One Account of Abuse and Fear in Texas Youth Detention

3-7-2007 Texas:

Joseph Galloway says he was molested at 15 by a female corrections officer in a Texas Youth Commission detention center and later raped by a fellow inmate as a guard stood by.

“That’s when I started to try to kill myself,” Mr. Galloway, now 19, said by telephone from another youth facility as he waited late Tuesday to be interviewed by the Texas Rangers.

Mr. Galloway’s account is among about 150 new complaints that have emerged from 44 secure state schools, halfway houses and residential youth care programs in Texas as a result of several overlapping inquiries into accusations of sexual abuse and other mistreatment there.

A senior investigator, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to talk to news organizations, said that only Wednesday, a registered sex offender was found to be working at the Coke County Juvenile Justice Center, near San Angelo, a Youth Commission facility operated by a private contractor.

“The good news is we’re finding plenty to inquire about,” said Jay Kimbrough, the special master appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to investigate after a scandal broke last month with news reports that the commission had covered up repeated sexual encounters between at least 10 boys and 2 administrators at the West Texas State School, in Pyote, from 2003 to 2005. More recently, officials said that at least three girls had been sexually abused by a corrections officer at another facility, in Brownwood.

A joint legislative committee of inquiry is to hold a hearing on Thursday in Austin, with testimony expected from the Texas ranger whose report on the events at Pyote remained undisclosed from 2005 until a few weeks ago.

46 Investigates: Off The List

Even though society wants former offenders to follow the law, society itself wants to ignore the laws.

11-9-2007 Georgia:

A CBS 46 News Investigation has discovered hundreds of people charged with sex crimes have been removed from Georgia's Sex Offender Registry. They are accused of crimes like rape, incest and even child molestation, and they're living in our communities, undetected.

"It's several hundred. You can't say it's just a few. As many as 600 or more have come off," according to John Bankhead, a spokesperson for the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.

Like ___. In 2001 he pled guilty to molesting 3 young girls. But just 6 years later his criminal history has disappeared. Investigative Reporter Wendy Saltzman asked ___, "When I look on line, I cannot find you as a sexual offender." ____ responded, "Well, that's the law."

Another woman's 11 year old son was molested by ____. "He's a monster, a complete monster," she says.

___ pled guilty to 3 counts of child molestation for fondling three different Fulton county boys. The victim’s mother continued, "This man is never going to stop. In court he admitted to doing this for 18 years, and that was 5 years ago. He has done it his whole life. He is never going to stop."

____ petitioned to be removed from the registry. Now he has gone underground, listing a post office box in Duluth as his only contact address. "I'm furious, I can't even believe it," the victim’s mother responds.

Investigation: Sex Offender on the Job

11-5-2007 Texas:

"I am shocked. I am shocked to hear it," said homeowner Sunita Sherma as she learned she had just allowed a registered sex offender into her home. Robert Alonzo pleaded guilty in 1993 to the aggravated sexual assault of a 5-year-old. He is a registered sex offender who, at the time, was working for Terminix. Alonzo visited Sherma's home to provide pest control services.

Sherma has three small children and baby-sits other kids, too. A parent dropped off her child while Alonzo was at Sherma’s home. "He might be going upstairs where my kids are usually watching cartoons and stuff," Sherma said.

Alonzo didn't have anything to say to reporter Becky Oliver when she questioned him while leaving Sherma's home. "Does your employer know you are going into homes?" Oliver asked. "Does Terminix know?" Alonzo did not respond and drove away.

Terminix told FOX 4 the company was "unaware" of Alonzo's record and the "incident was not revealed" when the company conducted its regular pre-hire background check. But FOX 4 had no problem finding Alonzo's record at the Dallas County Courthouse and on the Texas Department of Public Safety's website. Apparently, Alonzo's criminal past also slipped by the state licensing agency. On Alonzo's 1998 state pest control license application, when asked if he had ever been arrested, Alonzo marked “no.” And every year afterward on his renewal he also marked “no,” even though he was on probation for the sex assault through 2003.

FOX 4 learned the state was only running criminal background checks on applicants who admitted they had been arrested. The Texas Department of Agriculture says that policy has changed and now all applicants will undergo background checks no matter what information they provide on their application. Terminix also terminated Alonzo after learning of his criminal past.

Neighbors declare war on sex offender in Manchester

8-16-2007 New Hampshire:

Former Penacook woman hounded after serving years in prison

A child sex offender, is still paying for her crime. Her neighbors have seen to that.

They routinely call her "molester" and "skinner," slang for rapist, as she walks to and from her third-floor apartment in a tough neighborhood in Manchester. One of them burned a homemade scarecrow on her front step about 1 a.m. last Saturday, a crime for which Paul Hafford, who lives across the street, was booked on a charge of felonious reckless conduct.

And yesterday, her's roommate said she heard a loud thump against the side of their small two-bedroom apartment. She figures it was a rock, but she isn't sure.

