Loseriana School district join Gestapo in giving rewards to kids to use the public shaming registry

I think the picture to the right pretty much sums up the level of creepiness I felt when I saw this award program (pogrom) to get kids to check the government blacklist. Need I say more?

(I could discuss the potential problems with kids of registrants but that's a whole different can of worms. I bet no one considered that.)

http://www.fox8live.com/story/36988315/st-charles-parish-partnership-offers-sex-offender-notification-program-to-alert-parents

St. Charles Parish partnership offers sex offender notification program to alert parents
Monday, December 4th 2017, 1:00 pm EST
Written by: Erin Lowrey, Digital Content Manager

ST. CHARLES PARISH, LA (WVUE) -
St Charles parish Sheriff's Office along with the St. Charles Parish School Board have created a program in conjunction with Offender Watch Initiative in an effort to prevent sexual abuse against residents.

Parents and guardians of children in St Charles Parish Public Schools will receive a brochure detailing specifics of the T.A.S.K. Program.

Parents are being asked to review the content of the brochure with their children, and have an honest discussion with their children regarding the dangerous reality of sexual abuse and the preventative measures that can be taken to prevent it, according to the sheriff.

 The (T.A.S.K.) program is a three step email registration process. 

According to the release, upon completion of the program, and with parental assistance, children will print a map of their local area, sign it, and submit it to their teacher.

Once the assignment has been completed, children will receive a safety prize from a local sponsor, which is Adventure Quest Laser Tag.  

Adventure Quest Laser Tag will be providing children with a choice of a FREE Laser Tag or Bumpber Car Ride or Putt-Putt Game, according to the news release issued by the sheriff.   

If parents think they may have already signed up, they can perform a search on ****.com and print map of sex offenders in their area to submit back to school for their child to receive a prize.

In St Charles Parish there are 78 published sex offenders. Do You Know Your Neighborhood? We want parents to be informed in their neighborhood. The process is fast, easy and free at www.*****.com

“We believe that keeping families informed of sex offenders moving into their neighborhood is an important part of keeping our citizens safe and protected from potential threats to their families. This partnership allows us to do that in an easy, free way,” said Sheriff Champagne.

Feminist CJ textbook uses Brock Turner as the picture of "rape"

She is using Brock Turner's mugshot as a form of revenue for her book, he was NOT found guilty of rape, but he is guilty of assault with INTENT to rape. That is defamation of character.

http://www.oxygen.com/blogs/brock-turners-photo-is-now-included-in-college-textbooks-definition-of-rape

Brock Turner's Photo Is Now Included In College Textbook's Definition Of 'Rape'

by Benjamin H. Smith
September 14, 2017 • 2:51 PM ET
“He may have been able to get out of prison time but in my Criminal Justice 101 textbook, Brock Turner is the definition of rape."

While sexual assault victims and their advocates were appalled at his light jail sentence, sex offender Brock Turner has been forever immortalized under the definition of “rape” in a criminal justice textbook.

The SF Gate reports Washington State University student Hannah Kendall posted a photo of the page on Facebook September 7, and it quickly went viral. Turner was convicted on three felonious counts of sexual assault in March of 2016 but received a mere six-month sentence, of which he only served three months, sparking outrage and protests.

The photo appears in Introduction to "Criminal Justice: Systems, Diversity and Change," the second ediiton, by Callie Marie Rennison and Mary Dodge, which was published in January by Sage Press, according to The Sacremento Bee newspaper.

Kendall’s Facebook post says “He may have been able to get out of prison time but in my Criminal Justice 101 textbook, Brock Turner is the definition of rape, so he's got that goin for him.” The post has nearly 102,000 shares and over 4,000 comments.

Turner was a freshman at California’s prestigious Stanford University, which he was attending on a swimming scholarship, when he was observed sexually penetrating an unconscious woman outside the Kappa Alpha frat house in January 2015. When confronted by a pair of Swedish exchange students, Turner tried to run away but was apprehended by them, and later arrested and indicted on three counts of sexual assault and two counts of rape.

Though the rape charges were later dropped, as there was no proof of sexual intercourse, Turner was found guilty of assault with intent to rape an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object. Despite being convicted of three felonies, and the prosecutions recommendation of a six-year prison sentence, Judge Aaron Persky sentenced Turner to six months in the county jail.

Turner’s perceived light sentence, and subsequent release after three months, angered many. Online petitions called for Persky’s removal from the bench, and the California Commission on Judicial Performance investigated him on bias charges, for which he was later cleared. Now a registered sex offender, Turner meanwhile was met upon his release by armed protesters outside his parent’s Ohio home, where he must stay during his three-year probationary period.

