Hey Sun-Slantinel, trim the fat and hold the Mayo

It seems the Sun-SLANTINEL has a penchant for hiring the worst writers for their birdcage-liners posing as newspapers, and Michael Mayo is no exception.

If the government can stop Nazis from getting Social Security, they can stop yellow journalists from writing this drivel.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/michael-mayo-blog/sfl-mayo-lottery-sex-offender-20141211-story.html

Mayo: Easiest bill for 2015 - No jackpots for sex predators

By Michael Mayo,
Sun Sentinel Columnist

Looks like the Florida Legislature has its first bi-partisan slam-dunk bill for 2015: Banning lottery jackpots for registered sexual predators.

Timothy Poole, 43, a registered sexual predator (which is worse than your garden variety registered sex offender), recently claimed a $3 million scratch-off jackpot from Florida Lottery headquarters.

Poole, whose lengthy arrest record includes a charge of sexual battery on a victim under 12, took home a lump sum payment of $2.2 million. Here's hoping he doesn't spend it on candy.

Naturally, this has many people up in arms. But there is no law on the books banning sex predators from winning big Lottery prizes. I bet that changes this upcoming legislative session.

Some might say: If a sex predator is willing to gamble away his money in the Lottery, shouldn't he be entitled to win?

Uh, no.

It seems just as ridiculous as a Nazi who came to America after the war and worked long and hard and paid into the system, and then got discovered, getting to keep his Social Security benefits after leaving the country under a controversial deportation program.

As distasteful as it is, there doesn't seem to be an easy way logistically to prevent sex predators from playing the Lottery or winning smaller prizes. What are we going to do, have merchants conduct background checks every time someone plays PowerBall or redeems a scratch-off prize of $100?

But there is one easy fix: For any big prize, the ones that require redemption from Lottery offices, registered sex predators (and perhaps all convicted violent felons) should be disqualified.

Because there's nothing more embarrassing than having a guy who molests kids smile for the cameras with his ceremonial oversized million-dollar check.

Your move, Legislature.

Mike DeForest (Gump) tries to ruin a Registrant's life, instead gets to witness the registrant's good fortune

December is usually the time things go quiet here as the annual Shiitake Awards nominees are collated and handed over to our own Shiitake Awards Playoff Selection Committee. But it seems a run of last minute entries look to throw a monkey wrench into our playoff scheme.

Today's entry is Mike DeForest (Gump) from WKMG Local 6 in Orlando, reminding us that stupid is as stupid does.

DeForest ran a sweeps week "Sex Offenders who have jobs and we get one fired" story, which featured a number of Registered Citizens trying to make a living. DeForest bragged about getting one fired. A couple of months later, one of the targets of his first story wins $3 Million from a scratch-off ticket, and DeForest runs a nasty story on the lotto winner.

It seems pretty obvius that DeForest is trying to bring as much bad publicity as possible to a man who asserts his innocence and has kept his nose clean in the near-decade since his release.

In the first story, the lotto winner received only a passing mention:

Despite being a convicted sex predator, ***** is allowed to drive a cab for his family’s taxi business, ****, since there are few regulations governing vehicles-for-hire in Lake County.  “It may be hard for some to believe, but sometimes people are wrongly accused,” said Poole, 43, who insists he poses no risk to his passengers.  In 2002, as part of a plea agreement, Poole pleaded guilty to attempted sexual battery against a child.

In the follow-up article, DeForest drags out lengthy details of the man's past:

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/convicted-sex-predator-wins-3-million-lottery-jackpot/30144204

Convicted sex predator wins $3 million lottery jackpot
Lake County man purchased scratch-off ticket at Mount Dora 7-Eleven

Author: Mike DeForest, Reporter, mdeforest@clickorlando.com
Published On: Dec 09 2014 05:46:17 PM EST   Updated On: Dec 10 2014 06:22:04 PM EST
Print
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Video: Sexual Predator wins $3M
Show Transcript
MOUNT DORA, Fla. -
A convicted sex predator who served 3 years in prison for a crime involving a young child is now a multi-millionaire. *****  won $3 million on a Florida Lottery scratch-off ticket he purchased at a Mount Dora 7-Eleven store Saturday night.

