Free Republic

Fear tends to hide the truth from us. Most of what our society believes about sex offenders is not true. Below are just a few of the beliefs we were taught that are either misleading or completely untrue: • Epidemic of rape-murders: The Somer Renee Thompson case is a tragedy indeed, but is a very rare tragedy. In the NISMART-2 study from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, only 115 “stereotypical kidnappings” occurred in the year of the study, with only 45 of those cases ended in death or were permanently missing [1]. Your child has a far...

“There’s no such thing as monsters.” We tell our kids that. The truth is that monsters are real. A real live monster might live next door to you, or across the street from your child’s school, even around the corner from your church. These monsters are called “Sex Offenders”, a label that is far too innocuous to convey the evil of those who have earned it. Somer Renee Thompson...Only one thing is known for certain: on the way home from school that fateful day, Somer met a monster face-to-face.

DOUGLAS — Federal authorities say they have seized nearly 700 pounds of marijuana at the Douglas Port of Entry. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers were screening travelers and vehicles Sunday night when they came in contact with a 20-year-old Douglas man driving a truck. The vehicle was inspected and authorities discovered that the bed of the F-150 had been completely altered to accommodate the concealment of nearly 700 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $1.1 million, authorities said. Officers seized the vehicle and marijuana and the man was turned over to the custody of Immigration and...

Twin Falls, Idaho » The headquarters for 620 Girls Scouts in south-central Idaho is moving because too many registered sex offenders live near its current downtown office, officials said. "Do we feel this is the safest environment for girls being served in the area?" asked Shelli Rambo Robertson, CEO of the Girl Scouts of Silver Sage Council, which includes Idaho, Oregon and Nevada. "We did not." The group last month discontinued meetings at the southern Idaho office and is moving to a new office near the College of Southern Idaho. The headquarters on Fourth Avenue was in an industrial part...

The big screen, flat panel TVs that so recently hung on the walls of the Moose Lake sex offender program will soon be enjoyed by patients at veterans homes across the state. In a move designed to put an end to an embarrassing episode for a cost-conscious administration, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Friday that at least 14 of the two dozen sets will go to veterans homes in Minneapolis, Fergus Falls, Hastings and Silver Bay. Jon Skillingstad, the administrator of the veterans home in Fergus Falls, said the new televisions will be a welcome addition. "We can easily make use...

In today’s New York Times arts section, film industry correspondent Brooks Barnes analyzes Hollywood’s attitude to fugitive sex predator/Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski. Most prominent artists have lined up behind the push to let the famed director off the hook for having drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl over 30 years ago. Polanski fled the country to avoid sentencing after he plead guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful sex with a minor and has since lived in a cushy exile in Europe. After his recent arrest, Polanski is currently sitting in a Swiss jail awaiting possible extradition to the United...

MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) -- A small group of homeless sex offenders have set up camp in densely wooded area behind a suburban Atlanta office park, directed there by probation officers who say it's a place of last resort for those with nowhere else to go. The nine sex offenders live in tents surrounding a makeshift fire pit in the trees behind a towering "no trespassing" sign, waiting out their probation sentences as they face numerous living restrictions under one of the nation's toughest sex offender policies...

At the heart of this inquiry lies the nature of the community where Garrido chose to make his home after serving just 11 years of a 50-year sentence for a previous sex attack. For contrary to initial reports, this is far from being mainstream, middle-class, suburban America. Together with his new wife, Nancy, whom he had met while she was visiting her uncle in jail, Garrido settled in a crime-ridden backwater where nobody pries into anyone else's business - unless they are willing to pay the price. 'The people here are like hillbillies,' says one local film-maker. 'They are all...

At 11 years of age, Jayce Lee Dugard was snatched from her family in 1991 at a school bus stop in South Lake Tahoe, California. Convicted sex offender, Phillip Garrido kept Miss Duggard in a complex of sheds in his backyard for 18 long years. During that time, Mr. Garrido is said to have fathered two daughters, aged 11 and 15 respectively, by Miss Duggardd. He kept all three females hidden within the sheds of his back yard in Antioch, California. Miss Duggard resurfaced this week, when Mr. Garrido was called into a Concord, California parole office. The Telegraph has...

August 29, 2009 Sex slave Jaycee Lee Dugard ‘sorry for bonding with Phillip Garrido’ Jaycee Lee Dugard: was taken from a bus stop in 1991 After being imprisoned as a sex slave for almost two decades and forced to bear the children of her captor, Jaycee Lee Dugard had one thing to say as she was reunited with her family yesterday: “I’m sorry.” “She is very remorseful,” said her stepfather, Carl Probyn. “She feels really guilty for bonding with this man. There’s really a guilt trip here.” America was shocked by the abduction of Jaycee, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed 11-year-old in...

