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Sex Offender / Sex Crime News - Featured Articles, April, 2004
The News Archive includes articles which focus on sex crimes, sex offenders
or related topics of interest. The purpose of the archive is to keep readers
informed of relevant current events and to maintain a public archive
for historical, research and educational purposes.
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Sex offender loophole angers many in Lyon
April 30, 2004, Finger Lakes Times | Submitted by steve
Written By Howie Mansfield
Article Overview
Wayne County, New York residents and the Wayne County district attorney are angry that a legal loophole resulted in a Level III sex offender living there without neighbors being notified. Residents didn’t know about Henry J. Durham’s 1995 conviction until after he was charged April 18th with sexual abuse in connection with a complaint involving a 4-year-old girl. They weren't aware of the earlier conviction due to an injunction by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York affecting sex offenders convicted prior to Megan's Law.
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| Discuss Article [ 6 posts discussing this article.]
Sex offenders too close to daycares
April 30, 2004, 11Alive | Submitted by steve
Written By Jerry Carnes
Article Overview
Using the sex offender registry maintained by the state of Georgia, 11Alive News compared the addresses of child sex offenders to the addresses of licensed childcare centers in 19 counties around Metro Atlanta and found 250 instances of sex offenders living too close to the childcare center. 182 of them were located in Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties. By law convicted sex offenders are not allowed to live within a thousand feet of a school or daycare center. The law took effect in January 2003 and was the idea of state Senator David Adleman.
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| Discuss Article [ 56 posts discussing this article.]
State campaigns to promote use of sex-offender registry
April 30, 2004, WBBM Newsradio 780 | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
llinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is spearheading a campaign to tell more people about the state’s sex offender registry. 12,000 8-inch by 14-inch posters advertising the Illinois Sex Offender Registry web site will be distributed in libraries, gas stations and other facilities across the state.
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| Discuss Article [ 4 posts discussing this article.]
Tracking student sex offenders
April 29, 2004, KELOLAND.COM | Submitted by steve
Written By Jodi Schwan
Article Overview
The Sioux Falls, South Dakota school district knows which students are sex offenders, but in most cases the public doesn't. To be added to the sex offender registry, a juvenile needs to be fifteen or older and needs to have committed a severe sex crime, like raping a child under the age of ten. Those cases are rare. In a typical school year, the Minnehaha County state's attorney's office estimates it notifies schools of around forty student sex offenders. This is related to events discussed in an earlier article - Sex offender at Roosevelt
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Sex offender on the loose after assaulting detective
April 29, 2004, KOIN.com | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
A registered sex offender in Milwaukie, Oregon, Dominic Adam Hittle, is wanted for failing to report to his parole officer. Hittle was spotted at his home and reportedly fought back as a detective tried to detain him, injuring the detective. He then ran on foot with one wrist in handcuffs.
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| Discuss Article [ 7 posts discussing this article.]
State seeks to register more sex offenders
April 29, 2004, Cadillac News | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
State and county authorities in Michigan are planning a crackdown on the estimated 212 convicted sex criminals who have failed to report their addresses for Michigan's Sex Offender Registry. According to Attorney General spokesman Matt Davis, the state has issued felony warrants for the arrest of 53 of the unregistered offenders.
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Sex offender at Roosevelt
April 28, 2004, KELOLAND.COM | Submitted by steve
Written By Anna Peters
Article Overview
Less than a month after a 17-year-old Sioux Falls boy was convicted of raping a 4-year-old child, the boy, who is now a registered sex offender, is back in school. Superintendent Jack Keegan said that by law the school can't turn away students. The boy isn't the only convicted sex offender in Sioux Falls schools.
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| Discuss Article [ 5 posts discussing this article.]
SFPD urged to post sex offender info on web
April 28, 2004, NBC11.com | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a resolution asking the San Francisco Police Department to add information to its web site that contains pictures of the offenders and their general locations in the city. The police department expects to comply with the request in a matter of weeks.
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| Discuss Article [ 5 posts discussing this article.]