"He was flabbergasted. He couldn't believe it," said **** , a friend who was with **** when he hit the jackpot. "It was quite a remarkable thing. My heart is still beating."

**** was among the subjects of a recent Local 6 investigation that examined where convicted sex predators are employed.  **** is driver and dispatcher for ***** , a Mount Dora taxi company owned by his mother, records show.   

In 1999, Orange County authorities arrested **** following allegations that he sexually battering a 9-year-old boy.  According to an arrest warrant affidavit, **** was a friend of the victim's family who once lived at their home.  The victim also spent some weekends at ***'s home, according to investigators.

************************

**** denied the allegations, according to the report.

As part of a plea bargain, **** pleaded guilty to attempted sexual battery and was sentenced to the 13 months he had already served in jail. The judge also ordered **** to serve 10 years of sex offender probation and register as a sexual predator. A judge can designate someone as a predator if the defendant used physical violence, preyed on children or had repeat violations.

In 2003, a judge revoked **** probation and sent him to prison for 3 years.  According to court records, Poole was kicked out of his mandatory sex offender counseling because he failed to attend 4 group sessions.

**** , who has had no other legal troubles since being released from prison in 2006, insists he is innocent. 

"It may be hard for some to believe, but sometimes people are wrongly accused," **** told Local 6 in November.

"I've known him for years and I've never seen any inclination of anything like that with him," said ****, who believes his friend should enjoy the $3 million lottery jackpot.  "He's a very positive person. Very kind. Giving. I think that's why he won.  It's Christmastime and the dude deserves a break."

*****turned in his winning Super Millions scratch-off ticket at Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee on Monday.  Lottery officials said he chose to receive his winnings in a one-time, lump-sum payment of $2,219,807.90. 

Florida law does not allow the lottery to withhold payments from winners based on their criminal records, according to spokeswoman.  However, before a winner receives a check, Florida Lottery officials conduct a background check using their Social Security number to ensure they do not owe child support or any outstanding debts to a state agency.

**** could not be reached for comment following his lottery win, so it is unclear what he plans to do with his millions.  According to Snyder, **** will be pouring some of that money into his mom's small taxi cab company.

"He's going to invest in the business," said ****. "He's going to expand."

Don Lehman, let me show you how the Shiitake Awards works

Not every candidate who lands here is a big name or works for a big name company. This is Don Lehman from the Glen Falls Post-Star, serving the Adirondack Mountains of New York state. Since he is likely ignorant on the process by which he landed on the Shiitake-Worthy blog, I will give him some insight.

The Shiitake-Worthy blog processes nominations for the Shiitake Awards, which spotlights those who misuse sex offender hysteria for personal gain. In the story on an auto-accident, Don Lehman made it a point to bring out the past of one of the accident victims, who is a Registered Citizen. it is fairly amazing that a number of individuals rebuked Lehman; Don Lehman himself proclaims, "there seems to be inexplicable sympathy for sex offenders in some circles."

The following blog post is the reason why he lands on our Shiitake-Worthy blog. Not only did he feel the need to defend himself in a separate news article, his bias is showing. And that, my friends, is Shiitake-Worthy.

http://poststar.com/blogs/don_lehman/how-it-works/article_e730b3ec-7aeb-11e4-bf07-3f76340665c0.html

How it works
December 03, 2014 7:57 am

The first abrasive email of the day came in early Wednesday morning from a guy who was upset that the final version of the article on Monday night's tragic car-pedestrian accident in Argyle included background on the driver's criminal history.

The guy (a local church pastor, believe it or not) thought that I added that to the story "to get attention" and questioned my "character," believing that I just write whatever I want and throw it in the paper and online.

Since many readers seem to be ignorant about how the newsgathering and publishing process works, here is some insight.

Everything that gets in the printed version of the paper is reviewed by at least two editors, sometimes as many as four or five. So a reporter here can not just write what they want and get it published.

Not everything that we put online is read by an editor before it is published, occasionally breaking news items where we are posting from the field or after hours will go up without editing. Most of it is though, as Online Editor Doug Gruse manages our online content.