BOSTON — The state’s highest court has ruled that sex offenders convicted before 2006 cannot be forced to wear GPS devices if they violate probation or parole. In the 4-3 decision, the Supreme Judicial Court said a 2006 law requiring all sex offenders to wear GPS devices cannot apply retroactively. David Frank, of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, said the case was a balancing act between public safety and constitutional rights. “The court had to balance the right of the public to protect itself against sex offenders and those who have been convicted of certain crimes versus a defendant’s constitutional right to...

A Conway woman who had video surveillance of a man having sexual intercourse with one of her horses said she found the suspect behind her barn Monday night and pointed a shotgun at his head until police arrived and arrested him. Rodell Vereen, 50, of Longs, is charged with buggery and trespassing after Barbara Kenley, who leases Lazy B Stables on Coates Road in the Wampee section of Horry County, told officers she had video of the suspect having sex with a horse then wanted to catch him at her barn. ``That stable was my getaway, my stress relief,'' said...

A lawyer for Goldman Sachs has been accused of luring an underage teenager with explicit internet chat and then trying to consummate the cyber-affair by traveling to Westchester. Todd Genger, was caught in a sting operation aimed at perverts who solicit young girls for sex, the Daily News reports. From the Daily News: In reality, the "girl" Genger was chasing was an undercover investigator posing as a teen in the chat room, the Westchester County district attorney's office said. Genger, a Manhattan resident who is married and has three children, was snared after a series of Internet conversations that began...

TEXARKANA, Ark. – Tony Alamo, a one-time street preacher who built a multimillion-dollar ministry and became an outfitter of the stars, was convicted Friday of taking girls as young as 9 across state lines for sex. Alamo stood silently as the verdict was read, a contrast to his occasional mutterings during testimony. His five victims sat looking forward in the gallery. One, a woman he "married" at age 8, wiped away a tear. "I'm just another one of the prophets that went to jail for the Gospel," Alamo called to reporters afterward as he was escorted to a waiting U.S....

A Miami law is forcing many of the city's sex offenders to sleep rough under a bridge, reports Emilio San Pedro for the BBC's Americana programme. Tents set up by released sex offenders under a road bridge in Miami As many as 70 released sex offenders live in the camp The area under the Julia Tuttle Causeway in downtown Miami has in recent years become the unlikely home for a growing community of about 70 convicted sex offenders. They have ended up living in a makeshift tent city under one of the causeway's bridges because of a local law which...

While President Obama was in Cairo preaching Islamist propaganda to the ears of Muslim students this last week, his administration was carrying out an even more sinister agenda. While he was willfully misleading the television audience as to the "tolerance" that Islam allows, he quietly nominated a man who teaches students to hate parents. While President Obama seemingly praised the earliest traces of recognition of Sharia law on U.S. soil (women being subjugated into wearing hajibs even in America), he stealthily put forward a nominee who refused to report a sexual relationship where a man was molesting a school age...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--A social researcher who has studied sexual behavior for 24 years believes the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has sound reasons for maintaining its prohibition against gay scoutmasters. A homosexual cannot automatically be considered a child molester, said Judith Reisman, president of the Institute for Media Education in suburban Louisville, Ky. But with 17-24 percent of boys being abused by age 18, nearly as many as the 25 percent of girls, there is cause for concern, she said. Since heterosexuals outnumber the homosexual population about 44 to 1, as a group the incidence of homosexuals molesting children is...

In Miami, a causeway in the middle of Biscayne Bay has become home to one of the county's least desirable populations: sex offenders. What began a few years ago as a stopgap solution has become de facto public policy. For sex offenders with few resources who want to stay in Miami, there's just one option: an encampment of tents and shacks on the Julia Tuttle Causeway. The encampment got started a few years ago, when Miami-Dade County, like other communities across the country, adopted an ordinance banning sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of anywhere that children gather. It's...

Just today we get:Ex-leader of Young Democrats sentenced in Child Porn case North Carolina Dem activist sentenced in child porn case-involving kids as young as 6 Earlier this month we got:John Kerry "Band of Brothers" member convicted for child Porn- was called on stage during the DNC national convention. ANDHigh-level aide to California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer convicted for receiving and distributing child pornography. Just last month:Child molester back at work at for Democrat in Hawaii Legislature Earlier this year: Democrat Wisconsin mayor charged with child-sex crimes Last Year: Famed left-wing radio personality Bernie Ward guilty of possessing and distributing...

