where some patients take correspondence courses.
Keller introduced his bill to ban the practice after a newspaper reported in 2003 that 54 offenders at one Florida center got $200,000 in Pell Grants in one year.
Some Democratic members of Congress and others say it would be counterproductive to put up a barrier to education for sex offenders who are trying to rehabilitate themselves.
"These are people who we want to prepare to go into the communities. They need to have access to educational programs," Richards said. "I think the numbers of committed persons aren't so large they would significantly preclude other citizens from taking advantage of educational support. To preclude them seems mean-spirited to me."
Sturtz illustrates both sides.
The Iowa man was convicted in 1980 of sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl. He earned his high school equivalency diploma behind bars and trained to be a janitor. He was convicted again in 1989 of attempted rape after pulling a knife on a woman.
After another stint behind bars, he struck again in 1994. This time, he met a Coe College student waiting for a bus, persuaded her to get in his car and raped her at knifepoint. He was sent back to prison and then ordered to Cherokee after his sentence ended in 2006.
Sturtz said he signed up to take business courses through Kirkwood Community College and received B's in business communication courses. But he has put his schooling on hold.
He said he dropped algebra and two other courses that were too hard. And he said he was unable to complete one class because he was not able to watch the required movies. Like other sexual predators, he is not allowed access to the Internet, and that has complicated his schooling.
He said he used his $100 in leftover grant money to buy jeans and underwear and saved the rest in case he tries to take more courses.
So far, none of the 72 predators in the Iowa center has been released since it opened in 1999. Sturtz admitted he is not ready for freedom anytime soon.
"It wasn't about the money for me, man. It was about the education," he said. "God knows I'm going to need all the help to get a job."

Smuggling probed, visits canceled at Coalinga hospital

Smuggling probed, visits canceled at Coalinga hospital
The Associated Press
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COALINGA, Calif.—State officials say they are banning relatives from visiting a state hospital that treats sex offenders while police investigate reports of smuggling.
A spokeswoman for Coalinga State Hospital says visitation was canceled from Friday through Monday so hospital police could look into claims that visitors were smuggling drugs, electronics and possible weapons into the facility.
The state Department of Mental Health houses sexually violent predators in Coalinga after they finish their prison sentences under a procedure called civil detainment, in which criminals can be held indefinitely after completing their sentences if they're still considered a threat.
A group of relatives protesting outside the hospital Sunday said they feared visitation was denied to punish detainees.

Assembly outlaws tampering with sex offender signals

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The state Assembly has passed a bill that would outlaw tampering with the signal from a sex offender's Global Positioning System unit.

The state Department of Corrections uses GPS to track the movement of serious sex offenders after they're freed. Meddling with an offender's tracking device already is illegal.

The bill would make tampering with the devices' signals a felony punishable by up to three years and 6 months in prison and $10,000 in fines.

The bill goes to the state Senate.

[Ed: In reality, I imagine that tampering with the device is not necessary at all. I believe that, to temporarily "disengage" the GPS unit from the constellation of satellites upon which they rely, one would only need to wrap aluminum foil around the device. A couple of layers ought to work fine. Of course, this bit of speculation is provided for informational purposes only; we strongly recommend against attempting to thwart any intentions of our benevolent government(s) and to cooperate with them in all ways possible in their efforts to thoroughly regulate every aspect of your life. ]

Study eyes juvie sex offenders

BY SARA REED
SaraReed@coloradoan.com

A Colorado State University study scheduled to begin this summer could lead to better treatment of juvenile sex offenders.

The study will compile published research on whether current treatment programs for juvenile sex offenders decrease the likelihood of re-offense, said Marc Winokur, director of the Social Work Research Center at CSU, which is conducting the study.

“We’re looking at the dichotomy between juveniles who do something inappropriate due to immaturity vs. those who offend because they’re sexually deviant,” Winokur said.

Under current Colorado law, all people convicted of sex offenses are managed by the Colorado Sex Offender Management Board, which is required by law to follow a rigid set of protocols.

