A rush for list of sex abusers

Lisa Parsley went straight to the state Web site after she learned that the state police had posted names, photos and hometowns of sex offenders registered in Pennsylvania.

Now Parsley knows maybe too much: Her small zip code in her South Philadelphia neighborhood contains 50 convicted sex offenders, their names and crimes listed one by one on the new Megan's Law Web site run by the state police.

"Was I shocked? Yeah," said Parsley, 39, a real estate analyst. "Especially when I looked at the pictures. I thought, I've seen some of these guys hanging around."

Parsley was among the tens of thousands of Pennsylvania residents who logged on to the state police Megan's Law Web site yesterday seeking information about registered sex offenders in their communities.

Overnight, the state essentially outed more than 7,000 registered sex offenders - raising questions and concerns not only among the general public, but also among sex offenders who do not want their pictures, hometowns and criminal history on the Internet.

A 50-year-old Delaware County man, who was convicted of having oral sex with a 16-year-old in 1988 and spoke on condition that his name not be used, said he had paid his dues and now leads a stable and productive life.

"I'm not looking for publicity, here. I have to think of my children and my wife," he said. "Let's face it, their friends are going to start looking at them funny."

Nevertheless, he thinks the system was basically fair and that people have a right to know about dangerous sex offenders. "What's wrong is that they lumped us all into the same category," he said. "My particular crime was relatively minor."

The Megan's Law Web site, which is part of the Pennsylvania State Police Web site, lists offenders by name, county and zip code. Since the revised Megan's Law page was launched on Monday, the state police Web site is recording record numbers of hits, police officials said.

By mid-afternoon, 32,000 people had visited the Web site yesterday. On an average day last month, the site got between 3,000 and 8,000 visits, police said.

Almost 30 percent of the state's sex offenders live in Philadelphia and its suburbs, although that includes in some cases offenders still in prison.

A number of residents queried in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties were not yet aware of the Web site. But many residents, especially parents with small children, said they would use the Web tool and, if they discovered an offender nearby, they would take extra precautions and spread the word in their communities.

Robin Ackerman, 30, of Newtown, Bucks County, who was loading her two children into her car in a shopping mall parking lot, was stunned to hear there were four registered sex offenders living in her community.

"Oh my God," she said, looking down at her 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter. "It's important to know. You need to protect them."

Ackerman said she felt somewhat torn about the site because of the privacy issues involved.

"We're all entitled to our privacy, but when you break the law, you give up some of your rights," she said.

Others said they thought the Web site would be an important resource for parents.

"I think it's valuable," said Stacey Yantis, chairwoman of the PTO Council of the West Chester Area School District, who will alert other school representatives about the Web site, which lists a dozen sex offenders in West Chester.

"We live in a world that is not like the world we grew up in, and we need to make sure that we are aware and our children are aware of the dangers we face on a daily basis," Yantis added.

Deanna Daly, 18, a freshman at Drexel University, sees the Web site as a way to better know what dangers may exist in her Center City neighborhood.

"I think the Web site will be helpful," she said. "I'm out at night, and I want to know who's out there."

But civil liberties groups and public defenders are concerned about vigilantism, an issue that made headlines in New Jersey, where Megan's Law was born.

Since the N.J. law's passage in 1994, there have been several incidents involving angry residents harassing and even assaulting freed sex offenders.

The most notorious case involved a Linden man who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting at the home of a paroled rapist in 1998.

In 2003, a New Jersey court permitted the state Attorney General's Office to post on the Internet street addresses for all moderate to high-risk offenders.

"We haven't seen the dire predictions about vigilantism arising from the law or the Web site," said Peter Aseltine, spokesman for the New Jersey Attorney General's Office.

Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan's Law, a national child-advocacy group, said there had been relatively few incidents in the 46 states that now have some form of Internet sex-offender registry.

"This is not an opportunity for people to run others out of the neighborhood, but to take precautions and use the information responsibly," she said.

In Pennsylvania, street addresses are only posted for the sex offenders classified by the courts as "sexually violent predators." There are currently 60 individuals in that category and many of them are in jail.

There are disclaimers on the Pennsylvania state Web site cautioning users against using the information to threaten or harm released offenders, and state police say they will prosecute anyone who does.

Upper Darby Police Sgt. Glen Monkman said he did not expect any problem in his community, which has 14 registered offenders and has had experience alerting neighbors about several sexually violent predators, through door-to-door community notification.

"We've had to do community notification on several occasions and we'd had no problems, thankfully," he said. "At least here in Upper Darby Township, there has been no vigilantism, and no trouble."

Parsley, who works at home and is involved in the South of South Street Neighborhood Association, said she had no idea she would be so moved by what she learned about some of her neighbors.

"It affected me more than I thought," she said. "I know I'll be scrutinizing people more closely and wondering, 'Are you on the Web site?' "

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact staff writer Amy Worden at 717-783-2584 or aworden@phillynews.com.

Criminal History Search

Kansas Bureau of Investigation Registered Offender Search

Database updated: 01/14/2005

Search by : NAME | CITY | COUNTY | ZIP | ABSCONDER

List of Absconders

BARRIERE, VINCENT SHANE

Last Known Location as of: 05/27/2004
NEW CENTURY, KS 66031
County: JOHNSON
Race/Sex: B/M
Date of Birth: 08/18/1982
Registered Since: 01/30/2004
Offense: AGGRAVATED INDECENT LIBERITES WITH A CHILD
Warrant: PROBATION VIOLATION
Date of Warrant: 11/04/2004
Issued by: JOHNSON COUNTY SHERIFF
Issuer's Phone: 913-782-0720

If you know the whereabouts of one or more of these offenders, call your local sheriff's office or the KBI at 1-800-KS-CRIME.

Kansas Bureau of Investigation Registered Offender Search

Database updated: 01/14/2005

List of Absconders

BARRIERE, VINCENT SHANE

BLEDSOE, MONTIE DEWAYNE

BROWN, MAURICE CHEAVALE

CLOTFELTER, JOHN MARVIN

FLORES, JOSE WILL

FLORES JR., ANTONIO

GARRETT, GARY STEVEN

GRAY, JOSEPH ALLEN

LEMUS, JORGE ADOLFO

MARSHALL, NICHOLAS EDWARD

MCELHINNEY, STEPHEN PAUL

MILLER, VICTOR JAMES

NORTON, ALBERT DAVIS

OSTER, LEO EDWARD

POWELL, JAMES ROBERT

QUINTANA, DANIEL

RAMIREZ, JOEL

RICHARDSON, FREDERICK LEE

SHAFER, MICHAEL LEE

SHARP, JOHN ALDEN JR

STEPHENSON, JOSHAWAH GLYN

SUTTON, MARK ANTHONY

TRASS, BRENNAN ROOSEVELT

TURNER, ROBERT JUNIOR

WALDRUP, ROBERT THOMAS

WATKINS, BRANDON MICHAEL

WHITE, PERRY EUGENE

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