When we got an inquiry Tuesday afternoon from a reader wondering if the driver in the Argyle accident was the same ******* who is a Level 3 sex offender from Salem who served 14 years in prison for raping two young girls and sodomizing a third, I checked it out and found out it was.

Because there seems to be inexplicable sympathy for sex offenders in some circles around here, I brought the information to the attention of Editor Ken Tingley and City Editor Bob Condon to find out if they believed it should be included.

Both said the information should be included in the story, as it is background information on the driver in a highly publicized case. If he had been a vice president of General Electric, a professional badminton player or a clerk at Cumberland Farms, we would have included that instead.

As the reader whose initial email questioned whether the driver was the sex offender **** pointed out, in many states what **** did would have resulted in a life sentence in prison. In fact, NY state law has changed since his conviction and he could receive a life sentence for predatory sexual assault against a child.

He finished parole last year, and has to register his address every 90 days. He has not been charged in the fatal accident.

-- Don Lehman

Mike Hudson of the Niagra Falls Reporter: Why drunken musicians have no business writing articles

This find was a reader submission (I do take email submissions, in case my readers forget). This one is quite a doozy.

My first thought when I saw this report was, "Who the hell is Mike Hudson?" Apparently he's a musician for some crappy "indy punk" band from Cleveland who fancies himself to be a writer and has some small level of fame. Since about 2000, he has written for a small town gossip rag posing as a newspaper in Niagra Falls of all places.

Mike Hudson has quite a sordid reputation, including a reputation for drunkenness and other wild accusations. Reminds me of a certain reptile from South FloriDUH. Maybe they're related?

http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/Stories/2014/JULY22/sex.html

Sex Offender Epidemic Growing Larger Here With Every Passing Day
By Mike Hudson
July 22, 2014

They’re everywhere.

How many people do you encounter throughout any given day? At work, driving, grocery shopping, exercising, out at movies or at a concert; we are constantly interacting with people from the time we wake up until we go to sleep. So would it alarm you that in every 1,000 people you interact with, three were registered sex offenders? 

If you live in Niagara Falls, that is the case.

We welcome them, in much the same way we welcome dead baby burning garbage incineration plants. In a city so desperate for cash, Niagara Falls takes what it gets.

Fracking waste in our drinking water, polluted air from the burned garbage of New York City and dangerous and violent offenders from all over the state are just a few of the things we deal with in an effort to allow the city to balance its’ budget.

The city of Niagara Falls has more than a third more registered sex offenders than the rest of Niagara County, and about double the number that people in the rest of the state are subjected to.

According to the Sex Offender Database found on the Niagara County Sheriff’s website there are 158 registered sex offenders living in Niagara Falls, making the number the sex offenders in every thousand Niagara Falls residents, 3.2.

Since his election in 2007, Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster has welcomed sex offenders with open arms. 

“They’ve got to live somewhere,” he has said.

That attitude, and the fact that the state Parole Board is increasingly eager to put undesirable perverts as far away from civilization as possible makes Niagara Falls the ideal destination.

The number here is a third higher than the second highest number in Niagara County of 2.4 sex offenders for every thousand residents in Gasport and Newfane.

The ratio for the total population of Niagara Falls is 314 residents for every sex offender living in the city. The simplistic explanation as to why the city has the worst ratio for the county might be because it has the highest population.

But since the population for city and town of Lockport combined, is roughly 41,700, or 8,000 less than Niagara Falls, and the ratio is one in 758 residents for every registered sex offender which means it is more than two-times lower than Niagara Falls. The towns of Lewiston and Wheatfield both have over 15,000 residents, while city of North Tonawanda has a population of over 31,000.

All three have fewer than 10 registered sex offenders living inside their borders. Even the city of Buffalo, with a population over five-times the size of Niagara Falls, has a ratio of one for every 428 residents.

The statistics get worse when you look statewide. Of the eight cities in New York State with a population between 40,000 and 60,000, the only city with more sex offenders to total residents than Niagara Falls is Binghamton with a whopping one for every 136 residents.

At first it may seem like a no-brainer that in a city with high crime rates, drug use, and high unemployment, having a large amount of sex offenders living in Niagara Falls would make sense. Of course there is likely some coloration between all those elements, but many cities have high crime, or low employment but do not have anywhere close to the poor figures that Niagara Falls has in relation to sex offenders.