Cognitive behavioral therapy, which can include education on proper sexual boundaries and other topics, is the standard treatment for juvenile sex offenders. The study will look the effectiveness of different lengths and settings — individual vs. group and community-based settings vs. residential treatment facility-based settings — Winokur said.

To put all offenders — adult and juvenile — in one box is a “terrible error” and this study could lead to more flexibility in treatment guidelines, said Mervyn Davies, a therapist who treats and evaluates juvenile and adult sex offenders.

“Kids commit sex crimes for a lot of different reasons,” Davies said. “Kids often do things that adults want to analyze from an adult perspective … They should not be compared to adults. It’s grossly unfair and unjust.”

Better treatment could lead to lower recidivism rates. Recidivism rates for adult sex offenders are difficult to track and can be even harder to track for juvenile offenders, said Kim English, research director for the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice, which houses the Sex Offender Management Board.

Sex offenses are still under-reported crimes, English said, partly because the victim is less likely to report if they know the perpetrator. Juvenile offenders are even more likely to know their victims than adult offenders, English said.

“It’s really rare (for a juvenile) to have a stranger as a victim,” she said.
Current research is “quite clear” that juvenile sex offenders are very unlikely to re-offend, something Davies said is “very promising.”

The Larimer County District Attorney’s Office launched a new program about a year ago, that allows juvenile sex offenders to stay out of the system and avoid being labeled a sex offender.

“If they go to court, they’re treated as a sex offender,” said Michelle Brinegar, a chief deputy district attorney and head of the juvenile division. “What we’ve found is that many times with these kids they need intervention.”

The program, which has been completed by six juveniles and currently houses 12 more, requires treatment, but that treatment can be better tailored to the individual, Brinegar said. No participants have failed in the program, she said.

There are approximately 30 juvenile sex offenders under supervision of the Larimer County probation department.

Lumping juveniles who have committed less serious offenses with those who have committed very serious offenses can be harmful because the lower-level offenders can learn from the serious offenders, Brinegar said.

Brinegar said it’s “about time” that someone did a study like Winokur is doing and said it will help her better evaluate what is going to be the best way to handle a case.

Linda Miller, a Fort Collins defense attorney who has had three or four clients go through the DA’s new program , said the program is excellent and she applauded the effort.

“There are a lot of kids who might do something stupid once,” she said. “Those are all kids who, if labeled as a sex offender, will be there for the rest of their lives.”
Miller also said she will be interested to see the outcome of the CSU study.
The study is an update of one done a few years ago when there was little research on the topic.

But the volume of research has grown over the past few years as the topic has drawn more attention, Winokur said. The study is not looking at data specific to Colorado, although Winokur said that is something the center hopes to do in the future.

The study is funded by 12 Colorado counties and the Colorado Department of Human Services.
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080309/UPDATES01/80309007/1002/NEWS01

Va. Targets Adults Who French Kiss Kids

By DENA POTTER – 18 hours ago

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — State legislators passed a law Saturday that would require adults who French kiss a child younger than 13 to register as a sex offender.

Those convicted of tongue-kissing a child would be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. The House of Delegates passed the legislation 96-1 and the Senate 39-0.

The bill now heads to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, who said he supports the legislation.

Delagate Riley Ingram, R-Hopewell, introduced the bill on behalf of a woman whose 10-year-old daughter was French-kissed by the 62-year-old husband of her babysitter.

The only crime prosecutors could charge the man with was contributing to the delinquency of a minor, which did not require that he register as a sex offender.

Ingram and other members of the House fought to make the crime a felony, but in the final day of the 2008 General Assembly session gave in to senators who thought that classifying it as a felony was too harsh.

Delegate Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News, cast the lone nay vote, refusing to back down from his belief that the crime should be a felony.

"I think that type of behavior is so egregious it warrants a felony," Hamilton said.

Ingram said he was satisfied that a conviction would land someone on the sex offender registry.

"we want to ensure there is no neighborhood in this county or state where sexual predators are allowed to roam ..."

