Burglar discovers photos (of 4 year-old sister) taken by sex offender

Troy (OH) Daily News ^ | 10.30.03

[mhking]

A Piqua man was arrested Friday after a burglar broke into his home and stumbled upon a metal box full of illicit photos of young girls, including the thief's 4-year-old sister.

Richard Yearsley, a 51-year-old registered sex offender, was arrested from from his apartment at 329 Harrison St. after the 20-year-old burglar called the Piqua Police Department at 4:40 p.m.

Yearsley was subsequently charged with rape of a child under the age of 13 and illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, according to new reports. The rape charges are for a March incident where Yearsley allegedly touched a 3-year-old child sexually.

Piqua Police Chief Philip Potter said the photos police found in Yearsley's apartment could help them find other victims. Yearsley told police that he had taken photos of four other children in the past few years, sexually touching some of them, according to news reports.

The burglar, whose name is being withheld to protect his sister's identity, knew Yearsley, and they both lived in the Harrison House apartment complex.

The 20-year-old originally tried to convince another man in the building to phone police so as to protect himself, according to Potter.

Eventually, however, the burglar turned himself in, Potter said.

Yearsley is now incarcerated in Miami County Jail, with bail set at $150,000 during his Monday arraignment in Miami County Municipal Court. His preliminary hearing is set for Tuesday.

Charges against the burglar will be determined by the city prosecutor.

Yearsley has been listed as a sexually oriented offender since 1995, when he pled guilty to two felony charges: gross sexual imposition and dissemination of material harmful to juveniles under the age of 13. For those crimes he was sentenced to a total of three and a half years at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction in Columbus.

In July 2001, a civil protection order was filed against Yearsley after he attempted to force his then girlfriend to perform sexual acts on him.

Potter said parents should talk to their children if they have had any contact with Yearsley, especially alone. If suspicious of wrongdoing, they should call the police, he added.

The police report on the case is not available to the public because the Ohio Revised Code requires that child sex offense cases be sealed.

[mhking]

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[Cicero]

If there was ever a case for a suspended sentence for burglary, I think this is it.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

I bet the sex offender goes free. Illegal search and seizure.

[Blue Scourge]

They would have booked me for breaking and entering and Murder.

[enuu]

Rapists and sexual molesters almost always repeat their crimes. It has the highest recidivism rate. They are not normal human beings and they should be incarcerated for life. Women and children who are molested in this way are scarred for life, but the offenders rarely serve more than a few years and then go on to destroy more lives.

[Bogey78O]

Sexual urges seem to be impossible to change. You can deny it and learn to suppress the urges but it seems that deep down those feelings are harder to shirk than a heroin addiction. You can arrest and lock up sex offenders but I doubt there's anyway to really cure or rehabilitate other than to force them into a position where they are denied their desire.

[fuzzthatwuz]

Actually recovered property.

[dagar]

This is a combo disgusting, just damn, and already posted yesterday ping.

[waterstraat]

How do you know it wasnt planted? If this kind of evidence is admitted/allowed, then anyone can break into a home of someone they dont like and plant something illegal.

[cardinal4]

I bet the sex offender goes free. Illegal search and seizure.

Doesnt that apply if the Law searched and seized illegally? There are many cases of weed growers caught the same way.

[dead]

The burglar should have just mailed two or three pictures to the police, with instructions on where to find the rest.

And he shouldn't be burglar. That's not nice.

[dead]

You have a point, but they just could ask the 4-year-old and the others, who took the pictures.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

You have a point. I have read stories of photo developers turing in people for illegal activities.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Lottsa points being given out tonight.

[dead]

They would have booked me for breaking and entering and Murder.

I skimmed instead of reading. I missed that it was the burglar's four year old sister.

I'm with you. Murder is the only possible reaction at that point.

Painful murder.

[dead]

You have a point.

[LanPB01]

Illegal search and seizure only applies to law enforcement agents and those acting under the color of the law. A burglar would not be covered by this.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Thanks, I didn't know that

[Arthur McGowan]

The Constitution says that we are to be protected from UNREASONABLE search and seizure, not "illegal" search and seizure. If the Constitution said "illegal," it would not protect anybody from anything, because all the authorities would have to do would be to make whatever kind of search they wanted to do legal.

But you are correct: The Fourth Amendment does not apply to burglars.