Florida boosts sex crime penalties ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida’s sex predator penalties became among the nation’s toughest Monday as a new law took effect tripling maximum sentences to 15 years for soliciting minors for sex and possessing child pornography. The law also requires offenders to register e-mail and instant message handles with authorities. That information will be shared with social networking sites like Myspace.com. “It’s going to give all of us the tools to be able to make sure that not only do we enforce laws like this, but that Florida becomes known as a place that if you are a child predator or if you are a child pornographer … there’s only one place for you and that’s behind bars,” state Attorney General Bill McCollum said. McCollum spoke on the Orange County Courthouse steps, joined by four county sheriffs and other law enforcement officers. The first-term attorney general has made child sex crimes one of his top priorities, pushing for the legislation and getting money to expand the state’s cybercrime unit from five to 50 investigators.
I think that is what we have all been talking about!! It is clearly the only sane answer here.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
How about if their 'brothers' or 'sisters' get really personal and take them to task,you know neighbor to neighbor....the law seems to separate the 'offenders' from the rest of society causing them to go underground, like they were being protected.....I say take them to personal task vigilante style.....although this would just be anarchy and uncivilized---we are a land of laws.....and laws DO protect BOTH parties from uncivilized and inhumane treatment after an incident between 2 human animals......
justice is what society seeks........justice can only be meansured by the foundation of which the law was written and the measure of hippocracy in society......
maybe the 'experts' Mr.Heffner and Mr. Flint, CEO's of Victoria's Secret etc. could explain better.......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Sex-offender law challenged Lawsuit targeting county filed by parolee barred from living near schools and day-cares
By CAROL DeMARE, Staff writer First published: Thursday, October 4, 2007
ALBANY -- A parolee convicted of sodomy more than 20 years ago has filed the first lawsuit against Albany County challenging its law barring sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of schools and day care centers. Invoking his right to due process under the state constitution, the 55-year-old man claims he checked 30 apartments trying to find one that police would approve.
John Doe, whose real name is withheld in court papers, contends local laws regulating sex offenders can't pre-empt existing state statutes. He has been living in Albany since he was paroled five years ago after 17 years in prison for the sexual attack on a 14-year-old girl.
"This is a lawsuit on behalf of an incredibly unpopular sliver of our society," attorney Terence Kindlon said Tuesday. "These local county laws, they've created mind-boggling problems for the police, for parole, for everybody."
The lawsuit was filed in state Supreme Court on behalf of the Level 3 offender convicted in 1985. The outcome of the civil case could reverberate throughout all counties with residency laws, said Melanie Trimble, executive director of the local chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
The decision could "set a legal precedent declaring all the ordinances unconstitutional," she said.
The NYCLU has been outspoken in opposition to the laws in six Capital Region counties that target Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders, the most serious. Those levels are assigned on the state's Sex Offender Registry based on the estimated risk of an individual committing another sex crime. The state law doesn't restrict where offenders can live, although under certain circumstances a judge can order conditions.
Spokeswoman Kerri Battle said County Attorney Kristina Burns was served with the legal complaint last week and has not had an opportunity to review it.
Last month, the Times Union, in a report on the residency bans, quoted officials who said the state does nothing to regulate where sex offenders live, so local governments took it upon themselves. It also quoted sex offenders who told of finding it difficult to live in rural motels and having to rely on public transportation.
Law enforcement officials said the county laws were difficult to enforce and could drive offenders underground. A parole spokesman called them counterproductive.
Most of the new residency restrictions, such as Albany County's that took effect in September 2006, allowed sex offenders who were living within the restricted zones to remain in their homes.
That was the case with John Doe, who was living on Morton Avenue in an Albany Housing Authority building. But it closed, and residents were forced to move.
"He was minding his own business, not bothering anybody, and he was OK because he was 'grandfathered' in," Kindlon said.
That all changed. Now he has to abide by the restrictions and he's had trouble finding a new home. Eventually, "My parole officer went to my current landlord and they worked out a place," Doe said.
As required, he reported the new address. That was five months ago.
"Earlier this month," he said Wednesday, "I was visited by Albany police, and they told me I was within the 1,000 feet and that I would have to move within 30 days."
Police didn't say why. "The only thing I could come up with is a boys club down the street," he said.
Looking for an apartment became "a screening horror," he said. "I committed different addresses to the Albany police and each one of them was denied. I was never given a reason why it was denied." "I became frustrated," he said. "I had heard the American Civil Liberties Union was doing something, fighting something over in Schenectady," where the county restricts sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools and day care centers.
"I figured I might as well go to them and explain my situation and see if I could get any help, and they referred me to Terry."
He said he had to get legal help "or be homeless."
Before the residency laws, Kindlon said, sex offenders "could live anywhere and report to parole officers" who conducted unannounced searches and kept the parolees on short leashes. "They lived a highly supervised form of existence."
Doe has not had any run-ins with the law since he was paroled. He completed a sex offender program in prison and because he a veteran is receiving treatment at the Stratton Veterans Affairs Hospital, Kindlon said.
Three years ago, Doe developed serious health problems. He suffers from hypertension, and the VA monitors his blood pressure every day by phone. He has heart problems and Type 2 diabetes, which requires insulin injections three times a day, the lawyer said.
Kindlon has worked out an agreement with the county attorney to let Doe stay in his apartment temporarily.