[Ed: As if to prove my point made in a story earlier today (see "Residents seek action against sex offender "cluster"") "Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, Supervisor in Altadena County has said: "we want to ensure there is no neighborhood in this county or state where sexual predators are allowed to roam and create a danger and threat to young people.""]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

County seeks to strengthen Jessica's Law
By Troy Anderson, Staff Writer, Daily News of Los Angeles

The county Board of Supervisors Tuesday called for tougher local restrictions on where the state can place released sex offenders.

The supervisors directed the County Counsel's Office to review Jessica's Law, or Proposition 83, to determine options local government have to restrict the housing of sex offenders in neighborhoods.

"Right now, the state has the authority to place them basically anywhere and, as a result of a great outcry in the Altadena community ... we were able to mobilize the community, and the state has now removed the sexual predators from that neighborhood," Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said.

"But we want to ensure there is no neighborhood in this county or state where sexual predators are allowed to roam and create a danger and threat to young people."

The vote follows a community effort late last month that led state officials to remove six sex offenders placed in an Altadena neighborhood.

Earlier in the month, a judge denied a request by a twice-convicted child molester from Santa Barbara to move to the county, possibly the Antelope Valley.

Those actions followed revelations late last year that about 660 convicted sex offenders were wandering free in California, not wearing the monitoring devices that Jessica's Law requires.

State corrections officials say they removed the satellite tracking devices from the sex offenders who had completed their parole, regardless of the lifetime
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monitoring requirement.

They argued that the law was too vague and wasn't clear on which authorities - state or local - would be responsible for monitoring them.

"The issue of finding sex offenders housing is one that is complex," California Department of Corrections spokesman Seth Unger said. "And at the state level, the Sex Offender Management Board is actively looking at this issue and making recommendations."

Jessica's Law, co-authored by Lancaster Republican husband-and-wife state legislators Sen. George Runner and Assemblywoman Sharon Runner and passed by voters in 2006, cracks down on sex offenders and sets distances they must live away from schools and parks.

The law includes a provision that authorizes local governments to include additional restricted sites they deem appropriate.

Last month, the city of Long Beach directed its city attorney to draft an ordinance restricting residency requirements of sex offenders in relation to licensed child-care facilities.

The city is also researching the possibility of limiting the number of sex offenders living in the same apartment complex.

The County Counsel's Office is expected to draft a legal analysis for the supervisors, exploring specific restrictions on where sex offenders can live, how they are monitored and an overview of group homes and licensing requirements.

The office will then make recommendations that may include a proposed ordinance similar to the one in Long Beach, along with other steps the county can take.

Residents seek action against sex offender "cluster"

Long Beach officials and the state parole board are weighing neighbors' concerns against the rights of the dozen parolees.
By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times

How many high-risk registered sex offenders should be allowed to live in the same apartment building?

At 1149 E. 1st St. in Long Beach, where at the same time as many as 19 rapists and child molesters on parole have resided in an apartment building near two licensed day-care centers, the question, and its elusive answer, have become an emotionally charged issue.

A female neighbor carries a baseball bat at night for protection. Many families have added extra deadbolts to their doors. At least one couple has moved out of the downtown neighborhood of palm-shaded apartments and condominiums less than two blocks from the beach. Children no longer play outside without parental supervision.

"My girlfriend is freaked out, so we're looking to move," said Dana Reichers, 30, whose apartment building is only a few blocks from the 12-unit complex that locals have labeled "the predator house."

Joe Quiniro, 49, said his wife wants to move out of the condominium they bought 3 1/2 years ago for $200,000.

"I don't want to go; I love this place," he said. "But we don't want to live like prisoners in our own home."

With angry residents demanding action, the Long Beach city attorney's office and the parole board of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation are weighing the rights of the parolees against residents' concerns. Meanwhile, the Long Beach City Council has unanimously agreed to draft an ordinance that would ban high-risk registered sex offenders from being allowed to live within 2,000 feet of a day-care center.