War has been declared on her, who plead guilty to aggravated felonious sexual assault 10 years ago for improperly touching her oldest son, then nearly 9. Her neighbors want her out of the area, away from their children, away from the school down the street, which is within view of the old apartment buildings that line the street.

She served seven years in prison, spent nine months in a halfway house and finished her parole last summer. She's now in counseling, trying to figure out why she molested her own child.

She takes responsibility for her crime. "I just know I did wrong and I hope I never do it again. I think I got what I deserved," she said.

She's 39. She has diabetes and poor circulation in her legs. She lives on disability, as does her roomate, who says she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after her husband tried to kill her.

WI- Prosecutors Charge Mother Over Stabbing of Sex Assault Suspect

8-27-2007 Wisconsin:

Prosecutors in Sheboygan County have filed a misdemeanor charge against a mother who stabbed a teenager after he was caught sexually assaulting the woman's 8-year-old daughter.

Click Here to read the criminal complaint ***WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT***

According to a criminal complaint, the mother readily admitted to authorities that she stabbed the 17-year-old. According to the complaint, the mother, her boyfriend, another friend and her nephew were staying at her apartment along with two of her children. At some point, the mother, her boyfriend and other friend left to go to a food mart, leaving the nephew with the children.

When they returned, they found the nephew in the room with the children. He was engaged in a lewd act in front of the girl, who was partially naked. The friend says he became enraged and grabbed the nephew, throwing him to the floor. He began to punch and kick the nephew. At some point, someone got a knife, but it was not used at that point.

WA- 4 Women Harassed Following Internet Sex Hoax

11-5-2007 Washington:

SEATTLE -- Four women said that men have been showing up at their house following the posting of a fake ad on the Internet that suggested men should come there for sex, reported KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

The roommates said that multiple men have come to their home, with the first man appearing at 2 a.m. one night.

The following night they said another man knocked on their door. The third night one man said he had come for a blind date with the roommates.

“He had a bottle of wine and he was dressed to the nines, so to speak, and I thought, ‘What is going on here’?” said one roommate.

The man said he saw a post on Craigslist.com. “I was drilling him, more or less. I asked him where he saw the ad, what was the title and what did it say?” another roommate said.

The women said they don’t know who posted the ad and that they can’t find it online.

Registered Baytown sex offender shot three times

1-6-2008 Texas

A semi-automatic handgun was used to shoot a 27-year-old registered Baytown sex offender early in the morning of Dec. 28. The shooting occurred at Tompkins Green Apartments near Massey Tompkins Road.

The victim was identified by authorities as Ricky Germaine Mixon.

Nearby residents, hearing multiple gunshots, ran outside to see Mixon lying in the parking lot of the apartment complex and called 911 to report the incident.

Baytown police officers arrived and Mixon was quickly LifeFlighted to Memorial Hermann Hospital and treated for gunshot wounds to his leg, chest and hand.

He was coherent and able to speak to police officers immediately after the incident.

Mixon registered as a sex offender July 6, 2006 for the sexual assault of a 41-year-old female and is classified as high risk on public record. He updated his record Oct. 4, reporting his address as 302 Grantham Road, Baytown.

Officers reported that the chances of his survival were promising.

Lauderdale woman faces charges after confrontation with sex offender

12-3-2007 Florida:

Davie - As Valerie Parkhurst was warning neighbors about sex offenders, one of them turned down the street.

She confronted him at gunpoint, and ended up in jail.

Parkhurst, 52, said Monday she was surprised police arrested her after the confrontation with Dale Weeks, 49, in the Playland Village neighborhood on Saturday. She was charged with aggravated assault and two counts of carrying a concealed firearm without a permit.

"I had a convicted sex offender, kidnapper who cornered me," Parkhurst said. "I don't expect to be convicted on any one of those [charges] because I was in the right."

Weeks was convicted in 1996 of abducting and raping a Walton County woman, according to state records. He served nine years and was released from prison in May 2005

Lt. Wayne Boulier, Davie police spokesman, said he can understand that neighbors are concerned when a registered sex offender moves into a community.

"Still, that doesn't justify pulling out a gun and threatening to kill people," he said.

Police said in a report released Monday that Weeks and girlfriend Maria Rodriguez were driving on the 4600 block of Southwest 66th Avenue at 1:50 p.m. Saturday. They were headed to a thrift shop to buy clothes when they came upon Parkhurst, who was posting fliers of sex offenders in the area. Parkhurst recognized Weeks and thought he was following her. So she got out of her Chevy SUV, pulled 9-millimeter Glock from a holster, and told Weeks she would kill him, police said.

Rodriguez, who was behind the wheel, froze and could not drive away, police said. Parkhurst went back to her SUV, grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun, pointed it into the pair's car and again threatened to kill Weeks, police said.