Voters will get chance to OK sex-offender list
April 28, 2004, The Honolulu Advertiser | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
Hawaii voters will be able to decide the fate of Senate Bill 2843, which proposes a constitutional amendment allowing lawmakers to decide what kinds of sex offenders would immediately be put on the public registry and whether some should receive a hearing first to determine whether they should be listed. The bill has already passed the House and Governor Lindal Lingle doesn't have the authority to veto constitutional amendment proposals.
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| Discuss Article [ 4 posts discussing this article.]
City plans to keep sex offender web site
April 28, 2004, TheBostonChannel.com | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
The state of Massachusetts has told the city of Brockton to shut down its web site listing information about convicted Level 3 sex offenders, but the city said they are protecting children and won't shut it down. Brockton Mayor John Yunits said that until Brockton is challenged he will ignore the Friday deadline to shut down the site.
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Sex offender sought girls online
April 28, 2004, WOKR-TV 13 | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
Convicted sex offender Damien Moss is now charged with sexually abusing another 14-year old girl. Investigators bekueve that Moss first met his alleged victims through a website that allows underage girls and boys to display suggestive photographs. Hundreds of children on the site pose in their underwear or very little clothing.
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| Discuss Article [ 2 posts discussing this article.]
Lawmakers working on bill to list violent offenders
April 27, 2004, Detroit Free Press | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
Two Michigan lawmakers are working on a bill that would list offenders convicted of violent crimes such as murder, rape, armed robbery and kidnapping on a state web site. State Representatives Lisa Wojno, a Democrat and Randy Richardville, a Republican, said they will introduce the legislation next month.
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| Discuss Article [ 4 posts discussing this article.]
Sex offender bill unlikely to allow Internet postings
April 26, 2004, The Times Argus | Submitted by dp1
Article Overview
The Vermont House Judiciary Committee is crafting a bill to make information about sex offenders more available to the public. The committee is considering a Senate bill that would post the names and faces online of about 200 of the 2,000 people on Vermont's sex offender registry, but several committee members said they're not convinced that Internet postings would protect the public or prevent new crimes by offenders.
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| Discuss Article [ 1 post discussing this article.]
What a pedophile is - and isn't
April 25, 2004, New York Daily News | Submitted by steve
Written By Judy Kuriansky
Article Overview
In light of Michael Jackson's recent indictment on charges of sexual abuse of a child, Dr. Judy shares a lot of information about pedophiles and child sex offenders - including what a pedophile is, where abuse occurs, what causes such behavior, types of child sex offenders, recidivism information and treatment of pedophiles.
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Sex offender with AIDS faces possible life term
April 25, 2004, Los Angeles Times | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
A man with AIDS who failed to register with police as a sex offender faces up to life in prison under California's three-strikes law. Delbert Meeks, 52, was convicted of rape in 1975, attempted rape in 1982 and robbery in 1991. In May 2000, he was arrested for failing to register within five days of changing his address and a state appellate court in Sacramento upheld his sentence in a 2-1 decision.
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| Discuss Article [ 2 posts discussing this article.]
Sex predator is released after trying to lie his way to freedom
April 22, 2004, heraldtribune.com | Submitted by steve
Written By Kim Curtis
Article Overview
James Rodriguez, convicted of molesting two boys, spent 13 years in prison and then 5 years in Atascadero State Hospital after being labeled a sexually violent predator and civilly committed. After maintaining his innocence the entire time, Rodruigez realized that he would have to say he committed the crimes in order to have any chance of being released. He spent time with pedophiles and learned what to say and the doctors believed him, but then his victims recanted and tje prosecutor dropped the recommitment petition. Monday he was released and has moved back to his old Indian reservation near San Diego, where members of his tribe have offered him a job.
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| Discuss Article [ 5 posts discussing this article.]
Sex-offender status irks man
April 22, 2004, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | Submitted by steve
Written By Michael Zeigler
Article Overview
Jerome Washington, 42, admitted his role in the rape of two Rochester sisters in 1978 but objected vehemently Wednesday when a judge ruled that he’s a high-risk sex offender. Washington, who could be released from prison next week, was paroled in 1987 after serving 9 years for his role in the gunpoint rape of 9-year-old and 17-year-old sisters in 1978 and went back to prison 7 months later after being convicted of burglarizing the home of an elderly man.