On Tuesday the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, at the urging of Supervisor Mike Antonovich, directed the county counsel to determine if state law allows local governments to restrict the housing of sex offenders in neighborhoods. Under state law, a convicted sex offender released on parole since 2006 may not live within 2,000 feet of parks or primary or secondary schools.

"The parole department needs to be more thoughtful of the community and the parolees in their care," said Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal, whose 2nd District includes the apartment building. "Instead, they placed these men in what has become a circus cage. For us, the parole department is public enemy No. 1."

"How arrogant can authorities be to walk into a neighborhood and do this without once uttering a word?" she added. "They need to know I hold them and a greedy landlord responsible."

State parole board spokesman Gordon Hinkle said Lowenthal's criticism was "not fair." He added authorities were doing "the best they can."

"Is it really safer to have these homeless guys spread out one or two to a block, or have 10 or 12 in one place where we can keep an eye on them?" he asked.

State law bars more than six registered sex offenders on parole from living together in a residential care facility, unless they are legally related by blood, marriage or adoption. Only one sex offender is allowed to live in a single-family dwelling. The law, however, does not address the number of sex offenders allowed to live in an apartment building, authorities said.

The building's owner, Mile Milivojevic, who runs a business called Light Green Money, receives about $1,500 a month from the state corrections department for each registered sex offender housed in the complex -- roughly $500 more than going rental rates on the block.

Milivojevic declined to comment on the issue, except to say, "I don't feel good about everything that's happening. I don't like what's going on."

But neighbor Jerry Ryan, 51, who shares an apartment with a teenage son and daughter, angrily recalled a recent telephone conversation he had with Milivojevic.

"I said to him, 'Are you crazy? You're scaring people around here,' " Ryan said. "He just laughed and said, 'I have to educate people in the neighborhood about discrimination.' "

The problem surfaced in January when ownership of the building changed hands and tenants began noticing increasing numbers of what they described as scruffy-looking men on the premises. The new owner told renters, including families with children, that the men were "maintenance workers," according to Deputy City Atty. Crystal Meyers.

By the end of the month the building's previous tenants had been replaced by 19 registered sex offenders, some living three and four to a unit.

Last week, the number had dropped to 12, according to postings on the Megan's Law website, which provides detailed information on registered sex offenders.

One of the current tenants would only say before closing a door, "We've been instructed not to talk to the press."

Neighbors cited encounters they call worrisome. One of the sex offenders recently offered to help a 16-year-old boy empty a trash can into a Dumpster in a back alley. Women have complained that some of the men have tried to strike up conversations with them. Others don't like that the parolees often hang out in the alley.

As a precaution, Marge Landress, who owns an adjacent apartment building, last Wednesday put up four "No Trespassing" signs on a wall facing the building in question.

"Something has to be done. They should never have put so many sex offenders in one building," Landress said. She'd like to sell but asked, "Who'd buy it?"

A similar controversy erupted recently in the Meadows community of unincorporated Altadena, where neighbors discovered six registered sex offenders on parole living in a residential care facility.

On Thursday, Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) announced that parole authorities, yielding to pressure to do so, planned to relocate those offenders next week. That could not happen soon enough for Meadows residents.

"I hate it. I want them out. I'm afraid to go out and get the mail. They've ruined our neighborhood," said Jane Szabo, 41. "As soon as we found out about this, seven of us printed brochures and color photographs of the gentlemen and then went door to door in the rain to alert neighbors."

In another case, parole agents placed as many as 47 sex offenders on parole in the same apartment building in the 1900 block of North Marianna Avenue in East Los Angeles, less than 2,000 feet from a high school on the Cal State Los Angeles campus, corrections authorities acknowledged Tuesday.

"As soon as we became aware that there was a high school nearby, district administrators were instructed to relocate the parolees," Hinkle said. "The issue at Cal State L.A. was discovered on Jan. 10 and all were relocated by Jan. 14."

