Protesters Hound Owner Of Pet Shop

1-27-2008 Florida:

PLANT CITY - The flier on the door of the new pet store on Wheeler Street seemed innocuous enough: Anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

Few people in the community realized the true nature of the prohibition, or that it was required by law.

Many still don't, despite the controversy that has swirled for three years around Pet City Center and its owner, Gary Hicks, who recently packed up his snakes, fish, lizards and rats as protesters threw a victory party outside.

The "victory," he believes, will be short-lived.

"They slandered me," Hicks said. "We're suing them."

Some of the picketers were back Saturday, armed with signs protesting the opening of Hicks' new enterprise - a grooming parlor next door to his former pet store.

"Arrested for Animal Abuse," read one sign. "Sexual Predator," read another. "He's moved," announced a third.

The battle over Hicks' pet store began in March 2005. Hicks had just opened Pet City Center, weeks after his release from Calhoun Correctional Institution, where he had served less than a year of a 12-year sentence related to crimes against children.

That same month, the body of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford was found buried beside her neighbor's mobile home in Citrus County. John Evander Couey, a convicted child molester, was charged with raping and killing the girl.

People started plugging ZIP codes into the state's sex offender registry in record numbers, searching for the potential pedophile-next-door. Some found Hicks, and the 37-year-old pet store owner suddenly became a topic of consuming community interest.

Man accused of sodomizing stepson to avenge rape of daughter

1-12-2008 Texas:

FORT WORTH, Texas — An Arlington man faces a charge of aggravated sexual assault after police said he sodomized his 18-year-old stepson to avenge the teenager's alleged rape of the man's 8-year-old daughter.

The 32-year-old father turned himself into the Tarrant County Jail on Friday and was released Saturday after posting a $17,500 bond.

The stepson was arrested Jan. 2 and charged with suspicion of aggravated sexual assault. Police say the father caught the stepson assaulting his 8-year-old daughter, and a subsequent examination at a hospital revealed the girl had been sodomized.

Sgt. Cheryl Johnson, supervisor of the Fort Worth sex crimes unit, said in a story posted Saturday on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Web site that people need to "allow the criminal justice system to work for them."

"This is a very unique case, but we have a criminal justice system in place, and no one can take the law into their own hands," Johnson said.

When the stepson was arrested, the man warned his wife not to get the teenager out of jail. Instead, she posted bond for the stepson's release from the Arlington jail. When the teenager called home Jan. 3 after getting released, the father took the call and drove to the jail to pick him up, police said.

Police said that instead of taking the teenager home, the Arlington man drove to an abandoned house in Fort Worth. Inside the house, he beat his stepson with a baseball bat and sodomized him with a metal tool, police said.

The man left, leaving the teenager behind, police said. The stepson found a pay phone and called police, who searched the abandoned home.

"We did find evidence at the scene to corroborate our victim's story," Johnson said.

The Star-Telegram didn't identify the father or the stepson to protect the identity of the girl. Fort Worth police didn't immediately return phone and e-mail messages from The Associated Press.

The stepson does not have an adult criminal record in Tarrant County. The 32-year-old man has previously pleaded guilty to burglary of a habitation and served at least two jail sentences for assault with bodily injury and marijuana possession, according to court records. ..more.. by Associated Press

Registered Baytown sex offender shot three times

1-6-2008 Texas

A semi-automatic handgun was used to shoot a 27-year-old registered Baytown sex offender early in the morning of Dec. 28. The shooting occurred at Tompkins Green Apartments near Massey Tompkins Road.

The victim was identified by authorities as Ricky Germaine Mixon.

Nearby residents, hearing multiple gunshots, ran outside to see Mixon lying in the parking lot of the apartment complex and called 911 to report the incident.

Baytown police officers arrived and Mixon was quickly LifeFlighted to Memorial Hermann Hospital and treated for gunshot wounds to his leg, chest and hand.

He was coherent and able to speak to police officers immediately after the incident.

Mixon registered as a sex offender July 6, 2006 for the sexual assault of a 41-year-old female and is classified as high risk on public record. He updated his record Oct. 4, reporting his address as 302 Grantham Road, Baytown.

Officers reported that the chances of his survival were promising.

Man accused of sex assault finds 100 fliers on lawn

1-4-2008 Florida:


A Fort Walton Beach man returned home Thursday to find about 100 copies of a flier accusing him of sexual assault littering his front lawn.

The man’s grandfather originally found the papers, according to an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office offense report. The papers stated, “Caution: (name withheld) residing at (address withheld) has a history of sexually assaulting 12 and 13-year-old girls. Protect your child from this PREDATOR.”

The man told a deputy he felt his wife’s ex-husband, a Crestview man, left the fliers. The ex-husband’s current wife and children said he was with them in Crestview all day.

A flier was also found at Mr. Cheap Butts on Lewis Turner Boulevard. A deputy visited the store and spoke with the store manager who said a black female brought in the flier.

All the papers at the scene were collected and submitted into evidence. The Sheriff’s Office expects to review surveillance video from Mr. Cheap Butts sometime Friday.

The man’s name and address have been withheld from this report because there is no record of him listed as a sexual offender on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s sex offender Web site. ..more.. by Robbyn Brooks