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| Discuss Article [ 5 posts discussing this article.]
Gang 'murdered suspected paedophile at bus stop'
April 21, 2004, scotsman.com | Submitted by steve
Written By Jacqui Walls
Article Overview
A suspected paedophile in Derbyshire, Scotland was brutally beaten to death at a bus stop as he tried to escape a group of vigilantes, a court heard today. Matthew Murray, 39, had already been subjected to a vicious attack with a crowbar when he left his home. In the days leading to the attack, rumours had been circulating that Murray had sexually assaulted a young girl. The police were beginning to investigate that allegation, but whether he is guilty or not will never be determined since he was killed the same day.
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| Discuss Article [ 12 posts discussing this article.]
Appeals court: government not liable for sex offender registry mistake
April 21, 2004, Detroit Free Press | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
The Michigan appeals court ruled that a probation officer and the Michigan State Police cannot be held legally liable for posting a man's name on the state sex offender registry for seven months before his conviction was thrown out.
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Racine County man charged in shooting death of uncle
April 21, 2004, Duluth News Tribune | Submitted by Navigatr1
Article Overview
John M. DeBack Jr., 33, of Kansasville, confessed to the murder of his 52-year-old uncle, Raymond F. DeBack, a registered convicted sex offender who had been released from prison 10 months earlier after being sentenced to prison in 1996 for second-degree sexual assault of a child. The nephew told investigators his uncle sexually abused him when he was about 6 or 7 years old, and he had been angry for years at his uncle, whose victim in the 1996 conviction was not the nephew. This is related to events discussed in an earlier article - Is Kenosha County homicide connected to victim's criminal past?.
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| Discuss Article [ 5 posts discussing this article.]
Too old to re-offend? Tell that to the victims
April 21, 2004, Seattle Post-Intelligencer | Submitted by steve
Written By Susan Paynter
Article Overview
Even though elderly convicted sex offenders pose a risk, older sex offenders are taking advantage of their age to gain release. One of the cases discussed is of Andre Brigham Young, one of the first two men sent to Washington'ss sex-predator treatment program and a six-time convicted rapist. Young won a new trial last month because a court bought his attorney's argument that, at 63, Young, who has refused any sex offender treatment in all his years at the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island, is too old to pose a threat.
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| Discuss Article [ 4 posts discussing this article.]
Orange County to post more detailed sex offender information on Internet
April 21, 2004, The Mercury News | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
The Orange County, California Board of Supervisors has authorized officials to post the street names and block numbers of high-risk sex offenders on a county web site. Orange County's online map currently just shows circles designating the approximate areas where serious-risk and high-risk sex offenders reside. State law prohibits publishing exact addresses online.
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Sex offender arrested in L.A. model's 1992 slaying
April 20, 2004, San Diego Union Tribune | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
David Rademaker, a 40-year-old registered sex offender, pleaded innocent Tuesday to the slaying of a professional model whose skeletal remains were found in 1993 in the Angeles National Forest a year after her disappearance.
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Internet posting of sex offenders rejected
April 20, 2004, The Sacramento Bee | Submitted by dp1
Article Overview
A California Senate committee blocked a bill Tuesday that would have put the state's sex offender list on the Internet.
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Parolee indicted in day-care abuse
April 20, 2004, The Cincinnati Enquirer | Submitted by steve
Written By Sharon Coolidge
Article Overview
A paroled sex offender is accused of molesting three children at an in-home day-care in Harrison, Ohio. Charles E. Hubbard went to the home to visit a relative who lived there and is accused of molesting three girls, all ages 4 and 5, as another child watched. Hubbard was released from prison last year after serving six years for molesting an 8-year-old girl in Hamilton and had been designated a sexual predator by a Butler County judge. The day-care provider says she knew Hubbard was released from prison last year, but thought he served time for theft.
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| Discuss Article [ 7 posts discussing this article.]
Victim tells court torture tale
April 20, 2004, Calgary Herald | Submitted by steve
Written By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Article Overview
The youngest survivor of the alleged child murderer Marc Dutroux confronted him in a Belgian court Monday to ask him why he did not kill her. Sabine Dardenne spoke about being held chained in a filthy dungeon as Dutroux's sex slave eight years earlier at age 12.
