East Bay Family Mistakenly Appears On Sex Offender List

12-28-2004 California

Dec. 28 (ABC7) — There's a snag in the state's sex offender registry which went online this year. It turns out, not all the addresses are up-to-date. So for a Livermore family, Megan's Law has meant some embarrassment and some sleepless nights. ABC7's Debora Villalon explains why.

Look up Pam Brown's address on the sex offender list and there's a map to her house, plus data on a convicted child molester, Don Marsh. He lived there before the Browns bought the place 11 years ago. Occasionally they'll get mail for him, but didn't know his criminal past and don't like being linked to him now.

Pam Brown, victim of mistaken identity: "I'm disturbed that this isn't being taken care of immediately - that they know he doesn't live here, but somebody can't just go into the computer system and remove our address."

Livermore police are sympathetic, but somewhat powerless to fix this mistake. They can't change information in a state-run Web site. And the State Department of Justice says it can't replace an old address until it gets a new one from the sex offender."

Livermore's chief admits offenders often move without re-registering. They're the ones with red check marks on the Web site. Their new neighborhoods are unsuspecting. Their old ones, stigmatized.

Chief Steve Krull, Livermore P.D.: "I don't know if it's a huge flaw, but it certainly seems to be a hiccup that could be corrected."

It can't be fixed fast enough for the Browns, a builder and schoolteacher, now uneasy about displaying their address. They've poured time and money into remodeling their home, only to worry it could be vandalized by someone who thinks wrongly, a sex offender lives there.

Kyle Brown, victim of mistaken identity: "I don't know that to expect. Who knows what somebody might be thinking? It does worry me. It bothers me."

Marsh moved to Manteca years ago, so a quick visit from police there is all it would take to get the Browns off the hook and out of the registry.

Our inquiries prompted the Livermore police chief to personally call Sacramento, and late today, a spokesman told us the Browns' address will be removed in the next few days. ..more.. by ABC7News

Man pleads guilty to pinning molester with car

1-30-2004 Missouri:

A man accused of trying to kill the man who molested his daughter has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.

In exchange for pleading guilty to felony negligent endangerment, Eric Case will serve an 18-month deferred sentence. And if he successfully completes 18 months on probation, the entire case will be dismissed.

Eric Case was to go to trial next Monday.

"I want the public to know that he's not a dangerous guy," attorney Craig Shannon said Thursday.

Case and his wife, Lisa, were both charged with attempted murder after an altercation with Mark McGuire, who has since pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting their young daughter, along with several other charges.

The couple tried to stop McGuire on the afternoon of June 1, after seeing him driving through the trailer park where they lived. They had reported the assault two days earlier. Court documents say Lisa Case managed to pull McGuire from his car, and Eric Case took the wheel.

McGuire took off running, and Eric Case followed in the car, eventually pinning McGuire against a fence. Radiator fluid leaking from the car caused severe burns over more than one-third of McGuire's body.

"He wasn't trying to kill this man," Shannon said. "All he wanted to do is stop him for the police."

Lisa Case has a status hearing in District Court scheduled for Feb. 17. She has pleaded not guilty. ..more.. by ERICKA SCHENCK SMITH

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No prison time for man's attack on molester

3-26-2004 Montana:

MISSOULA (AP) — A judge ordered an 18-month deferred sentence Tuesday for Eric Case, who tried to kill a man who sexually assaulted a member of Case's family.

Case pleaded guilty in January to a felony charge of criminal endangerment. Charges of attempted homicide and criminal mischief were dropped as part of a plea agreement.

If Case completes his probation, he can petition to have the remaining charge dropped as well.

Case and his wife, Lisa, were both charged with attempting to kill Mark McGuire last June 1. Lisa Case's case is still pending.

McGuire, who was seriously injured in the run-in with the Cases, has since pleaded guilty to felony sexual assault.

Eric Case's attorney, Craig Shannon, said Tuesday that his client had no intention of hurting McGuire when he approached him last summer, two days after reporting the molestation to the police.

Court records say the Cases tried to stop McGuire when they saw him drive through the trailer park where they lived. Lisa Case pulled McGuire from the car, and he fled on foot. Eric Case chased him in McGuire's car, eventually pinning him against a fence.

Radiator fluid leaking from the car caused burns over more than one-third of McGuire's body.

