Just find me a place to die

11-1-2005 Iowa:
Fear, desperation set in for some registered sex offenders who must move

John Chapman has rickety bones, an oxygen tank and a shameful past that's worn him down more than bad health ever could.

What he did with two 13-year-old girls nearly a decade ago put him in prison for nearly five years and on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry.

But Chapman, 73, wouldn't be in the fix he's is now — three days from being a homeless man on crutches — had he not switched apartments in June 2004. He had lived at the Elliott Apartments in downtown Des Moines before a state law went into effect that prohibits certain sex offenders from living near schools or child-care centers.

Chapman would have been exempt from the eviction proceedings that face roughly 300 others in the city, but he accepted his landlord's offer to switch apartments and have more room to park the electric scooter that helps him get around. He moved his belongings from Apartment 311 to Apartment 312. The front doors are 2 feet apart.
The units share a kitchen wall.

The move took less than an hour. But it was a move nonetheless, according to the law, and now Chapman must go.

"Please just find me a place to die," he said. "I'd just as soon take a beating than go through this."

Stories like Chapman's have become routine for Iowa authorities as they try to enforce the first round of eviction notices for registered sex offenders whose victims were minors.

Targeted for being a sex offender? Man's Elkhart pizza shop vandalized

6-7-2012 Indiana:

A convicted sex offender said vandals stole money and spray painted references that he was a pedophile outside his pizza shop.

Darren Cornell, who co-owns DC's Pizza in Elkhart with his wife, said he has his suspicions the crime could have been committed by an employee or someone he knows.

Officers are investigating $80 in missing money from the tip jar and the till. Outside there's a shattered window and broken glass, and contrasting paint to cover up letters someone spray painted by the door. While thieves took all of the cash inside the restaurant, none of the equipment inside the restaurant was damaged and a flat-screen TV was not taken.

In front of the building, paint covered up the letters “PEDI.” Cornell said it's short for “pedophile. “

Cornell believes his business was vandalized because he's on the Indiana Sex Offender Registry.

"In my mind it's a hate crime," said Cornell. "I don't feel it be any different if someone came to your house and threw a brick through your window because you're African-American," Cornell said to WSBT-TV.

Cornell was convicted at age 17 for inappropriately touching a 14-year-old relative. He served most of his 9-month sentence 8 years ago.

"The way the system is set up people look at me the same way somebody raped someone's grandma, or some serial killer rapist. They look at me differently, it's not right," he said.

Charles Bowen, a senior parole agent in St. Joseph County, said vigilante crimes against registered offenders are rare.

"So many of these offenses are committed within the family or within a close association with the family," said Bowen. "It's not real common."

"This is the first incident, I hope it's the last one," said Cornell.

One thing investigators might consider is Cornell's ties to another business – DC Burgers across the street, which recently closed for good.

We asked if workers there hadn't been paid, Cornell said “it was a rumor.” ..Source.. by WSBT.com