"It's a vigilante-style move," Weeks said Monday. "She has no right to blow me away."

Parkhurst disputes the police account, saying that Weeks and Rodriguez stalked her after they saw her put up the fliers at Weeks' complex hours earlier. Parkhurst said they blocked her in at a dead-end street. When she got out of her truck to ask what they were doing, Parkhurst said Weeks threatened her in a profanity-laced rant.

That's when Parkhurst, mother of an adult son, threatened to shoot him if he touched her, she said. When Weeks continued to swear at her, she grabbed the shotgun she keeps in her SUV for her and her boyfriend's weekly clay shooting practice.

"I figured if the pistol didn't scare him, maybe the shotgun would," Parkhurst said. "I stood there with the shotgun and said, 'If you come near me, I promise you, I will shoot you.'"

Group pickets restaurant over placement of sex offender

Parolee's home is owned by proprietor of Racine eatery; owner of Somers restaurant is protesting
11-25-2007 Wisconsin:

RACINE — Darcy Powell lives in a gray, nondescript house surrounded by a well-kept yard on a dead-end street.

There is no name on his mailbox. There is no car in the driveway. There is no sunlight that enters his house since the white shades are kept closed and down.

The dwelling he lives in is among four other houses on a roadway on the northwest edge of Kenosha County in the Town of Somers. On the other side of the two-lane road, there is a small basketball hoop in a driveway, a trampoline in a backyard and an assortment of children’s playthings.

Powell, who was convicted of two counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child and two counts of incest with a child in 1996, preyed on children for years. He now lives in the clutches of the state’s Chapter 980, a program that binds convicted sex offenders to a tightly supervised life outside of prison.

“He is living in his own little prison,” his mentor, Terry Maack, the deacon of St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Kenosha, said Sunday afternoon.

Alleged child molester attacked in jail

11-19-2007 Indiana:

Indianapolis - An Indianapolis man accused of child molestation was attacked at the Marion County Jail Monday evening.

Ron Eiland, 59, was asleep in his cell around 10:30 p.m. Sunday when two inmates approached, then assaulted him. Eiland alerted the jail staff, who came to his aid, and he told them he fell out of his bunk. After he was transported to another cell, he told officers about the assault.

Eiland faces charges after police say he molested a nine-year-old girl as she slept on his couch. He turned himself into Metro Police Friday.

Eiland was first investigated by police after he allegedly had the nine-year-old girl talk to a phone sex operator while fondling himself at his home in September. The victim was visiting Eiland's daughter at the time. That operator called police, who accuse Eiland of molesting the girl later that evening. The victim's father called police last month.

"The phone sex operator knew this individual by name. He said he'd called the operator in the past but not on this particular evening," said Sgt. Paul Thompson, IMPD.

Police say those two events gave them enough evidence to obtain a search warrant for Eiland's home where a computer was confiscated.

"I guess I kind of left the world and went to a horror show," said Dee Stafford, describing her reaction to her son's arrest.

For the last ten years, Ron Eiland has worked at his mother's Castleton day care center, although according to Stafford, her son never had direct contact with The Lil' Sprouts Learning Center's 155 children.

"He would never be allowed anywhere near our children. His children at home, wherever, until he's exonerated," said Stafford.

Eiland is accused of touching the girl while she and his daughter were asleep on a couch in his home. Prosecutors say the phone sex operator told police that Eiland told her the victim was a friend of the family. Eiland denies placing the call that night.

Police did not arrest Eiland in September because they say they did not have enough evidence, but officers did report the alleged incident to Child Protective Services. ..more.. by WTHR.com

Flawed sex offender tracking leads to wrong door

11-18-2007 Nevada:

It's worse during the holidays. Christmas, New Year's, Halloween. That's when they really start knocking. Calling him out in the middle of the night. Showing up at his stoop in angry packs.

"Christopher," they wheeze through the front door, "Christopherrrrrr - we know you're in there ... "

Christopher Risdon is a 35-year-old sex offender who was busted for child porn. But Risdon doesn't live at this Tropicana Avenue apartment. Hasn't for years. So when the curious (if that's really all they are) come calling, they're now ringing the wrong doorbell. Despite what sex offender-tracking Web sites say, this apartment belongs to Harry Berlin, 71 years old, frail and, frankly, petrified.

"I'm a nervous wreck," he says, holding out his hands. They quake like palsy.

For nearly two years Berlin's address has been reported as Risdon's on a Nevada Web site. Two months ago it popped up again, this time on Metro Police's new sex offender watch Web site.

Now whenever the Web site gets TV attention, Berlin says, people come looking for Risdon. Maybe to rough him up. Or at least give him a good scare. Instead, they terrorize Berlin.

Depending on whom you ask, this is either a disturbing example of why the Web site should be taken down or an inevitable and easily remedied occurrence when dealing with sex offenders. It's a debate complicated by changing laws and different notions about what is necessary to protect a community, and at what cost.