ALBANY — Members of Albany County Young Democrats are "shocked and disturbed" at the revelation that the former president of the organization, Benjamin Jakes-Johnson, spent almost four years facing child pornography charges while rising through the ranks of the local group, as well as the party's state and national affiliates. Jakes-Johnson, 29, received a 57-month sentence in U.S. District Court Thursday after pleading guilty last October to one count of possessing child pornography. According to the office of the U.S. Attorney for New York's Northern District, Jakes-Johnson's computer and several discs were seized in October 2005 at his parents' house...

North Carolina state law forbids registered sex offenders from many church-related activities, even including worship services, because of the potential presence of children. But state lawmakers are revisiting the sex-offender requirements that some are saying are too harsh.The most controversial language in the ban keeps offenders from going 300 feet of a place “intended primarily for the use, care or supervision of minors.” The prevalence of church nurseries and Sunday schools makes church sanctuaries and worship centers problematic, as many are within the 300-foot radius. Also, any church that meets in a school building or has an adjacent Christian school...

DENVER -- The American Civil Liberties Union plans to lobby for changes to Colorado laws that require nude offenders to register as sex offenders, claiming the laws are unusually harsh. --- Boulder is no stranger to naked mayhem. Last year, more than 60 nude cyclists rode around the city protesting oil-burning cars; a teenager streaked at the Boulder-Fairview football game; and about a 100 people participated in the annual Naked Pumpkin Run. In each case, the offender could be charged with indecent exposure, which carries a mandatory registration as a sex offender.

Gardnerville, Nevada) Nineteen-year-old Heather Ann Grizoffi pleaded guilty to sexual seduction of a 14-year-old boy yesterday in Douglas County District Court. As a result, Grizoffi was sentenced by Judge Michael Gibbons to 10 days in jail and fined $1,000. Then she was given credit for 10 days served when she was originally arrested. Although she won't be spending time in jail, she was ordered to register as a sex offender which will likely be punishing her for a long time. Yesterday's Babe Sex Offender

WASHINGTON – Chief Justice John Roberts has granted the Obama administration's request to the Supreme Court to block the release of certain sex offenders who have completed their federal prison terms. The federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., had earlier invalidated a law allowing the indefinite commitment of "sexually dangerous" prison inmates. Roberts, in an order Friday, says as many as 77 inmates can continue to be held at a prison in North Carolina at least until the high court decides whether to hear the administration's appeal of a ruling by the federal appeals court. ... "That would pose a...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A normal trip to the store ended up changing the lives of two families forever. Vincent West, a convicted sex offender, is in court again. He's accused of molesting a 12-year-old girl at a Charleston Kmart in 2007. As the case is coming to a close, emotions continue to run high. The alleged victim said she was in the Kmart along Patrick Street when she said a man rubbed her chest and tried to pull her pants down. Surveillance tape captured West and the girl in the store at the same time, but cameras did not...

In only the third such ruling in the nation, a Sacramento judge has found to be unconstitutional a statute that makes it a federal crime for someone to fail to register as a sex offender and relocate from one state to another. U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton found that, in enacting the 2006 Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, "Congress overstepped its authority under the (Constitution's) commerce clause." Karlton made rulings this week in two prosecutions and threw them out, saying SORNA does not meet the U.S. Supreme Court's standard for congressional jurisdiction over interstate commerce. Federal prosecutors immediately...

An estimated 100,000 sex offenders are not living where they are registered, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which collects the data from the states and provides it to the United States Marshals Service and other federal agencies. But officials in many states complain about the law’s cost and, in some instances, contend their laws are more effective than the federal one. The states also suggest that the federal requirements violate their right to set their own policies and therefore may be unconstitutional, at least in part.

A federally funded study on Megan's Law in New Jersey has found that it does not deter first-time sex offenders or help prevent convicted sex offenders from re-offending. The study is one of a limited number nationwide to empirically examine the impact of sex-offender registration and notification laws such as Megan's Law, which now can be found in every state. --snip-- some people may take better precautions to protect their children if they know there is a sex offender in the neighborhood

Link only per copyright.

This morning, my hometown newspaper, the L.A. Times, carried the headline “Fixes in Jessica’s Law Are Urged.” The sub-head read: “Tight residency curbs on sex offenders can leave them homeless and propel them to re-offend, a panel says.” For those of you fortunate enough to live someplace where the Times isn’t your local daily, let me assure you that a similar news story runs nearly as regularly as Doonesbury and Dennis the Menace.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – State lawmakers may decide the best way to track sex offenders is to surgically implant GPS trackers in their bodies. A bill is being introduced in the House of Representatives to study the cost and feasibility of such a program. It comes after several cases in which sex offenders disappeared after disabling or cutting off their GPS bracelets. In April 2008, the state thought it was keeping tabs on convicted rapist David Torrence using such a device. But, he cut it off in Snohomish County and was on the run for weeks before being caught in Arkansas.