Kindlon, who is handling the challenge free of charge with an associate, Kathy Manley, said, "I want it declared unconstitutional. It would resolve a difficult situation so sex offenders can have a place to live and you know where they are living."
Resident accused of sexual abuse SCHENECTADY — A city man was arrested this week, accused of sexually abusing a child, authorities said. Joseph Boyer, 36, of Broadway, was charged with third-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child, misdemeanors. Boyer is accused of subjecting the child to sexual contact last month, according to papers filed in court.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Sex offender arrested in Virginia Associated Press Sunday, October 7, 2007
ORLANDO, Fla. -- William Joe Mitchell's flight from authorities ended at a Virginia truck stop.
The 46-year-old sex offender accused of running off with a 15-year-old Florida girl was arrested Saturday by state police at the Flying J Truck Stop in Winchester, Va., according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office in central Florida.
The girl had been released at a Wal-Mart store last week.
Mitchell is wanted in Alabama on allegations including rape and kidnapping and Florida officials accuse him of enticing a child via the Internet, violating his probation and other allegations.
He is being held without bond at Northwestern Regional Adult Detention Center in Winchester.
State police were notified that the U.S. Marshals Service had tracked Mitchell to a truck stop on Interstate 81, near the West Virginia border. Four state troopers surrounded Mitchell and took him into custody without incident around 11:30 a.m.
Mitchell was standing alongside a 2000 black Chevrolet Lumina that detectives believed he had been driving throughout the investigation. Personal belongings of the girl were visible inside the vehicle, officials said in a statement.
Mitchell was being served federal and state warrants, none from Virginia, said Corinne Geller, spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police, who had no further details. She did not know whether he had a lawyer.
The 15-year-old girl spurred a statewide manhunt when she sneaked out of her house before dawn on Monday. She told friends she was running away for love, to be with a boy she met online. She believed Mitchell was in his early 20s.
The Associated Press is not naming the girl because she is a suspected sexual abuse victim.
Police believe heavy publicity in the hours after the girl disappeared pressured him into dropping her off at a Wal-Mart in the Florida Panhandle.
The girl told authorities Mitchell had a handgun and said he would kill her if she drew attention to herself in the store. He told her he was going to another part of the store and would meet her in five minutes, then disappeared, authorities said.
Mitchell had 14 prior arrests ranging from burglary and bomb threats to lewd and lascivious conduct, police said.
The girl ran away the day a new Florida law took effect making the state's sex predator penalties some of the toughest in the nation.
The law requires offenders to register e-mail and instant message handles with authorities, information that will be shared with social networking sites like Myspace.com. The state also tripled the maximum sentences to 15 years for soliciting minors for sex and possessing child pornography.
It doesn't matter if they are registered or if they live 200',2000' or 20,000' from anyone/anywhere.....they go/are everywhere have access to the same things everyone else does-----they are 'us', and our culture feeds them...... >
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Are there any updates on the newly proposed Sex Offender law? I know there was to be a committee set up and meetings to take place to discuss the possible passage or the rescinding of this law. Does anyone know or should we ask Ms. Savage at the next county legislature meeting?
Hi Guys, I received a letter from the County (see post #423 of this thread) indicating the committee had finally been set up, and a date for the first meeting would be forthcoming. I will refrain from any wisecracks on this issue although there are many that come to mind. Seriously, I am dismayed and disgusted. I truly feel that it is a moot point. At the debate in Rotterdam last week one of the dem candidates for Rotterdam Town Board (I think, it was for Town Board) said point blank, unequivocally that the sex offender issue was a done deal. Insider info? I don't know, but I don't think it matters what the outcome of the committee is. If that is the case I wish they would tell us upfront rather than waste the resouces of many of the departments in the county with meetings. I think the county majority embraced the amendment by Bob Farley much to quickly and heartily setting the stage for imminent failure, I also think Mr. Farley walked right into it and maybe didn't know. That, or else, remember, he was originally in favor of the legislation and changed his mind as per articles in the paper a couple of times. Joe Suhrada was in favor of it, he developed his own sex offender legislation. Jim Burhmaster was out of town the night of the vote. Carolina was the only one (rep) who took a meaningful stand right from the beginning. She was in California during the drawing up of the amendment and I wonder if they came up with it as a way to keep it on the books? Cynical? Yeah, I really am
Then maybe I will pose that question to the country legislatures. Although they don't seem to actually answer questions at the meetings, at least it would be on record.
By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST Monday, October 15, 2007
WATERFORD -- A 36-year-old convicted sex offender has been charged with failing to register his change of address and living too close to a school, a violation of county law, police said.
Eron C. Madden, of 132 3rd St., a Level 3 offender, was allegedly living just doors away from the Waterford School of Early Childhood, which violates a county law barring sex offenders from living or working within 1,000 feet of a school, child care facility and other places where children gather.
Running afoul of the county law for the first time is a violation punishable by a $250 fine and a 15-day jail stay, police said. But failing to register a new address is a felony under state law, police said.
According to the state's sex offender registry, Madden was convicted in Troy in April 2001 of attempted third-degree rape, for which he was sentenced to a year in jail. The registry lists his victim as a 16-year-old girl. Level 3 is the highest under the state registry and those classified in that category are considered to be the most likely to re-offend.
Police said Madden will appear in town court on Thursday at 6 p.m. Madden was not listed as being at the Saratoga County Jail Monday evening, officials said.
Logged
