Man accused of setting fire to sex offender's house in Jefferson County

8-20-17 Alabama:

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office announced Friday an arrest in connection with a house fire earlier this summer.

Jessie Lessley, 35, of Robinwood, is charged with second-degree arson. Lessley is accused of burning a home in the 400 block of 10th Street on July 31. Authorities said he was reportedly spotted running from the rear of the home just before the fire brokeout.

An arrest warrant was issued on Aug. 14 after the state fire marshal investigated.

Lessley was booked into jail and later released on a $15,000 bond. ..Source..

Sex offender attacked and told to leave neighborhood

2-1-17 Illinois:

DECATUR – A Decatur man was being held in the Macon County Jail on Monday night, accused of beating a victim labeled as a “sexual predator.”

Police statements say the alleged assault happened Aug. 20, but police finally caught up with 19-year-old suspect Saturday morning. The statements described him as being a student at Lincoln College of Technology in Indianapolis, Ind.

Police accuse the man of setting upon the victim with two other teenage men as the victim walked along the 2000 block of East Pythian Avenue. The 53-year-old victim, who is a registered sex offender, told police he had seen the three men watching him as he walked along and, after crossing the street, he was initially attacked by two of them.

Man who tried running over man he thought was a child molester gets probation

1-22-17 Michigan:

BAY CITY, MI -- A 34-year-old man who tried to run over another man and said he did so to defend children has received a probationary sentence.

Bay County Circuit Judge Harry P. Gil on Tuesday, Jan. 17, sentenced Justin R. Aikens to three years' probation. The judge gave him credit for 57 days served in jail and deferred an additional 308 days, meaning Aikens will only have to serve them if he violates his probation.

The judge also ordered Aikens to pay $1,400 in restitution.

Aikens in December pleaded guilty to single counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and larceny by conversion less than $1,000. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed a charge of reckless driving.

The assault charge stems from police on the afternoon of Sunday, July 17, having responded to a complaint on Hart Street in Bay City after a 40-year-old man called 911 to report he was nearly run over. The man told officers a white panel van bearing a construction company's name had driven by him as he walked his dog. The van's driver yelled at the man and accused him of being a sex offender, the man told police.

Fire destroys future home of California sex offender

1-13-17 California:

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Fire has destroyed a mobile home in a rural Central California foothill community set to house a convicted sex offender.

The Fresno Bee reported Thursday (http://bit.ly/2jcCcdr ) that state officials planned to put Jeffrey Snyder in the mobile home. He's due to be released from a state mental hospital.

California's directory of convicted sex offenders describes 61-year-old Snyder as a sexually violent predator. The newspaper doesn't say whether investigators suspect somebody intentionally started the fire.

The mobile home was located near Squaw Valley, a community in eastern Fresno County.

State officials chose the mobile home after residents in a Fresno neighborhood protested plans to put him in a house near them.

Snyder's attorney, Curtis Sok, could not be immediately reached for comment.