In Long Beach, the controversy has been something of a spectacle. Recently, the "John and Ken Show" radio program was broadcast from the street in front of the building, which has been a magnet for the curious.

"In a few months, things will be back to the way they were," said John Sparling, 45, a flight attendant who lives just a few doors down from the building.
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[Ed: Let's see: the "public" doesn't want sex offenders to live:
-near schools and parks
-near other homes
-near a day care
-near a school bus stop
-with other sex offenders
-alone, in a car parked down the street
-etc.

Oh! I get it! the "public" just doesn't want sex offenders to LIVE! And, the scary part is, the "public" really believes that they have every right to stop the sex offenders from LIVING!

[a reader comments: My favorite part of the article:

"Neighbors cited encounters they call worrisome. One of the sex offenders recently offered to help a 16-year-old boy empty a trash can into a Dumpster in a back alley. Women have complained that some of the men have tried to strike up conversations with them."

Help take out the trash? Try to start conversations? What monsters! How dare they pretend to be human.

Sigh.]

Bill Aims To Seize Sex Offenders' Property

Kentucky Post

The proposed sex offender law would work much like those already on the books for taking the property of convicted drug dealers. [Ed: And look at what a civil liberties success that's been! Every nasty, possible combination of miserable laws will be trumpeted, in turn, as brilliantly innovative in order to advance the careers of these embarrassingly transparent legislators. Ultimately though, the blame rests substantially upon a dumb, and increasingly dumber, public and a judiciary that shirks its Constitutional responsibilites]

Two state representatives from Northern Kentucky want the property of sex offenders confiscated so that those who use the Internet to lure their victims lose their computers for starters.

The bill, filed last month by Reps. Arnold Simpson, D-Covington, and Thomas Kerr, R-Taylor Mill, would “require the forfeiture of all real and personal property used in or acquired as a result of certain sexual offenses against minors.”

If passed, the measure would allow for the seizure of property used by convicted sex offenders, including their cars, money, computers, money, homes — any personal belongings they may have used during the sex crime against a minor.

House Bill 210 would complement House Bill 367, which was passed last week and is aimed at protecting children from cyberstalking.

Too often, Simpson said, the tendency in Frankfort is to enhance criminal penalties in ways that result in longer sentences. The problem with longer sentences, he said, is that they increase correctional expenses for the state and counties.

“I feel the bill would be still another tool to attempt to combat crimes against our children and would have little or no budget impact,” said Simpson.

The proposed sex offender law would work much like those already on the books for taking the property of convicted drug dealers.

“If they use an asset in a crime they run the risk of forfeiting their property,” Kerr said.

Under the bill, officials would also be able to take the sex offender’s home, or other property, if that is where the sex crime took place.

“HB 210 may be unconstitutional in that the state cannot deprive a person of property without affording a prompt opportunity to reclaim it if it is unlawfully seized,” said Daniel T. Goyette, chief public defender for Louisville Metro Public Defender's Office. “The Constitution requires a remedy for all injuries done to property ‘without sale, denial or delay.’”

Goyette gave the example of a car taken away from the someone arrested because the car is where the alleged abuse took place. Under the proposed law, an officer could seize an alleged sex offender's car, leaving him without the vehicle even the allegation is withdrawn by the complainant an hour later. The problem is compounded, he said, if the seized car was used by the accused to get to and from work each day.

Under the bill, property would be seized by law enforcement, held and then sold. The funds would go to police and prosecutors, minus any liens on the property, such as car loans.

“This will help prosecutors by giving them additional funds to prosecute the offenders,” said Kerr.

Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders, who, according to Simpson, requested the bill, said that under the bill 15 percent of the money that comes from sex offenders’ confiscated property would be earmarked for prosecutors, who could use the funds for expert witnesses, forensic investigations and the like.

Law enforcement agencies investigating such crimes would collect about 85 percent of the money brought in from sex offenders’ seized assets.

“It’s a great benefit to law enforcement and to the protection of children,” said Sanders.

Goyette said the bill invites problems.