Berlin first saw his address posted on the Nevada Public Safety Department's sex offender Web site in January of last year. Aghast, he called the agency's headquarters in Carson City to have the error corrected. He was told to take it up with Metro. He did, and was told to go back to the state.

So while Christopher Risdon was relocating to parts unknown, Berlin's complaint was suffocating in a bureaucratic morass.

Then, in September, Metro launched its own Web site. Visitors started showing up at Berlin's doorstep in groups. Once a woman and a child came for Christopher. Through the peephole, Berlin saw a handful of men lurking in the shadows behind her. He stayed inside.

"I'm getting paranoid," he said. This from a man who has never had so much as a traffic ticket.

Frustrated and scared, Berlin decided he wasn't going to take his complaint to Metro. Instead, he took it to the Nevada American Civil Liberties Union, which quickly found fault with the department's Web site. As ACLU Executive Director Gary Peck explains it, even one address incorrectly listed as the home of a sex offender is a grave problem, one that exposes Metro to serious civil liability and, more important, suggests the Web site is fundamentally flawed.

"It's deeply disturbing to me that the (address) reporting is not accurate," Peck said. "At the very least, it's benign neglect."

Metro Sgt. Steve Rossi, who works in Metro's Sex Offender Apprehension program, disagrees. The Web site is a public service tool, he said. The law puts the burden on sex offenders to report their addresses, and because convicted felons aren't always eager to update police on their whereabouts, the Web site comes with a disclaimer that the information should not be used to harass or terrorize anyone, he said. Sgt. Rossi places blame on the sex offender while ignoring that the police are supposed to verify addresses!

Implicit in this disclaimer is the fact that information online isn't 100 percent accurate. Rossi says it's an unavoidable reality when dealing with sex offenders.

"We are taking information from convicted felons to populate these databases," Rossi says. "In a perfect world, we would be able to go out on a regular basis and physically confirm (the data), but with more than 4,000 offenders, that's just not possible."

This partially explains the numerous problems that can be found on sex offender registries across the country, said University of Louisville professor Richard Tewksbury, who researches registries and community response to sex offenders.

Although police are charged with checking the information provided on these Web sites, that task often takes a back seat to more pressing concerns, such as crimes in progress.

Besides, Tewksbury says, "we know that government databases of any and all forms are replete with problems, errors and inaccuracy. It's not at all surprising."

(On the state's site, Risdon was described as 5 feet 8 and 200 pounds. On the Metro site, he was 5 feet 10 and 175 pounds. But both sites had one thing in common: Berlin's address.)

Citizens occasionally call to report that their address is wrongly listed, Rossi says, and Metro sends detectives to the location and corrects the Web site when necessary.

So, Peck wants to know: Why is Berlin still being harassed?

Nevada law requires that a central state agency maintain one searchable online sex offender registry - this is the Public Safety Department's site. Any other Nevada sex offender-monitoring Web site is just a different version of the same thing.

Metro's site is run by a private company, Watch Systems LLC, at a cost of $14,000 a year, covered entirely by a Justice Department grant.

That a private company has been hired to handle the sex offender database is another bone of contention for the ACLU, and not just because the information is sensitive.

"It seems pointless given that the state has a perfectly good Web site," said ACLU staff attorney Maggie McLetchie. "Why even do it?"

Metro decided to launch its own sex offender Web site to increase public awareness, Sheriff Doug Gillespie said. Watch Systems was hired to avoid "burdening our technology section" with the task of maintaining a constantly changing Web site.

The department also wanted "to look to the future," Gillespie said, by taking advantage of new laws that require Metro to take a bigger role in monitoring sex offenders.

Effective July 1, Metro will be responsible for keeping track of local sex offenders, a task historically managed by the state's Public Safety Department.

"The offenders no longer have contact with the state," Rossi said. "They do everything with us, and we supply the state everything."

So if Metro will be the first to collect the data, why not put that information on Metro's Web site? Because the site is not just for citizens, Rossi said, but has been built to include additional information on each offender for department use only.

A situation, by the way, that also makes the ACLU uncomfortable - a private database of personal information, run by a for-profit company.

Tewksbury says private companies might do a better job of managing databases than the government could. And although he has not heard of another police department subcontracting a sex offender Web site, the professor is not concerned.

"The fact that for-profit entities are managing the sites gives us some degree of optimism that they will have an efficient database," he said.

The Web site is not the only responsibility Watch Systems handles for Metro. The company also sends out community notification letters to citizens living near sex offenders deemed dangerous.

Moreover, Metro's Web site offers a feature the state's site does not - users can sign up for e-mail alerts if an offender moves to their community.

But none of this matters if the information can't be trusted, Peck said.

And it's a second disclaimer, one written by Watch Systems, that reminds the user nothing online can be taken as absolute truth:

"(Watch Systems) has not and will not verify, warrant, vouch or confirm the accuracy of the data posted and makes no warranties whatsoever that the data is accurate or timely when posted by the related agency ..."