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Principal caught in sex sting resigns from N. Phila. school
April 20, 2004, Philadelphia Daily News | Submitted by steve
Written By Mnesah M. Dean
Article Overview
William Joseph resigned from the Philadelphia school district, a week after the Daily News revealed the principal had been arrested in a prostitution sting. Joseph had not told school district officials he had been arrested before his photo was published. He accepted six months' probation as a first-time offender and was placed in the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program, allowing his record to be expunged if he completes the program and avoids trouble.
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| Discuss Article [ 8 posts discussing this article.]
Is Kenosha County homicide connected to victim's criminal past?
April 19, 2004, TheMilwaukeeChannel.com | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
Raymond DeBack, a registered sex offender living in Wisconsin, convicted in 1996 of sexual assault of a child and released in July, was found in the Fox River, dead from multiple gunshots. Questions remain about the death and whether the homocide was related to DeBack's conviction.
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| Discuss Article [ 21 posts discussing this article.]
Court: Sex offender can't be punished twice for not registering
April 19, 2004, San Diego Union Tribune | Submitted by dp1
Written By Kim Curtis
Article Overview
The California Supreme Court ruled that sex offenders cannot be punished twice for failing to register when they leave one county and move to another. The case involves Michael Frederick Britt, a convicted sex offender who had move from Sacramento County to El Dorado County in 197 and failed to notify either county. Britt served 180 days in jail after pleading no contest to failing to notify Sacramento County, but protested when he was later charged in El Dorado County.
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| Discuss Article [ 2 posts discussing this article.]
Residents resist efforts to place sex offender in Vacaville
April 18, 2004, KXTV | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
On Thursday, convicted rapist Patrick Ghilotti could be set free and sent to live with his wife at her home in Vacaville. Neighbors of Ghilotti's wife don't believe he's ready to be released and are holding a rally and gathering signatures to petition the court to deny Ghilotti's release. Ghilotti raped at least four women during the 1970s and 80s, and claims to have attacked at least six others. He served two prison terms totalling 17 years for the attacks. Ghilotti completed a course of treatment at Atascadero State Hospital and has been surgically castrated.
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| Discuss Article [ 14 posts discussing this article.]
Out-of-state sex offenders will have to register
April 17, 2004, The Norman Transcript | Submitted by orolan
Written By Jeff Packham
Article Overview
Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry signed legislation this week that will ensure that sex offenders can't hide behind an out-of-state residence to avoid detection in Oklahoma. The law will require convicted offenders to register with local law enforcement agencies within two days of entering Oklahoma and becomes law on July 1.
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Child sex abuse reports are falling
April 17, 2004, STLtoday.com | Submitted by orolan
Written By Matt Franck
Article Overview
Nationwide, child sex abuse reports have plummeted by nearly 40 percent between 1992 and 2003, according to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Justice. Skeptisicms about the trend and possible factors are discussed.
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| Discuss Article [ 5 posts discussing this article.]
Sex case probation is revoked; Jill Sipe imprisoned for violating terms
April 17, 2004, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette | Submitted by Navigatr1
Written By Sara Eaton
Article Overview
Jill Sipe, a convicted sex offender on probation in Indiana, was returned to prison after Sipe's probation officer, Steven D. Keele, filed the petition to revoke her probation in January after discovering that she had a man she met over the Internet stay with her and her two youngest children for three weeks in December.
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Body of missing N.D. student Dru Sjodin found
April 17, 2004, MSNBC | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
The body of Dru Sjodin, the University of North Dakota student who disappeared last November, has been found, the sheriff said Saturday.
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| Discuss Article [ 3 posts discussing this article.]
Arrest warrant is issued for sex offender
April 17, 2004, Seattle Times | Submitted by steve
Written By Christine Clarridge
Article Overview
An arrest warrant has been issued in Washington for Edward Harvey Stokes, a convicted sex offender released from California a week ago. He is being charged in Clark County with second-degree perjury, a felony, and for fraud in obtaining a driver's license using an address which he never lived at. Stokes has a history of sex crime convictions dating to 1976, but was released from prison last week after a California appeals court overturned his conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting a 16-year-old runaway he met in Seattle, stating that had Stokes had been denied a constitutional right by not getting a chance to confront his accuser, who committed suicide before his trial.