‘‘His intention on the day in question was to stop McGuire and hold him for police,'' Shannon said, adding that Case merely wanted to protect his wife, children and neighbors.'' ... He is sorry for the injury that McGuire received in the process.'' ..more.. by Associated Press

Father accused of beating convicted sex offender

1-8-2004 Florida:

Gainesville man was arrested Tuesday morning after authorities said he used an ax handle to beat up a convicted sexual offender who authorities said touched his son.

Roosevelt Henry Reed, 29, just moved into a halfway house at 1580 SE 33rd St. on Monday, Alachua County Sheriff's Lt. Jim Troiano said. Reed got out of prison in July after serving a five-year sentence for lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 16, according to Department of Corrections records.

An 11-year-old boy was staying at the halfway house, which is owned and operated by the boy's relatives.

The boy woke up at about 2 a.m. Tuesday to find a man rubbing his stomach and leg, Troiano said. He screamed and another man sleeping in the room woke up and yelled at the man, who fled. Relatives called the boy's

father, who found Reed walking in the 2300 block of Hawthorne Road. The man hit Reed several times with an ax handle.

Reed was treated by paramedics and then arrested on charges of battery and burglary.

The boy's father, whose name The Sun is withholding to protect the identity of the victim, was arrested on charges of aggravated battery.

Troiano said that while the father's feelings are understandable, authorities can't allow that kind of vengeance.

Reed won't be allowed to return to the halfway house or to go anywhere near the boy, Troiano said. And while some sexual offenders aren't allowed near children, Reed had no such prohibition, Troiano said. Reed has served two prison sentences for lewd and lascivious acts on children. ..more.. by KATHY CIOTOLA

Taking the law into their own hands

5-9-2004 Florida:

People living in the North Boulevard Homes complex in Tampa consider the neighborhood tight knit.

So it should be no surprise that when children are abused, residents want to make sure it never happens again.

"You don't want a baby raped around your children, so when you find out about it, that's when you do something about it," said area resident Richard Morgan, a father of two.

Tampa Police believe Jeffrey Dennis Butler, who is now behind bars on two counts of aggravated child abuse, went into an upstairs apartment Saturday in the 900 block of West Spruce Street, where two young girls were sleeping after a slumber party.

Police reports say Butler put a pornographic movie into the VCR, then molested both girls and raped one of them.

Investigators say hours later, Butler attended a neighborhood party and acted as if nothing had happened. The incident happened at North Boulevard Homes.

When the two girls eventually spoke up about what happened, Butler took off running from the neighborhood gathering, chased by other people from the party. They caught up with him seven blocks down the street, pinning him to the ground and beating him with baseball bats before police arrived.

Butler was treated for minor injuries at Tampa General Hospital before being taken to jail. No one who took part in the beating was arrested.

Asked if the beating was wrong, Morgan replied, "Nope, personally I would have killed him, plain and simple. People like that don't deserve to be on this earth."

A criminal background check reveals Butler has no prior criminal record in Florida. ..more.. by Bay 9 News

Underage victim apologizes to sex offender!

6-15-2004 Kansas:

OLATHE, Kan. - The 14-year-old victim of a man convicted of having sex with her apologized Monday for convincing him she was 18. The [technical offender] was sentenced Monday in Johnson County District Court to nine months in jail for aggravated indecent liberties with a child.

[He] plead guilty to the crime in April, saying he didn't know the girl was underage.

The girl, who met [him] last fall after posting an Internet profile claiming that she was 18 and interested in meeting men for casual sex, apologized to [him] and her family for the pain her behavior had caused. (The Kansas City Star)....more....

Registered sex offender may be victim of arson

8-27-2004 Wisconsin

.MADISON -- There was bizarre twist to a weekend house fire in Madison that destroyed a family’s dream. It may have been intentionally set because the owner is a registered sexual offender.

Bill Corbett, 24, desperately wants his neighbors to see the family man side of him.

Instead, some of them found his picture when they logged onto Lake County’s sexual offender website. “You got rumors running around,” Corbett said. “I’m a child molester, stuff that never even happened.”

When Bill was 18, he was convicted of raping a man. But before he was sentenced, new evidence cleared him and the case was thrown out.

He did however, plea to a lesser charge of gross sexual imposition and was labeled the least serious sexual offender. ..more.. Jennifer Murphy

Accuser in home invasion arrested: Woman faces charges of filing false report

10-10-2004 New York

.The apparent victim of an Amherst home invasion swapped places in the Amherst town jail Friday night with the man she claimed attacked her. Amherst police detectives said Kim Novara, 36, confessed that she lied when she reported Gregory L. Mitchell, 42, of Buffalo broke into her house with a gun early Thursday, tied her up with a telephone cord and tried to rape her.