If the site is for community protection, Peck asks, isn't that goal undermined by Berlin's terror? And what happens if Berlin, or someone else in his circumstance, is attacked - who's at fault then?

"This whole system really does encourage a kind of vigilantism," Peck said. "There is potential here for real harm to come to real people."

The police see things differently.

Isn't there potential, Rossi says, for real harm to come to people living near dangerous sex offenders? And isn't it better they have more information? Even if that information can't always be absolutely guaranteed?

On Wednesday, two Metro detectives went to Berlin's apartment to verify that he is, in fact, not Christopher Risdon. They checked his ID and, satisfied he isn't the sex offender, asked Berlin to sign a waiver saying as much.

Berlin refused to sign. He was scared and didn't want to do anything without consulting with the ACLU first.

Barry Berlin, explaining Harry Berlin's decision, said, "My brother believes that in America you do not have to sign papers stating that you are not a sex offender just so that you can live in your own apartment without police interference."

But police were satisfied enough with what they found that Berlin's address has been taken off the Public Safety Department's and Metro's sex offender Web sites.

Meanwhile, local TV news anchors are still putting on their serious faces to suggest Joe Citizen go online and search his neighborhood for predators.

And Berlin is still spooked.

"I'm afraid to stay in my apartment," he said, "and I'm afraid to come out." ..more.. by Abigail Goldman can be reached at 259-8806 or at abigail.goldman@lasvegassun.com.

Police Put Shooting Investigation on Hold

11-9-2007 West Virginia:

WHEELING — Until investigators are confident in his story, Wheeling police won’t be searching for the person who shot city resident Courtney Lee Baylor, who is listed on the state’s sex offender registry.

Wheeling police Sgt. John Burke on Thursday said the investigation into Baylor’s Oct. 30 shooting is considered inactive. The 26-year-old resident of 78 Main St. walked into the emergency room of the Ohio Valley Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the back. He initially claimed he was shot on Chapline Street near West Virginia Northern Community College, where he is a student.

Burke said Baylor offered investigators multiple accounts of the shooting. He also said there are no suspects in the case because Baylor won’t cooperate. According to the sergeant, the investigation will remain inactive until Baylor works with police.

‘‘We gave him the benefit of the doubt too long,’’ Burke said. ‘‘The investigators are just pulling their hair out. We don’t believe he was shot where he said he was shot. He knows more than he’s letting on. He has given three locations, and we don’t believe it was any of the three.’’

Burke said Baylor has been released from OVMC, but investigators are not aware of his whereabouts. According to the West Virginia Sex Offender Registry, Baylor served a two-and-half-year prison term after being convicted in 2003 of third-degree sexual assault. The female victim was a juvenile at the time. The registry lists her as an acquaintance of Baylor. ..more.. by GABE WELLS

NH- Report: Rape lie ignited dad's rage

10-19-2007 New Hampshire:

WEARE – The man who beat up his 15-year-old daughter's boyfriend in the high school parking lot last month did so after the daughter reported the boy had raped her, according to court documents.

The girl later admitted lying -- the sex was consensual, she said.

On Tuesday, Gilberto L. Soto, 38, of Weare, was arraigned on a charge of second-degree assault -- a Class B felony -- for attacking 17-year-old Damon Hadley, an attack that sent Hadley to the hospital.

Soto waived his right to court-appointed counsel and was released on $500 personal recognizance.

According to court documents, the girl's mother called police at 1 p.m. on Sept. 10 and said she wanted to file a report that her daughter had been forced to have sex with Hadley in the parking lot of John Stark Regional High School.

Less than two hours later, Soto called police and asked what was going to happen to the boy who allegedly attacked his daughter.

Ten minutes later, he was arrested by the school's resource officer, having allegedly attacked Hadley in the school's parking lot, leaving him with cuts, bruises and two stitches to his face.

The beating took place in full view of students and parents just as school was letting out around 3 p.m.

Dad upset school confused him with sex offender

Indian Village limited his access when picking his kids up there.
10-11-2007 Indiana:

Jose R. Luera is not a child molester. Even the police say so.

But, thanks to a case of mistaken identity, a legitimate concern for student safety and Fort Wayne Community Schools' failure to do its homework, he's spent the past five months under a cloud of suspicion he never deserved.

“People are treating me like a criminal. Other parents are pulling their kids away from me,” said Luera, 41, who on May 11 received a letter from Indian Village Elementary School informing him that, as a convicted sex offender, he was banned from school property except to pick up his two children or to attend a meeting. And even then, Principal Stephany Bourne wrote, he would have to be escorted, and “If you enter the building for any other purpose or any other time, you will be trespassing and the police will be called to arrest you.”