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| Discuss Article [ 8 posts discussing this article.]
Moose Lake sex offender accused of exploitation
April 16, 2004, Pioneer Press | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
A man already living at the Moose Lake State Security Hospital is accused of coercing a girl into taking sexually explicit photographs of herself and sending them to him. 39 year old Dennis Mentzos convicted three times of criminal sexual conduct involving girls in 1985 and 1990, faces new charges of sexual exploitation of a child, aiding and abetting the mailing of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
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| Discuss Article [ 28 posts discussing this article.]
Notorious sex offender to spend life in prison
April 16, 2004, NBC 4 | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
Kern County, California'ss most notorious sex offender will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Teddy Compelleebee has pleaded no contest to one child molest count for abusing an 8-year-old girl. After a previous conviction, the community of Arvin, including his own parents, signed a petition to keep him away.
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Civil commitment petition filed for Polk County sex offender
April 16, 2004, Duluth News Tribune | Submitted by steve
Written By Steve Karnowski
Article Overview
Minnesota authorities have detained a Level 3 sex offender from Polk County who was released from prison last fall and will ask a judge to keep him confined indefinitely. Convicted child molester Robin John Razmyslowski, 32, hasn't been accused of any new crimes, but prosecutors reviewed his file and decided to attempt to get him committed to a secure facility as a sexual psychopathic personality and as a sexually dangerous person. According to the attorney general's office, Razmyslowski's criminal record includes seven convictions and at least 11 victims ages 3 through 13 from 1987 to 1998.
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Sex offender resigns as resident assistant
April 15, 2004, Ashland Daily Tidings | Submitted by steve
Written By Bill Choy
Article Overview
A registered sex offender who was hired as a resident assistant in a dorm at Southern Oregon University in March has resigned amid concerns from many on campus. School officials said the offense involving the male adult student in his 20s occurred when he was 13 and that he is a model student, who is not considered a risk to other students.
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Tipster leads Harvey police to unregistered sex offender
April 15, 2004, Daily Southtown | Submitted by steve
Written By Stephen Stanis
Article Overview
Harvey police nabbed one of Cook County, Illinois' most-wanted unregistered sex offenders after receiving a tip on their crime hotline from a caller who said he recognized the sex offender from a recent TV news report. A local TV statation had aired a report on the five most-wanted sex offenders in Cook County who had failed to register as required by law.
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| Discuss Article [ 2 posts discussing this article.]
N.C. attorney general appeals sex offender ruling
April 15, 2004, Wilmington Star | Submitted by steve
Written By Steve Hartsoe
Article Overview
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper on Thursday challenged a recent appeals court ruling that North Carolina cannot require a convicted sex offender from another state to register here. This is related to events discussed in an earlier article - Sex-offender ruling generates concerns.
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| Discuss Article [ 6 posts discussing this article.]
Expert: Opinions ‘bogus’
April 14, 2004, The Herald News | Submitted by orolan
Written By Gregg M. Miliote
Article Overview
A clinical psychologist and former unit director at the Massachusetts Treatment Center for Sexually Dangerous Persons claimed Tuesday that psychologists who predict sex offenders' risk to society are "bogus" and should not be allowed in court. The testimony of Dr. Daniel Kriegman kicked off convicted child molester and former Diocese of Fall River priest James Porter’s defense.
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Deal lets voters decide on access to sex-offender data
April 14, 2004, The Honolulu Advertiser | Submitted by steve
Written By Lynda Arakawa
Article Overview
Hawaii voters would be able to decide whether information about some convicted sex offenders should be readily available to the public, under a compromise agreement announced yesterday by lawmakers and state Attorney General Mark Bennett. In the meantime, Bennett said, he and county prosecutors will be working to place individual sex offenders on the public registry by proceeding with hearings required under the current system.
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| Discuss Article [ 9 posts discussing this article.]