Minutes after felony burglary and unlawful imprisonment charges were dropped against Mitchell and he was freed, Novara was arraigned before Amherst Town Justice Geoffrey K. Klein on misdemeanor counts of filing a false written statement and falsely reporting an incident.

"During the course of our investigation, more and more information came forward and led us to believe that what we were being led to believe was not exactly true," Assistant Police Chief Ronald H. Hagelberger said.

Novara, a mother of four children, initially told police that Mitchell broke into her Glenhaven Drive apartment about 7:30 a.m., tied her up with a telephone cord and threatened to kill her and her children. She claimed he slashed her across the arms, subjected her to sexual contact and attempted to abduct her 10-year-old daughter, all while holding her at gunpoint until 9:30 a.m.

Amherst police talked with Novara, her 15-year-old son - who according to Novara's story, beat the attacker away with a baseball bat - and other witnesses. Police realized there was something fishy about the story, Hagelberger said.

Later, Novara confessed it wasn't Mitchell. "She was mad at Mr. Mitchell. That is why she was making the allegations against him," Hagelberger said. ..more.. T.J. PIGNATARO | News Staff Reporter

Police say woman lied about kidnapping, rape

10-10-2004 Indiana

.An Indianapolis woman was arrested today after authorities said she falsely claimed to have been kidnapped, raped and forced into the trunk of her car along with her 3-year-old son. Lodis V. Teague, 24, was booked into the Arrestee Processing Center on preliminary charges of false reporting and child neglect.

"She fabricated the entire story. She was never sexually assaulted and she is the one who put her child into the trunk of her car," said Capt. Phil Burton, a Marion County sheriff's department spokesman.

The police report indicates that the woman tried unsuccessfully to place calls from her cellular phone. A relative who was not part of the hoax found her, Burton said. Burton said he's not sure of her motive or why she misled detectives.

He said the sheriff's department wants to "send a message" to warn people "that you will go to jail" in such a hoax. Child neglect is a class D felony, punishable by six months to three years in prison if convicted. ..more.. Tom Spalding

After Man Serves 20 Years In Prison, 'Victims' Admit Lying: Pair Said Grandmother Pushed Them To Lie

11-5-2004 North Carolina:

.RALEIGH, N.C. -- Two women in North Carolina are recanting their testimony in a child molestation case that had imprisoned a man for 20 years, with one saying her grandmother made them accuse the wrong man.

The accusers are cousins who were four and six when they accused Sylvester Smith of sexual abuse. Smith was convicted and given two consecutive life sentences in 1984.

One of the women said the real abuser was a cousin who's now in prison. A prosecutor said the woman now say their grandmother pressured them to accuse Smith rather than the cousin, in order to protect him.

North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley prosecuted the case when he was a district attorney. Easley's spokeswoman said the governor doesn't have enough information to comment. ..more..

Sex conviction overturned: Detective made up evidence, court says

11-21-2004 Kentucky:

A molestation case that sparked outrage by parents in a Central Kentucky town took a stunning turn yesterday when an appeals court threw out the conviction of a church day-care worker because police made up evidence.

In clearing Joey Dean Herndon, Kentucky's Court of Appeals heaped criticism on Richmond police Detective Ellen Alexander for building a case "on a foundation of incompetent, unreliable and even manufactured evidence."

"The investigation was supported or carried out with outright lies," Judge Wilfrid A. Schroder said. "Children were told what to say. Even though the investigation found no corroborative evidence of abuse, the matter was taken to trial where the investigating detective continued lying to mislead the jury."

Herndon was convicted in 2000 of sexually abusing a young boy who attended Lighthouse Child Care Center in Richmond and sentenced to five years, though he was released on bond pending his appeal.

The three-judge appeals panel said the case was investigated amid a backdrop of "outrage and hysteria," including protests by angry parents outside the jail where Herndon was held. ..more.. Bruce Schreiner | Associated Press

Molestation Charges Against Lodi Firefighter Dropped

12-8-2004 California:

Felony child molestation charges against a Lodi fire captain have been dismissed after his purported victim recanted her claims during testimony. Deputies with the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department arrested Fire Captain Michael Tecklenburg, 43, in September following claims made by a teenage girl that he had raped her.

The case surrounds a 15-year-old girl, who is not being identified by News10 because of her status as a minor, who had run away from home two weeks previously. Tecklenburg spearheaded an intensive search for her, enlisting his friends and fellow firefighters to assist.