“What people do not seem to understand about this is that if the government can seize a sex offender's property with impunity, there is nothing to prevent seizure of other property,” said Goyette.

“The government does not start exercising such power by seizing the property of citizens who have influence and positions of prominence in the community—they start with people everyone despises anyway.”

Once the principle is established, he said, the “only protection is having enough political strength to avoid it happening to your particular group or constituency.”

“It appears to be similar to other forfeiture statutes, and everything forfeitable under this new proposed statute is probably already forfeitable under KRS 500.090, the general criminal forfeiture statute. I question whether this bill is even necessary, except to create a fund for prosecutors without imposing a tax for it,” Goyette said.

UPDATE: MO County Bans Sex Offenders from Parks

By KSPR News

Story Updated: Feb 26, 2008
We have an update to one of our past Daily Download topics. Earlier this month we told you how St. Louis suburb Florissant banned convicted sex offenders from parks and recreation centers. Florissant isn't the only area with this ban now.

The St. Charles County council approved a similar ban Monday night. The new measure bans convicted child sex offender from entering the county's parks. Violators could face a fine of $1,000, one year in jail, or both.

St. Charles County will make exceptions for sex offenders who received advance permission from the county parks director to attend special events.

Registered sex offenders will receive notices of the new ban by mail.

You can read more about Florissant's ban by clicking on the link under "Related Content." There you can also find a link to the Talk Backs we received from the related Daily Download topic.

Did Pedophilia Hysteria Cause Child's Death?

By Wendy McElroy


On Nov. 28, 2002, 2-year-old Abigail Rae died by drowning in a village pond in England. Her death is currently stirring debate because the ongoing inquest revealed an explosive fact. A man passing by was afraid to guide the lost child to safety because he feared being labeled "a pervert."

In the article "Day of the dad: paedophilia hysteria leaves men afraid to help," The Telegraph raises a question that applies equally to North America. Have high profile cases of pedophilia created such public hysteria that the average decent human being, especially a man, is now reluctant to approach a child in need?

Consider what happened to Abby. The toddler wandered from her nursery school, Ready Teddy Go, through a door left open. A bricklayer named Clive Peachey drove past her in his truck. At the inquest, he stated, "I kept thinking I should go back. The reason I didn't was because I thought people might think I was trying to abduct her."

Instead, he assured himself that the parents must be "driving around" and would find her.

A few minutes thereafter, Abby fatally fell into an algae-covered pond. Meanwhile, the nursery staff searched. When the mother noticed the staff near her home, she was told they were looking for a "lost dog" but the truth soon emerged. The frantic mother's search ended when she leaped into the pond to fish out what she thought was Abby's shoe.

She stated, "As I grabbed for the shoe, I missed and was shocked to touch what felt like a leg. I pulled the leg upwards." The dead child emerged.

Abby's case may be extreme but it hinges on a question that commonly confronts everyone who interacts with other people's children. Is it possible to touch a child in a non-abusive manner without risking terrible repercussions?

Before moving to this question, however, it is necessary to consider a related issue that arises in almost every discussions of Abby. Is Clive Peachey legally or morally responsible for her death?

For several reasons, I argue that he is not. First and foremost, the responsibility lies with the nursery staff who became her guardians. Abby was in no immediate danger when Peachey saw her and he contacted the police upon later hearing a 'missing child' report.

Arguably, if he had phoned the police immediately, Abby would have been dead long before they arrived. Moreover, by coming forth, Peachey has accepted the damage to his life that comes with the public disgrace of saying "I drove past her."

Important information in judging Peachey is missing. For example, if Peachey has a family, he may have been reluctant to place his reputation or livelihood at risk. He may have balanced possible harm to his own children against helping a stranger's child.

Peachey's fears have precedence on this side of the Atlantic.

Last summer, an Illinois man lost an appeal on his conviction as a sex offender for grabbing the arm of a 14-year-old girl. She had stepped directly in front of his car, causing him to swerve in order to avoid hitting her.