Less than a month later, after receiving an irate letter from Luera's attorney, Bourne wrote another letter. “I … apologize for my actions,” it said. “As you know, decisions we make are always in the best interests of children … Unfortunately, an error occurred with regard to the background of Mr. Luera.”

An error occurred, all right. But why? And, perhaps more importantly, what are school officials doing to keep it from happening to somebody else?

The answers are not encouraging.

“Why didn't the schools even call us (before sending the May 11 letter)?” asked Luera's wife, Rose, who could have cleared up the misunderstanding by directing officials to the national sex-offender database. The site does indeed include a man with the same date of birth and a very similar name - Jose R. Leura, convicted of committing a lewd, lascivious act with a child. But the differences between the man in Fort Wayne and his near-namesake in Sarasota, Fla., go way beyond the two transposed letters in their last names. Jose Luera is 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighs 198 pounds and is Hispanic. Jose Leura is white, stands 5 feet, 5 inches tall, weighs 146 pounds and has two hearts and a ribbon tattooed onto his right arm.

“The photo on the Web site is not even close to looking like Jose,” said Rose Luera, 46. “Unless you think all Hispanics look alike.”

The Lueras don't know who might have told school officials to investigate Jose's background or why they wrongly branded him a sex offender without even giving them a chance to explain. Nor does Jose know whether there's more than mere coincidence at work here. Luera said he was born in Florida and moved to Fort Wayne in 1989, suggesting Jose Leura might have stolen his identity.

As improbable as that sounds, it's no less bizarre than the notion a major school district would make such an accusation without a more thorough review of easily obtainable facts. Eight years ago, in fact, the Allen County Sheriff's Department had investigated and concluded the two Joses “are not one and the same. (emphasis added)”

And yet . . .

“I don't know if there's another way we'd ask a principal to handle this,” FWCS spokeswoman Krista Stockman said. “If we're being diligent, and get credible information about a sex offender, we have to pursue it. As soon as we discovered our mistake, we issued an apology and welcomed (the Lueras) back into the school.”

That last assertion is open to debate. The Lueras believe their access to the southwest-side school continues to be restricted and scrutinized - a suspicion perhaps rooted in disputes with Indian Village personnel that began even before the sex-offender charge emerged. The couple said they have been unhappy with how they perceive the school has handled their 9-year-old daughter, Olivia, who has Down syndrome. I should note that, even though Luera is not a convicted sex offender, he does have a criminal record, having been convicted in Tennessee on a drug charge in 1993, for which he remains on probation. But, in a written statement provided to the Lueras, FWCS Safety Director John Weicker said he had “no concern whatsoever” about Luera's Tennessee conviction. Both Weicker and Bourne declined to comment publicly.

In this dangerous and litigious age, schools have no choice but to take sex-offender allegations seriously. But they must also investigate with both diligence and caution, precisely because it is such a litigious age. In the end, this kind of story can please only lawyers.

“I want to sue somebody,” Jose Luera said. The couple's attorney, Nikos Nakos, said the Lueras have a strong case.

“It's legitimate to be concerned about student safety, but the schools should have contacted Luera and simply asked, ‘Is this true?' ” Nakos said. “They never gave the Lueras that chance. Their right to due process was violated, and they suffered emotional distress.”

As professional educators, school officials should be expected to learn from their mistake. ..more.. by Kevin Leininger, of The News-Sentinel

Family Puts Up Sex Offender Warning Sign

10-17-2007 Indiana:

Family Says Sex Offender To Move In Next Door

VERSAILLES, Ind. -- An Indiana family who said a sex offender plans to move in next door is taking matters into its own hands, and their neighbors said their new efforts are raising a few eyebrows.

The Ratliff family and neighbors received a notice from the city stating that Everett Scholl would be moving in, but the Ratliffs put up a sign just in case anyone didn't get the message, WLWT-TV in Cincinnati reported.

They put up an 8-foot by 6-foot sign at the edge of their property so everyone would know exactly what Scholl looks like and what he's done.


"I don't want him to move in because I'm, like, scared," said Erika Ratliff, 14.

Erika's mother, Faith Ratliff, 44, confirmed Scholl's incest and rape convictions on the Internet and included them on the sign.

"It's just kind of scary that he did it to his kids and he might do it again," said Alexis Ratliff, 13.

Authorities said the Ratliffs' sign is legal as long as it is accurate. The Ratliffs said they just hope the sign can keep their family and others safe.

MAYBE THE AUTHORITIES OUGHT TO READ WHAT
IS POSTED ON THE STATE'S REGISTRY:

Information contained on this site provides no representation as to any offender’s likelihood of re-offending or the nature of any future crimes that may be committed.

Information in this registry may not be used to harass or threaten offenders or their families. Harassment, stalking, or threats may violate Indiana law.

____ I verify that I have read the information on the purpose, limitations, and proper use if this registry as explained above.

Faith Ratliff said she wanted to address those who think she took her message too far.