So we get guys here like a  Robert Ray Taylor, a 47-year old blonde haired and blue eyed man who raped a 12-year-old back in the Nineties and would probably do the same today if given half a chance.

He’s the guy you might be standing in line next to at Rite Aid or Tops Friendly Markets. He might be living next door to you in a rental unit and you might think he’s a nice enough guy to coach your kid’s soccer team. 

The numbers certainly get overlooked when taking about what is wrong with the Niagara Falls, but having 3.2 sex offenders in every thousand city-residents is a painfully statistic that needs to be remembered. It should be addressed as an important factor that is keeping people away from living in the city.

At least for those who don’t particularly care to run into, much less live next to, a sex offender several times a day. Or want them living a few doors down from the school their child attends.

Milwaukee CBS-58's Sarah Barwacz brags of passing local residency restriction ordinance

When journalists make news, the results are bad. It is even worse when journalists help pass bad laws then brag about their dumb deeds on social media. So Sarah Barwacz is bragging her "Bottom Line" (or is it bottomfeeder?) investigation uncovered registered citizens are living too close to schools so they worked with the city to pass 2000 foot residency restrictions for the city. Obviously she didn't do her research as she was far to busy posting selfies and bragging on FB. 

Ruining lives is never anything to brag about.

Supposedly this yellow journalist has won awards for her fluff pieces. Perhaps she will win a different award this time-- a Shiitake. 

http://www.cbs58.com/news/local-news/Bottom-Line-Update-Sex-offender-law-passes-after-CBS-58-Investigation-268213522.html

Bottom Line Update: Sex offender law passes after CBS 58 Investigation
by Sarah Barwacz
Story Created: Jul 22, 2014
Story Updated: Jul 22, 2014 

MILWAUKEE -- Thanks to a CBS 58 Bottom Line Investigation Milwaukee now has a new sex offender ordinance.
CBS 58's Investigative Reporter Sarah Barwacz brought the issue to lawmakers back in May after finding child predators living next to schools, daycare centers, and parks. It was legal for child predators to live next to schools and parks because there was no law against it. Some council members we spoke with felt Milwaukee had become overrun with offenders. After several months of working with lawmakers Tuesday we got a law passed.
Alderman Tony Zielinski says, "I'm very excited, it's been a long standing problem in our community, today we got a major victory for the City of Milwaukee, so I want to thank CBS 58 for working with me to make this legislation a reality." 
Offenders already living in Milwaukee would be grandfathered in but new offenders would have to follow the 2,000 foot rule, restricting them from living next to day care centers, parks, and schools.
But some like Alderman Witkowski from District 13 say some districts will end up with a larger proportion of the sex offenders.
"It is still something that doesn't make the neighborhoods comfortable. With this change, four aldermanic districts that get to bear the burden for the City of Milwaukee."
Milwaukee had more sex offenders because neighboring communities passed residency restrictions while Milwaukee did not. The has one final hurdle, the mayor has to sign it. If he does the law will go into affect in 60 days.

Margey Eagan of the Boston Herald starts "Mass. Hysteria" over Registrant lottery winner

There is nothing in the law that states registered citizens cannot win a lottery, nor can anyone control who does what with the money. Margery Egan works for the Boston Herald, the wannabe NY Post, known more for its over-the-top front page than for its actual content. Her op-ed is the typical misinformed spiel about "pedophiles." The media needs to ban that word from usage, because invoking that word is a sex offender version of Godwin's Law.

I guess We'll see a Margery's law banning felons from the lottery, because the lottery leads to crime, according to her. If it haves one lottery...

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/margery_eagan/2014/03/eagan_everyone_lost_when_snay_hit_10m_jackpot

Eagan: Everyone lost when Snay hit $10M jackpot

Herald columnist Margery Eagan

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

So today we learn the gruesome details about $10 million lottery winner Daniel Snay, 62.

The story has tainted the Massachusetts Lottery and every dollar any of us have spent. It means we helped pay off a guy who — as the Lottery learned within two weeks of cutting him his first check — was a Level 3 sex offender, a child molester, long before he won.