SJC must clear up sex offender chaos
April 13, 2004, Lowell Sun Online | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
Contradictory rulings issued recently by two superior court judges in Massachusetts have clouded matters about the use of the Internet to share information about convicted sex offenders in that state.
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Convicted paedophile may escape jail term – again
April 13, 2004, This is London | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
A 61 year old disabled British man who has never been behind bars, despite three convictions for sex offenses on children, looks likely to be spared jail yet again.
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House leaders to amend bills on sex-offender list, rape
April 13, 2004, The Honolulu Advertiser | Submitted by steve
Written By Lynda Arakawa
Article Overview
Leaders in the Hawaii House are rethinking their position to give all sex offenders a hearing before being listed on a public registry. The Senate's version of the bill, supported by law-enforcement officials, proposes a constitutional amendment allowing lawmakers to decide which categories of offenders would be put on the public registry and to determine whether the offenders should get a chance to object.
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Legislation aims at punishing sex offenders
April 13, 2004, KXLY | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
Under new legislation in Washington state covering sex offenders, sex crime defendants who agree to a plea bargain have to serve the minimum time and are sentenced to life in prison if they re-offend.
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Principal, teachers suspended for letting sex offender into school
April 13, 2004, AccessNorthGA.com | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
A Burke County, Georgia middle school teacher and principal have been suspended after the teacher's husband, a convicted sex offender, participated in folk dance activities at the school on April 1. The husband, Ira D. Hozey, was convicted of child molestation in 1995 and is a registered sex offender.
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New bill targets sex offender loophole
April 12, 2004, St. Petersburg Times | Submitted by steve
Written By Richard Raeke
Article Overview
Convicted sex offender David Renczkowski successfully exploited a loophole in the Florida Sexual Predators Act which requires offenders to notify authorities of their address "within 48 hours of establishing a temporary or permanent residence." Renczkowski argued that he stayed at his friend's house up to 20 hours per day, but that it wasn't a temporary or permanent residence and the judge threw the case against him out.
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Cheap background checks often miss offenders
April 11, 2004, Miami Herald | Submitted by steve
Written By Greg Burns
Article Overview
Instant low-cost private background checks may miss criminal records and can be incomplete and unreliable. Shawn Bushway, a criminologist at the University of Maryland and the Chicago Tribune separately tested online background check services recently and reported their findings.
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Sex offender kills himself
April 10, 2004, Cortez Journal News | Submitted by steve
Written By Katharhynn Heidelberg
Article Overview
59-year-old Donald Gosnell, who had plead guilty to a single charge of sexual assault on a child under 15 and was still involved in a criminal case, fatally shot himself at home. Gosnell had been charged with 12 counts of sexual assault on 3 girls last summer. After several others told of alleged abuse by Gosnell that never resulted in charges, Judge Sharon Hansen continued the hearing until Friday to allow Gosnell's attorney time to prepare a response, but the hearing was rendered moot after Gosnell committed suicide.
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Pedophile fearful following release
April 09, 2004, Winnipeg Sun | Submitted by steve
Written By David Schmeichel
Article Overview
A convicted Canadian pedophile was arrested a few days after being released from prison in April 2003 following a 10 year sentence for sexual assault on two children aged 8 and 9. His re-arrest was due to allegedly being found at a bus stop with a ticket to Montreal which was a violation of a peace bond he had entered which prevented him from leaving the province. He complained of threats by neighbors after his release.
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Plan to limit number of sex offenders in neighborhoods advances
April 09, 2004, The Arizona Republic | Submitted by steve
Written By Elvia Díaz
Article Overview
On a 5-1 vote, Arizona senators on the Family Services Committee decided to issue a $10,000 fine to landlords if they rent more than 10 percent of their units to sex offenders. House Bill 2418, which already had cleared the Arizona House, had initially sought to limit the number of sex offenders to three per complex.
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Released sex offender denies registry charge
April 09, 2004, WCAX-TV | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
Douglas Bryant was taken to jail Thursday after he was arrested in Burlington for allegedly violating Vermont's sex offender registry law. Police have tracked him closely since he was released from prison on March 18th, after completing a ten-year sentence for raping a Burlington woman in her apartment in 1994. Bryant committed that rape just two hours after he was released from prison after serving ten-years for raping and kidnapping another woman in 1984.