"Put yourself in my situation -- would you want this to happen, would you want someone that did what he did to live 100 feet from your daughter's bedroom window and let him think, 'you know what, they don't know what I did'?" she said.

She said she wishes Indiana had a better notification system to tell residents when a sex offender purchases property or moves to a new location.

In Ohio, there is a system that sends postcards, and in Kentucky, you can register your ZIP code to be notified by phone when an offender moves nearby. ..more.. by NBC6.net

Uproar Over Release Has Serial Rapist Reconsidering

Living with sister is his only alternative to homeless shelter
10-11-2007 Connecticut:

Serial rapist David M. Pollitt, days away from being released from prison after 241/2 years, has heard of a Southbury neighborhood's reaction to his imminent arrival and is having second thoughts, according to his family's attorney.

Pollitt, 54, is set to move in with his sister, Janice Rosengren, and her family, who live at 135 Fox Run Drive, and is to be closely supervised by the Department of Adult Probation, which is likely to keep him in a type of “lockdown” in the sister's home until it can assess his risk of re-offending.

Neighbors have been in an uproar since learning over the weekend that Pollitt would be living in the suburban area. He was convicted in the late 1970s and 1980s of attacks on women in Old Lyme, Waterford, Killingworth, Rocky Hill and Wallingford, and police said they suspected him of other crimes.

He has never admitted to the crimes, and his sister proclaimed in a letter to neighbors that the family thinks he is innocent.

Neighborhood groups have been gathering at a house across the street from the one where Pollitt will live. They have called town officials, the governor's office, and state agencies like the Department of Adult Probation and Department of Correction. Some have signed an online petition to keep Pollitt in prison, and many have told the media of their fears.

The family's attorney said Tuesday that neighbors put up a sign in Rosengren's yard Monday and accosted her when she went to her mailbox. He said Pollitt, preparing to leave the Osborn Correctional Center in Somers on Friday, has heard of some of the controversy and has had second thoughts.

“They've talked to David, and he's at the point where he doesn't want to come home,” said attorney Jerry E. Attanasio. He said that Pollitt's only options upon his release were to live with a family member or go to a homeless shelter, and that Rosengren and her husband could not let him go to a shelter.

Pollitt has several other family members in Connecticut, but only Janice Rosengren volunteered to take him in, Attanasio said. Because he had served his full sentence and is not on parole, there is no transitional housing, such as a halfway house, available.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the plan for Pollitt to be released to his sister's house had not changed.

“He's going there, but he's not happy with what his family is going through,” Attanasio said. “He was prepared and ready that something like this would happen, but he feels bad.”

Rosengren has two daughters, one 17 and one a few years older, and both will eventually be moving out of the house, according to Attanasio.

Pollitt committed the type of crimes that spark the most fear in a community — sexually assaulting strangers, said Chief Probation Officer William Anselmo, who heads up the state's sex offender supervision for the probation department.

Anselmo was on his way to Southbury Tuesday afternoon to explain the strict conditions of Pollitt's release to neighbors. Pollitt will report to the probation department immediately upon his release Friday and will be fitted with a global positioning satellite device that will enable the state to track his movement. The state will determine where he works and whom he socializes with.

The probation department could initially order a type of lockdown that would allow Pollitt to leave the house only for work, probation meetings and treatment appointments. Pollitt has five years of probation, and the department's normal procedure is to start off with strict conditions and gradually reduce them as they get to know the offender and see that he is complying.

Pollitt will undergo sex offender evaluation and treatment — something he did not voluntarily undertake in prison — and will have to take responsibility for his crimes in order to remain in compliance.

Probation, town officials and local legislators are expected to go to the neighborhood at 5 p.m. today to speak with people who are concerned about the release, according to Kevin Powers, who lives on nearby Wolfpit Drive.

“It's been a circus here the last two days,” Powers said Tuesday afternoon. He said that there are between 75 and 100 children in the neighborhood and that everyone is on a first-name basis.

“Our neighborhood is a children's park, and he's going to be sitting in the middle of their sandbox,” he said.

Pollitt was sentenced to 45 years in prison but was able to reduce the sentence by more than 20 years with so-called “good time” — or time off for good behavior — from the Department of Correction. Based on the way the law was written at the time of sentencing, he received 17 years off the sentence up front, according to a correction official. He received additional “good time” by working seven days a week while in prison, earning one day for every week he worked the full seven days.

The “good time” provision became stricter in the months after Pollitt was sentenced and was eliminated under the so-called “truth in sentencing law,” which pertains to crimes committed after Oct. 1, 1994. ..more.. by Karen Florin

Home Destroyed In Suspicious Fire

10-5-2007 Oklahoma:

A Creek County criminal case has taken on a new twist. Ed Willingham Jr. once worked for the Creek County Sheriff's office and until recently, was the lead investigator for the Creek County District Attorney’s office. He was fired this summer after his wife accused him of molesting a young girl. Willingham was charged in that case Wednesday and six hours later, his house burned to the ground.