The 28-year-old Fitzroy Barnaby jumped out his car, grabbed her arm and lectured her on how not to get killed. Nothing more occurred. Nevertheless, that one action made him guilty of "the unlawful restraint of a minor," which is a sexual offense in Illinois. Both the jury and judge believed him. Nevertheless, Barnaby went through years of legal proceedings that ended with his name on a sex offender registry, where his photograph and address are publicly available. He must report to authorities. His employment options are severely limited; he cannot live near schools or parks.

Arguably, the law would have punished Barnaby less had he hit the girl or not cared enough to lecture her. Perhaps that's the equation that ran through Peachey's mind.

Again, Barnaby is an extreme case. But ordinary people make decisions on how to interact with children based on such high profile stories.

The effect on average people in non-extreme situations can be partially gauged through a study conducted by Dr. Heather Piper at Manchester Metropolitan University: "The Problematics of 'Touching' Between Children and Professionals." Piper examined six case-study schools through interviews with teachers, parents and children regarding the propriety of touch.

Commentator Josie Appleton reviewed the study, "Reported cases include the teacher who avoided putting a plaster [bandaid] on a child's scraped leg; nursery staff calling a child's mother every time he needed to go to the toilet; a male gym teacher leaving a girl injured in the hall while he waited for a female colleague."

One school reportedly kept an account of every 'touching incident.' They stated, "We write down a short account and date it and put which staff were present and at what time, we then explain it to the parent and ask them to read and sign it."

Appleton observed that this is more in keeping with "police logs than teaching children."

The last words encapsulate the problem.

Touching a child, even to render medical assistance, has become a potential police matter.

Child abuse must be addressed but it is worse than folly to punish those who help children. Our society is creating Clive Peachey -- decent men who will walk away from a child in need.

Abby Rae died not only from drowning but also from bad politics.

Ailing sex offender chokes to death at clinic

DOVER, DELAWARE — A 22-year-old Huntington's disease victim who was denied a bed in a state health care facility because he was a registered sex offender choked to death Monday at a Dover mental health clinic.

Family members said they were told that Joseph Heverin, 22, whose muscle control had deteriorated to the point where he often fell and had to be put in a wheelchair, choked to death on a sandwich at Dover Behavioral Health Systems.

"He was dead when he got to the hospital," said Heverin's brother, Paul Vrem.

Vrem said he learned of his brother's death after driving to Dover Behavioral to pick him up for a dental appointment.

"They told me that he had choked on a grilled cheese sandwich and that they were administering CPR," Vrem said.

DBHS chief operating officer William Weaver and other clinic officials did not immediately return telephone messages seeking comment.

Colin Faulkner, director of public safety for Kent County, said paramedics were dispatched to Dover Behavioral Health shortly before 12:30 p.m. in response to a report of a person choking.

"It would appear that he went into cardiac arrest, full arrest, as the result of an unresolved choking incident," Faulkner said.

Jay Lynch, a spokesman for the state Department of Health and Social Services, confirmed Heverin's death.

Heverin's mother, Dianne Vrem, said Dover Behavioral officials kept family members in a waiting room until Heverin had been taken away by ambulance, and that Kent General officials also refused her request to be with her son.

"I just wanted to hold him and let him know that his mom was there," she said.

A spokeswoman for Kent General did not immediately return a telephone message Monday afternoon.

Last week, Heverin was the subject of an Associated Press article describing the bureaucratic limbo in which his criminal past and his disease — an incurable, degenerative neurological disorder that also killed his father and other family members — had left him.

Officials at Dover Behavioral, a short-stay psychiatric facility where Heverin had been admitted last summer for treatment of depression, had sought and received court permission to discharge him, arguing that he is not mentally ill. He remained at the facility as his guardianship case worked its way through the court system.

Even though a court declared Heverin "a disabled person" who was "unable to act in his own best interest," health and social service officials refused to place him in state-run long-term care facility. They argued that he was neither developmentally disabled nor mentally ill.