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Man accused of secretly videotaping teens, women
April 08, 2004, The Arizona Republic | Submitted by Silverthorne
Written By David J. Cieslak
Article Overview
A 38-year-old Arizona man remained behind bars Wednesday after police raided his home amid accusations he secretly taped two teen girls and two women, aged 15 through 25, while they used a restroom in his home. He allegedly disguised a nanny cam as a fan in his bathroom.
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Sex-offender ruling generates concerns
April 08, 2004, The Sun News | Submitted by steve
Written By Brock Vergakis
Article Overview
A convicted sex offender from South Carolina who moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina and was arrested for failing to register and sentenced to 11 to 14 years of jail as a result has sparked a state court of appeals ruling related to North Carolina's sex offender registration laws. State law requires sex offenders convicted in other states to register with local sheriffs offices after living in North Carolina for 10 days, but only those convicted in North Carolina must be given notice and the court's opinion is that the statute doesn't accurately address the needs of our mobile society.
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YMCA may begin use of sex offender registry
April 08, 2004, chronicle-tribune.com | Submitted by steve
Written By Whitney Ross
Article Overview
The Grant County Family YMCA in Grant County, Indiana is considering using the state registry of sexual and violent offenders to screen its member. At least four YMCAs in Indiana will begin using the registry by next month to screen members who might threaten the safety of others.
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Man chooses jail over temporary sex-offender registration
April 07, 2004, Star Telegram | Submitted by steve
Written By Max B. Baker
Article Overview
After more than a decade in prison Michael Harvey of Bedford, Texas, last month a judge determined that Harvey had been wrongfully convicted of molesting a 3 year old girl after the girl, now 18, recanted her testimony that identified Harvey as her attacker. Harvey, 38, is so adamant about his innocence that he is refusing early release because he would be forced to register temporarily as a sex offender.
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Mass. Romney signs sex offender bill in memory of murdered Boston socialite
April 07, 2004, Boston Globe | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
Massachusetts governmor Mitt Romney signed a bill will expand the list of crimes that would allow the state to civilly commit a criminal even after the convict's sentence is complete. It would also allow for civil commitment of a criminal who had previously been convicted of such a crime, even if that was not the cause of the convict's most recent imprisonment.
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Bill said to backtrack on sex offender registry
April 07, 2004, The Honolulu Advertiser | Submitted by steve
Written By Lynda Arakawa
Article Overview
A bill intended to guarantee public access to sex offender's registration information in Hawaii was dealt a setback yesterday, with the House Judiciary Committee passing a version that requires a hearing to determine who is dangerous enough to be on the public registry.
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Town to provide alerts by e-mail on sex offenders
April 07, 2004, pressherald.com | Submitted by steve
Written By David Hench
Article Overview
Scarborough, Maine residents can sign up on the town's web site to receive email notification whenever there is a change in the information kept on sex offenders. The e-mail will prompt the recipient to visit the Web site to learn whether a registered sex offender has moved into town, moved within town or left town. State officials say they are unaware of any other community using such alerts about offenders' movements.
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Sex offender not safe, say parents
April 06, 2004, ic Renfrewshire | Submitted by admin
Article Overview
After the decision by a town in Britain not to relocate a convicted sex offender, residents made veiled threats about the safety of the offender. The 41-year-old man had been sentenced to three years probation and a listing on the sex offender registry for assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
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Convicted sex offender allegedly strikes again
April 06, 2004, nbc4.com | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
Police in Prince William County, Virginia are looking for 39-year-old convicted sex offender William Reeder after he allegedly sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl he knew. According to investigators he handcuffed the girl to a bed while she was sleeping and raped her.
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Repeat sex offender faces new challenge
April 06, 2004, Chicago Daily Herald | Submitted by steve
Written By Charles Keeshan
Article Overview
According to a McHenry County judge's ruling, Illinois authorities have enough evidence to pursue court proceedings aimed at keeping a repeat child sex offender locked up indefinitely. The decision means that 39-year-old Richard Ritzert must now win his freedom at a trial in which prosecutors will present evidence of his 20-year history of molesting children and a psychologist's report indicating he's likely reoffend if permitted to go free.
