'Get out perv' left at fire site

2-2-2008 Indiana:

A trailer of carpet cleaning equipment at an Evansville house may have been mistakenly set on fire by someone targeting a suspected sex offender early Friday morning, according to a police report.

Firefighters arrived at 705 Audubon Drive at 2:30 a.m. to find a cargo trailer on fire in the driveway at the home of Randall Eggers, according to fire investigators.

The phrase "GET OUT PERV" was spray painted on the victim's garage.

According to an Evansville Police Department report, the homeowner heard a popping sound from outside and could see a glow from the windows. He went outside to find the cargo trailer on fire and used his pickup truck to push it away from the house before the fire could spread.

Fire Investigator Jesse Storey told police that he could smell gasoline around the trailer. The trailer and its contents were a total loss and valued at about $30,000.

Possible target

The resident told police that Robert "Andy" Gillespie, who was arrested last month on preliminary charges of child solicitation, lives nearby.

Gillespie was arrested after driving to the Indianapolis area allegedly to meet a 14-year-old girl he had met in an online chat room.

But police say Gillespie actually was chatting online and sharing lewd photographs with an undercover Carmel, Ind., police officer who arranged for Gillespie's arrest when he showed up at their agreed upon meeting place.

The recent University of Evansville graduate and a former employee of the WUEV student radio station there also worked several times as a substitute teacher at McGary Middle School and Stockwell Elementary School. ..more.. by Mark Wilson

DPS denies mailing post cards to sex offenders

10-7-1999 Texas:

AUSTIN Post cards purporting to be from the Texas Department of Public Safety have been sent to registered sex offenders across the state, DPS officials warned Wednesday.

The sender is asking sex offenders to confirm their address and return the post cards to DPS at P.O. Box 13012 in Austin. However, the cards didn't come from DPS.

"That's not our address," said DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange.

The DPS Special Crimes Service and the U.S. Postal Inspector have launched a criminal investigation into who sent the cards. Investigators are looking into possible mail fraud and state offenses, including forgery and the fraudulent use of the DPS name.

"We need the assistance of citizens who have received these post cards to mail them in an envelope to the DPS," said Lt. Col. Tommy Davis, assistant director of the department.

The cards can be mailed to DPS Special Crimes Service, P.O. Box 4087, Austin, Texas 78773-0420.

Mange said DPS began receiving calls about the phony post cards late last week and early this week.

"We've heard from a lot of people ... sex offenders, people who live at addresses where sex offenders live and parole and probation officers," she said.

Mange said sex offenders are required by law to register with local law enforcement agencies, but the post cards aren't part of the registration requirements. DPS receives information about sex offenders from the local agencies and posts it on the Internet, she said.

David Rowan, a probation officer in Lubbock County, said he hasn't heard from any probationers who received the cards.

Some registered sex offenders in Lubbock have had flyers about them placed on cars around their neighborhood and have been confronted by neighbors, Rowan said. ..more.. by Morris News Service

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.