Guatemalan girl describes alleged enforced prostitution She testifies in federal court how a group of immigrants duped her into coming to the U.S., forced her to sell herself and kept her captive. By Scott Glover January 9, 2009 When Sandra agreed to make the perilous trek from her native Guatemala to the United States in 2006, she said, she was lured by the prospect of a job as a housekeeper that would enable her to send money to her impoverished family back home. Her father had a hernia that prevented him from working, and money was so tight that she...

"Criminal organization Original Gangsters (OG) has assumed control of a Swedish website that exposes the identity of sex offenders, Crime News reports. ... The gang has taken the step after the founders of the Kriminellt.com website, four concerned parents, approached them after receiving a series of threats. "We have families to think about and the threats have recently been getting a little close to home. Call us weak if you will but the family always comes first," explained the four founders in a statement on the site. OG leader Denho "Dano" Acar explained that the the gang "wanted to provide...

Violent sex offenders who are also illegal aliens in Virginia were identified, located, and deported thanks to a well-coordinated joint operation earlier this year involving both state and federal officials. The effort should serve as a model for immigration enforcement throughout the United States, Bob McDonnell, Virginia’s Republican attorney general, told CNSNews.com in an exclusive interview. “Operation Cold Play” made it possible for the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to place 171 convicted criminal alien sex offenders into deportation proceedings thanks in large part to local and state involvement in the investigation, McDonnell explained in an email. After...

Someone is targeting registered sex offenders in Mountain View and police are warning that the attacks may continue. The two incidents happened in the past 2-1/2 weeks. Police have not connected the crimes to a single culprit, but Mountain View police spokeswoman Liz Wylie said "we definitely have our suspicions that they are related." The victims told police they did not know their attacker, and police believe they were targeted only because of their sex-offender status. ... In the most recent case, a man forced his way into a sex offender's home Tuesday and hit him multiple times about the...

A federal judge in Missouri on Monday temporarily blocked parts of a new state law that requires sexual offenders to remain in their homes on Halloween evening and to avoid any contact with children related to the holiday. The judge, Carol E. Jackson, of United States District Court in St. Louis, said the law was unclear, questioning language that prohibits “all Halloween-related contact with children” and allows sexual offenders to leave their homes from 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. only if they have “just cause.” Two issues raised by the case were whether sexual offenders could celebrate the holiday with...

Three sex offenders were caught entering the U.S. at the Nogales border station over the weekend. Two are from Mexico and registered as sex offenders in Los Angeles and Colorado. One is from Guatemala and he is registered as a sex offender in northern California. The Border Patrol says in just the first 11 months of this fiscal year, 460 registered sex offenders have been arrested by the Tucson sector border patrol. The same sector has arrested more than 44,000 illegal aliens with criminal records during that same time period.

ZWOLLE, 30/08/08 - The Regional Disciplinary Council for Healthcare in Zwolle has produced a positive verdict on a clinic that treated a sexual offender by allowing a therapist to have sex with him. The sexual offender involved had complained to the council against the psychiatrist and the psychologist who thought up the experiment. He felt humiliated by having sex with the therapist. According to the council, it was however a question of "careful medical-scientific research." The 30 year old man was treated in the Pompe clinic, a so-called TBS clinic - for serious criminals regarded as non compos mentis by...

MARIETTA, Pa. -- A former tough-on-crime Pennsylvania lawmaker has adopted a new and unpopular cause, taking into his home three sex offenders who couldn't find a place to live -- a stand that has angered neighbors, drawn pickets and touched off a zoning dispute. As cities across the nation pass ever-tighter laws to keep out people convicted of sex crimes, Tom Armstrong said he is drawing on his religious belief in forgiveness and sheltering the three men until he can open a halfway house for sex offenders. ''I think that our system is trying to treat everybody under a particular...

In a desolate public park in Columbus, Ohio, a man responded to the advances of a topless woman. She asked him to "show me yours." When he did, police officers arrested him. Columbus law says her being topless is OK; exposing his genitalia is not. Why did cops hide in the shadows to arrest a man no one but they could see? On last week's "20/20", Dr. Marty Klein pointed out that the police weren't protecting children. "There were no children anywhere in sight. In fact, there were no adults anywhere in sight." Klein says it's part of "America's War...