According to the investigators, the girl contacted her therapist and told him Tecklenburg had repeatedly sexually assaulted her during the past several months. The therapist put the teen in contact with detectives.

In court testimony the girl claimed the notion that she was raped by Tecklenburg was planted by detectives. She said at first she denied it, but became exhausted after hours of questioning and said the sexual assaults had occurred. ..more.. News10

Court clears Texas man who has spent 12 years in prison

12-9-2004 Texas

.After 12 years in prison insisting that he was wrongfully convicted of molesting a 3-year-old girl, John Michael Harvey of Bedford in North Texas won a rare finding of innocence Wednesday from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

In a narrow decision, the state's highest criminal court agreed 5-4 with a Tarrant County judge that Harvey is "actually innocent" and would not have been convicted after the girl's recantation more than a decade later.

Eva Archer-Smith, Harvey's cousin from Houston, screamed into the telephone Wednesday after being told of the court's decision. Since Harvey, 40, began his life behind bars, his parents have died, his fiancee has left him, and he has suffered a heart attack, she said.

Archer-Smith hopes to have Harvey home in time for Christmas. "This is so fabulous," she said. "It is the perfect time of year for the light to shine." ..more.. MAX B. BAKER

Accused child molester is found not guilty

12-10-2004 Vermont:

."The nightmare is over," Norman Cook, 48, declared after a jury found him not guilty of child molestation Thursday. Cook, of Brattleboro, was facing a maximum of 80 years in prison on charges that he sexually assaulted a 9-year-old girl six years ago.

"This is a small town, and Mr. Cook had to put up with being looked at as a pedophile for over a year," defense attorney Eileen Hongisto of the firm Harris & Stone said of her client.

"People need to know he was acquitted of everything." Hongisto said she believes the jury was swayed by Cook's testimony on the stand, and inconsistencies in his now 15-year-old accuser's story.

"The details of what she said happened, to the therapist and a police officer, a social worker and when she testified on the stand changed," Hongisto said. "And the fact that it was a one time alleged thing -- for pedophiles, that's not the pattern."

The allegations against Cook were brought forward after his accuser, of Troy, N.H., had been found by authorities, Hongisto said. "At worst case scenario, she was lying and trying to get out of trouble. A total fabrication," Hongisto said. ..more.. ANDREW RAGOUZEOS Reformer Staff

Police: Girl's Molestation Story 'Unfounded': Detectives Find Discrepancies In Girl's Story

12-17-2004 Indiana:

Police said a 7-year-old girl's account of three sexual molestations at the hands of a stranger were unfounded. Police said the girl claimed that two of the incidents occurred at Indianapolis Public School 44 in the 2000 block of North Sugar Grove Avenue on the city's west side, and that a third sexual assault happened nearby, behind a school bus.

The girl also claimed that the man had a gun during one of the attacks, police said. Detectives who re-interviewed the child found too many discrepancies in her story, RTV6 reported. The Indy Channel.com ..more.. see earlier story: Girl, 7, Claims Man Fondled Her On School Property

Local lawmen investigating bizarre threat at Rio station

2-8-2004 Louisiana:

The human-like dummy found hanging from the flagpole outside the District Seven Fire Station in Rio recently had a message scrawled across its white sweatshirt that prompted concerns that the stunt might have been a hate crime. But the Washington Parish Sheriff's Office said threats directed at convicted child molesters do not fit under the Louisiana Hate Crime law.

The words, "child molester" were written on the shirt adorning the apparently home-made dummy that was reportedly hung outside the station sometime in the night, according to a WPSO report. A sign attached to the dummy reportedly read, "and those who shelter them in Rio, Louisiana. "The dummy was discovered and removed early in the morning.

Someone was apparently trying to send a message to a sex offender who has recently moved into the area, the sheriff's office said. Such offenders are required to register and to publish an informational announcement when they move into a new residence.

Because the dummy incident does not qualify as a hate crime, it is being investigated as a criminal trespass on the fire station property, said Chief Criminal Deputy Dan Foil. ..more.. : by Marcelle Hanemann

Proposed House For Sex Offenders Vandalized

11-13-2004 Washington:

House In Wallingford Shot By Someone With BB Gun

SEATTLE -- Seattle police are offering a $200 reward for information leading to the arrest of whoever shot at least 19 holes through a house in the Wallingford neighborhood.

Local residents say the BB shots appeared after Christian-based Providence House proposed turning the house into a self-help, transitional residence for sex offenders.