Snay’s now been arrested on charges of molesting yet another child in an investigation that could spread to Connecticut, New York and Florida. Worse, authorities say, he used his winnings to further his crimes. They say he bought his young male victim two Kawasaki ATVs.

Millions could have enabled Snay to quit his truck-driving job, leaving him to his own devices.

Simple common sense tells you this spells disaster: a dangerous career sex offender, with $10 million to burn.

Yet nothing happened to Daniel Snay.

Somebody outed him back in 2008, right after he posed for the cameras next to then-Lottery director Mark Cavanagh. Holding his Billion Dollar Blockbuster check, Snay proved the exception to the tired old line, sex offenders don’t necessarily look like sex offenders. Snay looked like a sex offender out of central casting. He’d already been convicted four times over 13 years.

Yet nothing happened to Daniel Snay.

It was widely reported then that he violated the law by moving to Massachusetts without notifying Connecticut authorities, as sex offenders are required to do. It was widely reported that he’d failed to comply with other conditions of probation, yet, again, no one revoked that probation. There’s no indication that authorities watched him more closely, or monitored his comings and goings, or blew his picture up so locals would recognize this menace in their midst.

Lottery Executive Director Beth Bresnahan says the lottery can’t take away winnings unless a winner owes back taxes or child support. The Lottery can’t hold up Snay’s money now because he went through legal channels to collect it at once instead of in installments. She also said the lottery doesn’t do criminal background checks on winners.

But there is something crazy, nonsensical, just plain wrong about the story of Daniel Snay. A known pedophile wins $10 million in the lottery. Within days, the Lottery realizes it. And neither they, nor anyone else, says, wait a minute here. So from 2008 until now, Snay lived as he chose on his winnings, and who knows how many children paid.

Note to DAVID J. NEAL of the Miami Herald: Stick with SPORTS writing

In the world of potential Shiitake Award winners, I should never have to add a sports writer to the list of nominees. However, when said sports writer makes it a point to embarrass an individual being honored because he is a registered citizen, that is Shiitake-worthy.

David J. Neal is a Miami Herald sports writer. He should be writing stuff about LeBron James's latest crying fit or about how the Jacksonville Jaguars will likely go 0-16 next season. Instead, he gives us a very scary story about a registered citizen who-- gasp-- throws out a first pitch at a college baseball game! I know, run for the hills, right?

So far, the state of FloriDUH is having quite a monopoly in this year's Shiitake awards. I have a feeling we're not through picking on FloriDUH, America's wang.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/17/3942688/former-fiu-baseball-star-who-threw.html

Former FIU baseball star who threw out first pitch for 2014 season is registered sex offender 

BY DAVID J. NEAL
DNEAL@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Dennis Wiseman, a former FIU pitching ace, received the honor of throwing out the first pitch of FIU’s baseball season Saturday afternoon. That’s also Dennis Wiseman, registered sex offender since 1997, when he was charged with unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

An FIU spokesman told the Miami Herald the decision to have Wiseman throw out the first pitch was made by FIU baseball coach Turtle Thomas, and Thomas would only answer questions Monday about the 4-0 Panthers.

A source close to FIU told the Miami Herald that Wiseman also has gone on the team plane during football road trips, something with which Thomas has no connection.

An FIU spokesman said director of sports and entertainment Pete Garcia was not available for comment.

Wiseman pitched at FIU from 1986 to ’89, winning 32 games, which is still the second most in school history, and set a still-standing school record of 464 innings pitched. His four career shutouts rank second in FIU history.

After Wiseman graduated from FIU with a degree in criminal justice, the St. Louis Cardinals selected him in the 30th round of the 1989 Major League Baseball Draft.

Wiseman bounced around the minor leagues for seven seasons, peaking at the Triple A level in 1993 when he went 7-9 with a 5.06 ERA for Louisville.

In May 1997, North Miami police arrested Wiseman, then a teacher and assistant baseball coach at North Miami High, and charged him with three counts of unlawful sexual activity with minors, the charge when the adult is 24 years old or older and the minor is 16 or 17. It’s a second degree felony.

Wiseman, who was 29 at the time, was accused of having sexual encounters with a 16-year-old student. Wiseman paid his $22,500 bond and later entered a plea of not guilty.