A Greenwood man was arrested Wednesday afternoon after allegedly giving a postal employee a Bible with a pornographic picture in it, along with a letter inviting the worker to come to his house and watch pornographic movies. Greenwood Police arrested Prince Woodrow Quarles, 44, of 102-C Pinetree Apartments, and charged him with lewd conduct. According to police reports, officer Daniel Watt responded to the U.S. Post Office on Northcreek Boulevard just after 1 p.m. Wednesday. He made contact with the victim, a 29-year-old woman. The woman said Quarles had been coming into the post office regularly for some time. She...

On the heels of today's SCOTUS decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana barring the death penalty for sex offenders, Gov. Bobby Jindal released a statement calling the ruling an "affront to the people of Louisiana" - and what's more, vowing to do whatever possible to amend the state’s laws in order to maintain the death penalty for child rape. But that's not all he did. Today, Gov. Jindal signed the "Sex Offender Chemical Castration Bill," authorizing the castration of convicted sex offenders. They get a choice: physical or chemical. Oh, and they don't just get castrated and leave - they still...

As the Massachusetts State Legislature debates "Jessica's Law" -- named after Jessica Lunsford who was raped and murdered in Florida by a repeat sex offender -- one representative who is against the law expressed his displeasure on the floor of the House. Really expressed his displeasure. The representative, one James Fagan, said he'd “rip apart” 6-year-old victims on the witness stand and “make sure the rest of their life is ruined.” In a fiery soliloquy on the House floor, Fagan said he’d grill victims so that, “when they’re 8 years old they throw up; when they’re 12 years old, they...

What makes a grown woman pursue a guy who gets carded at R-rated movies, lives with his parents who give him an allowance and, who if your actions are revealed, would ruin your reputation and possibly land you in jail? Theories abound. Some might surprise you. Like how mentally, they are about the same age.Sexual abuse involving older women and teen boys is an underreported crime, one that experts say has been largely ignored by the public, legal system and academic researchers for reasons including sexual double standards and evidence suggesting teen boys often are willing participants. But that attitude...

RICHMOND - The state has tightened its education licensing system to ensure that teachers who sexually abuse children aren't allowed to return to the classroom. A law effective July 1 will require courts to promptly notify local school divisions when teachers are convicted of felony sexual offenses involving children or felony drug crimes. It also will require school boards to inform the state Board of Education after they fire teachers or accept their resignations as a result of such crimes. School divisions must notify the state when a teacher is the subject of a legally proved complaint of child abuse...

Islamic terrorists may be targeting mentally disturbed or disabled people in Britain in a bid to form a new “brigade” of home-grown suicide bombers, security officials fear. MI5 and police say the case of Nicky Reilly, who is being held over a nailbomb attack last week in Exeter, may indicate a new strategy of targeting vulnerable people with mental health problems to carry out attacks. A counterterrorism official said MI5 was investigating the extent to which Reilly had been manipulated by a “charismatic” Al-Qaeda recruiter. “It is a grotesque concept but they are using people who are clearly mentally subnormal,”...

An Arlington attorney was arrested and accused of soliciting a minor for sex on the Internet. Ronald Cohen, 57, was arrested Thursday and charged with soliciting sex on the Internet with a girl under the age of 15, but the girl was really a police officer. "They decided that they would set up a meeting. Mr. Cohen went through with the meeting and that's where he was met with detectives and state troopers," said Crystal Nosal, of the Arlington County Police. Cohen is a prominent attorney in Arlington, working largely in real estate. He is one of five directors of...

Cardinal Newman High School officials said Friday they were surprised to hear that former KGO Radio talk show host Bernie Ward allegedly had sexual contact with two Ursuline High School students while he was a priest teaching at the schools.Ward, who pleaded guilty Thursday to distributing child pornography over the Internet, was the subject of a KGO-TV, ABC Channel 7, report Thursday.

(05-08) 18:49 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Bernie Ward, the most prominent liberal voice on Bay Area talk radio for more than two decades, admitted Thursday to distribution of child pornography by e-mail in a plea deal that will send him to federal prison for at least five years. Ward, 57, a former Roman Catholic priest, was a fixture on KGO-AM 810 for three hours every weeknight, known in recent years for his fervent denunciations of President Bush and the war in Iraq during his news talk show. He also hosted "God Talk," a Sunday morning program on religion, and was...

SNOHOMISH — The patch under the bridge is closed in by brambles. Rodent tracks crisscross in the dirt. It may be dry, but still it's not fit for human habitation. Unless you're a sex offender, that is.The underside of the 88th Street bridge, near this river town's greenhouses and horse farms, is where state government last week assigned a released rapist to sleep. David J. Torrence, who assaulted a 16-year-old girl in 1995, had completed his latest prison term (for failing to register as a sex offender.) He had no place to go. So officials gave him a sleeping bag...