News On 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright reports the state fire marshal is looking at whether this is arson, but most officers the News On 6 talked to, believe it is.

Ed Willingham Jr. had been granted the house at 17204 West Teel Road in Sapulpa in the divorce and was supposed to move back in next week. His wife and sons had moved out recently. This fire is just one more strange event in the recent life of Ed Willingham, Jr.

His career in law enforcement and his marriage have also gone up in flames in the past few months. In court papers, Willingham’s wife accused Ed Willingham Jr. of being addicted to prescription drugs and abusing her on July 4th. His wife went back to him until 13 days later when she says she caught Ed Willingham sexually molesting a 10-year-old neighbor girl who had spent the night.

Ed Willingham’s wife filed a protective order against him and he was arrested for violating it twice in a matter of days. Court papers show Ed Willingham Jr. filed for divorce then dropped it. Ed Willingham’s wife filed and requested he only get twice weekly supervised visits with his two young sons and the judge agreed.

That is about when Willingham got fired by his close friend and boss, District Attorney Max Cook. Then Willingham was charged Wednesday with molesting the neighbor girl in July and with molesting a friend's daughter in 2001.

The family of that girl says they didn't report it at the time because he was a higher up at the Creek County Sheriff's Office and they were afraid no one would believe them, plus the victim’s family didn't want it to ruin their lives.

Court records show Willingham's wife caught him in a third compromising position with a child many years ago while camping with friends and their toddler daughter, but his wife never mentioned it to anyone.

Willingham surrendered on the new charges on Wednesday afternoon, bonded out immediately and by 10 p.m. Wednesday, firefighters were racing to his home to put out a fire. More than a few people wondered about the timing of it.

The state Fire Marshals Office told the News On 6, it's too soon to know if Wednesday night's fire was arson. They should know more by Thursday. The Creek County Sheriff's Office told Lori Fullbright, if it is, they have several suspects they will want to question. ..more.. by KOTV.com

Woman Allegedly Stabs Boyfriend After Learning He's Sex Offender

9-28-2007 Pennsylvania:

Frazzini Found Stabbed On Butler Street

BUTLER, Pa. -- A girlfriend is accused of stabbing her boyfriend. Police say she did it, when she found that he was a sex offender.

Police said Lerhonda Starnes, 42, tried to kill 39-year-old Tony Frazzini when she stabbed him nine times in the neck and chest Thursday night in Butler.

Frazzini was found bleeding at 10:42 p.m. on the sidewalk of New Castle Street. Police said he was able to identify his attacker as Starnes and said she stabbed him after she found out he was a registered sex offender.

According to the Pennsylvania State Police's Megan's Law Web site, Frazzini was convicted of sexual abuse in New York in 1993. State police list him as a Megan's Law offender who is required to register with police for life.

A witness led police to a house on Eighth Avenue, where Starnes was found sitting on the front porch. Investigators said blood was found inside the home. ..more.. by

Kelso man says he's victim of vigilante shooting

9-25-2007 Washington:

KELSO, Wash. (AP) - A Kelso man accused of making obscene phone calls to children says he was attacked by someone he thinks found his home because of TV coverage.

Barry North says he was hit on the head and shot in the calf Saturday night when he went to get his mail. He says he passed out from the pain and spent the night in his driveway.

A Cowlitz County sheriff's deputy, Charlie Rosenzweig, says North was shot at close range with a small-caliber gun, but he didn't report it until Sunday afternoon. North says he was afraid he would be shot again, but the pain forced him to call 911.

The 43-year-old appeared in court last week in Kitsap County on a charge of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes.

North says he is innocent and that the calls were made by someone who stole his cell phone. ..more.. by AP

Vigilante-style attack results in jail time

9-26-2007 Wisconsin:

A case involving a vigilante-style attack in the Town of Chetek last April has concluded, resulting in jail time for two of the three individuals involved.

Mary Ann Jerome, 31, of Holcombe, Tamara Fae Schimmel, 26, of Cadott, and Daniel D. Schmidt, 30, of Holcombe, were charged with a total of eight criminal counts in Barron County Circuit Court April 25. Jerome was initially charged with felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor battery; Schimmel was initially charged with felony second-degree reckless injury, misdemeanor criminal damage to property, misdemeanor battery and felony false imprisonment; Schmidt was originally charged with felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor battery.

After recent sentencing hearings, both Jerome and Schmidt pleaded guilty to battery [as party to a crime] on Friday, Sept. 14, and were sentenced to 45 days in jail ,with one year of probation. Schimmel pleaded guilty to criminal damage to property and injury by negligent use of a weapon or explosive on Sept. 14. Schimmel's sentencing hearing is set for Thursday, Nov. 15. The convictions result from an incident that took place in the early-morning hours of Sunday, April 22.