In August 1997, however, Wiseman changed his plea on all three counts and the case ended with a finding of guilt with an order withholding adjudication that included probation with special conditions.

Wiseman’s five-year probation ended in 2002, but he’s still required to keep law enforcement abreast of his residences as a sex offender.

According to his LinkedIn profile, starting in 1999, he spent 4 1/2 years with Florida United Radiology as project manager, then nine years with Radiology Associates of South Florida as chief operating officer.

Attempts to reach Wiseman by phone Monday night were not successful.

Addendum: If this article wasn't silly enough, David Neal himself responded in an email defending his idiotic article: 

 "Because it was adjudged to be of news value when a large public university gives even the minor honor of throwing out the first pitch to someone with that crime on his record.  Some very vocal people had the same reaction as you. Others had the "What were they thinking?" reaction."

Actually, what was the Miami Herald thinking hiring this mediocre sports writer in the first place?

Shana Rowan's "I Love a Sex Offender" blog has modified the headline to more accurately depict the angle David J. Neal was really trying to imply with this article:

Courtesy of Shana Rowan's "I Love a Sex Offender" Blog

Anna Canzano kicks off the 2014 Shiitake Awards season

I haven't even finished finalizing the 2013 Shiitake Awards, but Anna Canzano of KATU News is already starting the new year by using sex offender issues for ratings. Canzano is already a veteran to this site, but this may be her worst effort to date. Long story short, Canzany harasses a registered citizen for allegedly helping to work on a company Facebook page. Wow.

What she actually did was a crime. Will the police lock her up? They should.

http://www.katu.com/news/investigators/Sex-offender-declines-to-talk-about-why-he-has-prohibited-Facebook-page-238550691.html


Sex offender refuses to talk about why he has prohibited Facebook page

By Anna Canzano, On Your Side Investigator Published: Jan 2, 2014 at 10:32 PM PST Last Updated: Jan 3, 2014 at 12:49 PM PST

PORTLAND, Ore. -- His name is ******, and he's not exactly pleased to see us. He's showing up to check in with his probation officer downtown, ordered to appear because of what we found and shared with Multnomah County authorities.

I introduce myself and ask him why he's using Facebook when he's not supposed to, because he is a convicted sex offender. He accuses us of harassing him then flees from the camera.

At first glance, *****'s Facebook activity looks normal enough -- a normal profile, with some photos of Miller with family and friends. Among his “likes,” the bikini barista stand, Twin Perks Espresso. 
The profile is linked to a company page called ******.

The problem with both of these pages? Convicted sex offenders are not allowed to use Facebook, according to the company's policies, and ***** was convicted of second-degree rape in 2002. He served nearly nine years in prison and has been on probation ever since. He’s also been ordered to do community service.

In May last year, *****s probation officer learned he'd created a Facebook page for his company and told ***** to take it down. Multnomah County spokesman David Austin told me ***** complied. But here we are eight months later and ***** has not only a company Facebook page but also that personal profile.

I got a hold of **** by phone earlier in the day Thursday. I wanted to know if he was aware of Facebook policy, if it was of concern to him, and whether there was some term of his supervision that prohibited him from using social media.

He told me, "I'm not at liberty to comment on a criminal record I may or may not have. I work for a company that manages a Facebook page."

Within an hour after we spoke, his personal profile had been changed. The personal photos were gone; it suddenly looked a lot more like his company page.

I contacted Multnomah County to learn the rules of his probation. That led to his required appearance downtown and Mr. Miller running away from us.

Late in the day, I was contacted via Facebook by someone alerting me to yet another Facebook page ******apparently manages for a company called *****. There are multiple photos of Miller on the page and multiple indications he runs the page. I'll be sharing this new information with Multnomah County.

Based on what I'd already told them, county spokesman David Austin says ***** will likely be punished with community service.

At last check, *****'s personal profile on Facebook has been removed entirely. The page for *****'s ***** remains active, as does the page for *****.

Facebook doesn't screen for sex offenders per se. It relies on users to report sex offenders to them and provide some kind of proof -- a news article, court documents -- to show someone's conviction for a sex crime.