The primary reason for their opposition, however, was that Heverin was a registered sex offender. He had twice been convicted of unlawful sexual contact, incidents that his supporters believe stemmed from the effects of Huntington's disease, a hereditary disorder that has been linked with inappropriate sexual behavior.

Dover Behavioral officials said they had tried repeatedly for more than a year to find placement options for Heverin, but no facility was willing to take him.

Kristopher Starr, an attorney appointed as a fact-finder in Heverin's guardianship case, submitted a report earlier this month excoriating state officials for refusing to place Heverin in a skilled nursing facility, at least not until he is "bedridden."

"They finally got what they wanted; they won't have to deal with the problem anymore," Paul Vrem said Monday.

Sex-offender law ignores real harm, Human Rights Watch

Sarah Tofte is a U.S. researcher for Human Rights Watch

State lawmakers will need to decide whether to comply with the federal Adam Walsh Act on sex offenders or lose federal money for law enforcement. The choice for states is to dramatically increase their registration and community-notification requirements for convicted sex offenders by 2009 or lose significant federal law enforcement grant money.

It doesn't seem like a difficult choice. Who wouldn't want to support laws targeting convicted sex offenders and be paid for it? Yet legislatures from Arizona to Illinois to Rhode Island are leaning against implementing the law. Because once you get past the painful emotions and look hard at the problem of child sexual abuse, it turns out that sex-offender registration and community-notification laws might not actually prevent sexual violence.

Sex-offender laws are based on two popular myths about child abuse: that children have most to fear from strangers, and that sex offenders will repeat their crimes. In fact, more than 90 percent of child sexual abuse is committed by someone the child knows. And authoritative studies show that three out of four sex offenders do not re-offend within 15 years of release from prison. In fact, 87 percent of sex crimes are committed by people with no previous sex-offense convictions.

The Adam Walsh Act doesn't tackle the real dangers to children, and contains disturbing provisions. It requires states to register and identify online children 14 and older who commit sex offenses. Many states treat juvenile sex offenders differently from adults, exempting them from community notification. They understand that young sex offenders respond well to treatment and have an excellent chance of rehabilitation - and that crimes they committed as children should not haunt the rest of their lives. Thus the Illinois legislature, knowing it was acting in conflict with the Adam Walsh Act, recently overrode the governor's veto of a law exempting child offenders from online registration.

In the past, federal law required only that states register sexually violent offenders for 15 years. The new act requires states to register virtually anyone convicted of a sex offense. This would force some states to significantly expand their registries. While it may seem a good idea to place all convicted sex offenders on a registry, law enforcement officials and child-safety advocates say that expanding the registry to include all offenders reduces its usefulness in helping law enforcement to identify and monitor individuals considered a real risk to the community.

The Adam Walsh Act also extends from 15 years to 25 years or life the time someone is on a registry and subject to community notification, without the possibility of petitioning to be removed. If Congress had consulted experts on sexual violence, it would have found that the longer a convicted sex offender lives offense-free in the community, the less likely he is to re-offend, which is why experts often advocate giving convicted sex offenders an opportunity to be released from registry requirements upon a showing of rehabilitation.

Implementing the changes required by the act will cost states a lot of money. At a legislative hearing in Arizona, witnesses testified that the state would lose between $700,000 and $800,000 in federal law enforcement grants if it didn't comply with the law - but that it would cost millions of dollars to expand the state's sex-offender laws to comply with the Adam Walsh Act.

Unnecessarily expansive community-notification laws may drive more offenders underground, away from supportive services like treatment, and away from the supervision and monitoring of law enforcement. Harsh enduring consequences also provide little incentive for former offenders to live without re-offending: as one registrant told Human Rights Watch, "No one believes I can change, so why even try?"

Sarah Tofte is a U.S. researcher for Human Rights Watch and the author of "No Easy Answers: Sex Offender Laws in the U.S." E-mail her through HRW at hrwnyc@hrw.org.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20080225_Sex-offender_law_ignores_real_harm.html