Paraplegic faces jail in violent citizen’s arrest

4-5-2011 Massachusetts:

Victim’ charged with child abuse

Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe is pressing ahead with a felony assault charge that could put a paraplegic grandfather in the slammer for up to 10 years for whacking his 3-year-old granddaughter’s alleged molester with a Louisville slugger after setting a trap for his arrest.

As a result of 57-year-old Martha’s Vineyard computer salesman Frank Hebert’s unconventional citizen’s arrest, Joshua A. Hardy, 27, of Middleboro, now faces child molestation charges in a second case out of Wareham involving another little girl, authorities tell the Herald.

“I’m not a hero, that’s for damn sure,” Hebert, his voice cracking, said last night. “I’d do it again tomorrow, knowing the consequence. I didn’t have a choice. A 10-year-old kid could take me. This is not about me. This is about a tiny child. I would never tell her I took a risk for her. I’d tell her I loved her.”

Hebert, left confined to a wheelchair with only partial use of his arms after a car crash in Falmouth a decade ago, was summonsed to Edgartown District Court on March 25 and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He said he was advised by a judge to get an attorney and is due back in court May 2 for a pretrial conference.

Court roundup: Man charged with stabbing cellmate

4-30-2011 Washington:

PASCO -- A convicted wife killer has been charged with stabbing his cellmate in Coyote Ridge Corrections Center, reportedly because the man is a sex offender.

John Robert Spicer, 49, is set for trial June 22 in Franklin County Superior Court on one count of second-degree assault. He has pleaded innocent.

The allegations stem from a Jan. 25, 2010, incident at the Connell prison, where Spicer and Sammy Stephens shared a cell in the new addition.

Spicer has been locked up since January 2002 for a second-degree murder conviction with a firearm enhancement out of Pend Oreille County, according to a Washington Department of Corrections spokeswoman. He shot his wife in April 2001 after reportedly waking up mad.

Stephens, 33, is at Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen. He was readmitted to prison in October 2010 for failing to register as a sex offender in Clark County.

According to court documents, the two offenders were leaving their cell when Spicer grabbed Stephens from behind and stabbed him in the back of the neck with a knife-like weapon. Stephens broke free and ran down the stairs in their pod, with Spicer in pursuit, documents said.

That exchange was caught on video surveillance, with the two men going out of view as Spicer continued to follow while still allegedly holding the weapon in his right hand. Footage then shows him walk to a trash can and throw away the weapon, court documents said.

Sex Offenders Say They Are Harassed, Others Not Sympathetic

5-25-2011 Arkansas:

A registered sex offender says he's being harassed at his home, because people know his past.

"They chipped off the paint, there's two dents right there," said Heather, showing KARK the marks in her home.

Preferring to be referred to only as Heather, Saturday she says someone shot up her home off Crystal Hill Road with a BB gun

"This is a last Hail Mary effort, I hope it doesn't keep happening. It scares me and it scares my neighbors and friends," she said.

Heather says this, and other harassment, has happened before: all because her roommate is a registered sex offender.

"I think they are targeting sex offenders, every time the notification fly-er goes out, they target whichever trailer they think is where the person lives," she said.

In this area, there are more than a half a dozen sex-offenders. Each time one moves in, local law enforcement has to let the neighborhood know.

"It doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen," said Lt. Minden.

Lt. Carl Minden with the Pulaski County Sheriff's office says retaliation isn't what the registry is intended for and in fact, is potentially criminal.

"Obviously they did commit a crime, as a sex offender, but they still have rights as a citizen and you have to respect their rights or you'll be breaking the law and you won't be any better than them," he said.

That's why they're investigating what happened at Heather's home.

Still, she's worried someone is taking the law into their own hands.

"That's what worries me is that someone is going to come out here with more than a BB gun and mischief on their mind," she said.

But nearby neighbor Marley Benefield sees things differently. With three young daughters, she wouldn't retaliate, but she's not exactly sympathetic.

"They weren't being very sympathetic when they did what they did," she said.

Heather didn't want us to give out exact information about her, her home or roommate, fearing more retaliation.

The notification fly-ers actually have a warning on them against taking revenge.

If you are having a problem with a registered sex offender in your area, law enforcement says call them instead. ..Source.. by Lauren Trager, KARK 4 News