The home, at 5th Avenue NE and NE 51st Street, would house Level I sex offenders, who are considered at low risk to re-offend. ..more.. : by KIRO TV

Sex-offender mixup tags wrong JC house

7-6-2004 New York:

Property egged after residents were notified

Police patrolled a village neighborhood Monday night after someone egged a house that state criminal justice officials wrongly identified as the address of a high-risk, convicted sex offender. "We just want to let people know it's a safe neighborhood," Mayor Harry G. Lewis said late Monday about the increased police presence in the village's North Side.

"Some people got bent out of shape evidently and egged the house." ... Lewis said police think the house was targeted because the state Division of Criminal Justice Services had alerted the village Friday that a Level 3 sex offender moved into the property.

According to state classifications, Level 3 is a high-risk offender. ... After going door-to-door Friday to alert neighbors to the offender, village police had to rush back Sunday to retract the mistaken information.

But it was too late to divert someone's dislike for convicted sex offenders, Lewis said. "I would hate to think anything more would happen, but you never know," he said. ..more.. : by William Moyer

Home of sex offender picketed

11-4-2004 Maine:

Police do nothing knowing full well what the community is doing is against the law including the registry law! ----SEE REPORT OF HIS DEATH BELOW----
HOLLIS — The next-door neighbor of a convicted sex offender just out of prison said she will continue protesting in front of his home until he leaves. ... Even if convicted sex offender Joseph Tellier were to leave, however, there would still be 16 convicted sex offenders living within a five-mile radius of north Hollis, according to the Maine Sex Offender Registry. The registry shows that most communities are home to convicted sex offenders.

When Tellier, 57, settled in Hollis after serving 15 years for molesting and beating a 10-year-old Saco girl, his arrival gathered considerable attention. The publicity had nothing to do with legal notification requirements - there were none in this case - but resulted instead from the efforts of his victim, 26-year-old Michelle Tardif, still of Saco. Tellier, who lives at 135 Waterboro Road in a home with Halloween decorations and several large no trespassing signs outside, could not be located for comment.

Tardif went door-to-door to alert residents of Tellier's history. State law does not require those convicted before June 30, 1992 to register as sex offenders, said Tardif, who wants the Legislature to close the loophole. Civil libertarians, defense lawyers and some criminal justice officials have said that alerting residents to the presence of a sex offender can lead to attacks by vigilantes, can make it almost impossible for the person to earn a livelihood, and can force some convicts to abscond, making it harder to keep track of them.

Because of Tardif's efforts, Tellier's arrival in the neighborhood of single-family homes attracted more attention than most registered sex offenders. Earlier this week, about 15 neighbors holding signs protesting Tellier's presence gathered in front of the split-level ranch home where he lives. But one resident said neighbors need to put Tellier's arrival in perspective. There were sex offenders in the area before Tellier arrived, and others would still be around even if he were to leave, said Michelle Gentry, who runs a day-care center for 50 children about half a mile from Tellier's home.

Convicted Sex Offender Wants State Job Back

7-22-2004 New Mexico:

SANTA FE, N.M. -- The state Supreme Court has ruled that a convicted sex offender who was fired from his job as a state employee can have his job back. Fired from his job as a supervisor with the state Transportation Department, James Sanchez said he couldn't find work anywhere.

"To get blackballed out of any employment was very hard," Sanchez said. "I had to file bankruptcy, came very close to losing my mortgage. It was very hard times." Gov. Bill Richardson fired Sanchez because he is a convicted sex offender accused of sexual misconduct.

But the state Supreme Court recently reversed the governor's decision, saying Sanchez should not only be rehired, but earn back pay. In a statement to Action 7 News, the governor's office said the decision by the administration of former Gov. Gary E. Johnson to hire Sanchez was a mistake and the Richardson administration disagrees with the Supreme Court's decision and vows never to hire a sexual predator.

Nancy Richards, who represents Sanchez, said not only was her client blackballed, but his being fired violated his civil rights. "You can't just say, 'Sex offenders, you can't work for state government.' There are laws involved here," Richards said. ..more.. : by New Mexico Channel

Newspaper Photographer fired after boss finds out he's convicted sex offender!

5-19-2004 Texas:

Anthony Odums worked for an African American newspaper, taking pictures of young female athletes at sporting events. Concerns were raised because Odums served a five-year prison sentence after he was convicted of victimizing a 13-year-old girl.

Odums says he was innocent of those charges and didn't see anything inappropriate when it came to his position with the Houston paper. ..more.. : by ABC 13