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Sex offender suspected in rape of girl, 12, arraigned
April 06, 2004, TheJournalNews.com | Submitted by steve
Written By Will David
Article Overview
A 46-year-old convicted sex offender accused of abducting and raping a 12-year-old Yonkers, New York girl was ordered held without bail. Considered a Level 2 sex offender for a first-degree sexual conviction involving sexual abuse of a 10-year-old girl, he allegedly threatened to kill the 12-year-old girl if she didn't get in his vehicle, then drove her to a location where she was raped.
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OU says student sex offender can stay in his dorm
April 05, 2004, The Athens News | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
A 19-year-old Akron, Ohio man will be allowed to continue living in Ohio University's Wilson Hall, despite his status as a registered low-level sex offender. Nicolette Dioguardi, Ohio University's associate director of legal affairs, said he isn't causing problems and sees no reason to kick him out. He apparently was convicted for a consensual relationship with a 13-year-old girl when he was 18 years old.
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Public glare
April 04, 2004, The Mercury News | Submitted by lj
Written By Sean Webby
Article Overview
An extensive follow-up of sex offenders and their neighbors concerning a Mercury News story from late last year about sex offenders living in the San Jose, California area.
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Public glare
April 04, 2004, The Mercury News | Submitted by lj
Written By Sean Webby
Article Overview
An extensive follow-up of sex offenders and their neighbors concerning a Mercury News story from late last year about sex offenders living in the San Jose, California area.
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Report comparing states calls Pa. lax on Megan's Law
April 04, 2004, Philadelphia Inquirer | Submitted by steve
Written By Amy Worden
Article Overview
A Pennsylvania auditor general's report Friday declared Megan's Law inadequate and poorly enforced, saying the public knows too little about sexual offenders living in the state. The report concluded that the state police had correctly monitored only four of 17 violent sex offenders living in Pennsylvania in 2003. The report showed that the public could get information on 27 sex offenders, compared with at least 1,341 and 1,441 in the neighboring states of New Jersey and Delaware respectively.
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Police: mom, 29, involved in sex acts with boy, 12
April 02, 2004, KFOR | Submitted by brennus
Article Overview
A 29 year old female basketball coach at a YMCA is free on a $75,000 bond after her husband allegedly walked in on her and a 12 year old male boy on a basketball team she coached in their home and notified authorities.
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Big push on for expansion of Megan's Law
April 02, 2004, The Union Democrat | Submitted by steve
Written By Amy Lindblom
Article Overview
In California, by April 19, proponents of the Sexual Predator Punishment and Megan's Law Expansion Act need 300,000 more signatures on a statewide petition for the act to appear on November's general election. The ballot would allow voters to decide if the names and addresses of convicted sex offenders should be available on the Internet. Other highlights of the initiative are also mentioned.
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Judge lifts injunction barring Web posting of sex offender photos, addresses
April 02, 2004, BostonHerald.com | Submitted by steve
Article Overview
In Massachusetts, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Bonnie MacLeod lifted an injunction barring the state from posting the photographs and addresses of the state's most dangerous sex offenders on the Internet. However, the judge immediately granted a 10-day stay of her order to allow the state's public defenders to appeal her decision.
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Prosecutors appeal bail for porn suspect
April 02, 2004, Chicago Sun-Times | Submitted by brennus
Written By Curtis Lawrence
Article Overview
Federal prosecutors plan to ask a U.S. District judge to overturn a magistrate's decision to release a Chicago principal charged with child pornography. The principal is out on $500,000 bail. According to an Assistant U.S. Attorney, more than 3,000 images of child pornography turned up on the principal's basement computer.
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Bill to require sex offenders to carry ID
April 01, 2004, The Arizona Republic | Submitted by steve
Written By Paul Davenport
Article Overview
An Arizona Senate committee endorsed a bill passed by the House to require convicted sex offenders to carry identification with them at all times. Though the identification by itself would not indicate a person is a sex offender, a police officer could learn that through a check of computerized records.
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