The textbook caption underneath Turner’s mugshot photo says, “Brock Turner, a Stanford student who raped and assaulted an unconscious female college student behind a dumpster at a fraternity party, was recently released from jail after serving only three months. Some are shocked at how short this sentence is. Others who are more familiar with the way sexual violence has been handled in the criminal justice system are shocked he was found guilty and served any time at all. What do you think?”

While the textbooks authors have yet to comment on the recent uproar, co-author Callie Rennison spoke about the book last November when she received the Bonnie S. Fisher Victimology Career Award. As reported by the British website Metro, she said most criminal justice books “speak little about victims, reflecting how they have effectively been in the shadows of our criminal justice system. In our book, victims are front and center with equal emphasis as cops, courts and corrections. This is the way it should be.”

Battle Creek MI refuses to let registered citizen open a place of business to help the hungry and poor

After reading stories like this, people should be able to understand why i'm a bitter man. Here's an idea, instead of trying to help a bunch of ungrateful pricks, use your ideas to benefit registered citizens and their loved ones instead.

http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/story/news/2017/08/09/convicted-sex-offender-warned-stay-away-his-downtown-business/544682001/

Sex offender warned to stay away from his own business
Noe Hernandez, Battle Creek Enquirer Published 3:40 p.m. ET Aug. 9, 2017 | Updated 4:38 p.m. ET Aug. 9, 2017

A convicted sex offender who plans on opening a shop next to a toy store in downtown Battle Creek has been told by police he cannot be at his business and has been asked by his business partner to step down.

Reece Adkins, who pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person under 13 in May 2000, plans to open Cereal City Food Auction, at 56 W. Michigan Ave., on Aug. 26.

Major Jim Grafton of the Battle Creek Police Department said Wednesday that Adkins was told Monday not to be in the space that houses his business because it is within 1,000 feet of Battle Creek Central High School and St. Philip Catholic schools.

Adkins, who is required to register with the state as a sex offender for the rest of his life, is prohibited by law from working or living within 1,000 feet of a school.

"He is not within his guidelines," Grafton said. "We've advised the gentleman that he cannot be at 56 W. Michigan Ave."

Adkins's business partner, Cindy Dian, said Tuesday that she has asked him to publicly step down after reports of his criminal past surfaced in the media.

"The idea of the business is to help low-income people with food," Dian said. "I have taken this week off to think and pray as to how to proceed.

"I feel that the damage that has been done by the media is irreparable," she added. "There's no way that any business can start after this, but, if told that I have to, I will try my best."

Adkins, a former independent contractor for the Battle Creek Enquirer who delivered newspapers, said Tuesday that he doesn't know if he will step down.

Three weeks ago, he said, a Battle Creek Police Department employee who works with registered sex offenders told him that he could open the business because it was more than 1,000 feet from a school.

The same officer, Adkins said, told him Monday that the shop actually was within 1,000 feet of a school.

Grafton said the department did tell Adkins the business was more than 1,000 feet from a school. He said Adkins first told the officer in charge of tracking registered sex offenders that the business was at 56 Michigan Ave. 

Grafton said his department later informed Adkins of the mistake after the officer checked to verify the location and realized it was within 1,000 feet of a school because it was located on 56 W. Michigan Ave., not 56 E. Michigan Ave.

Adkins said he's now launched an investigation into the matter. "I don't know if I'm going to step down or not because my investigation is not done," Adkins said. 

Adkins said he believes he has paid his debt to society. 

"It's something that's behind me," Adkins said Friday. "I've learned from the mistakes. I'm trying to move forward because a lot of people have criminal histories.

"It's something you don't need to live the rest of your life against," he added. "I've done my time; I deserve a chance. I've been out of the community going on five years now and I've not been in trouble since."

Adkins was sentenced to four years, two months to 15 years in June 2000, He was released in 2010, returned to prison in 2012 on a technicality, and then was released for good in 2014.

The new business, Cereal City Food Auction, also would be located next to Hall of Toys.

Hall of Toys owners Brett and Melanie Hall posted on Facebook that they were not aware that the new business next door would be run by a registered sex offender.

Brett Hall declined to comment Wednesday and referred a reporter to the Facebook post.

"As parents of young children ourselves, we understand the concerns voiced by the community and have spoken to our landlord and the Downtown Development Officer about helping that business find a location that is further away from a place where children regularly play," the post stated.

"We believe that a solution exists that allows the gentleman in question to have a fresh start while also ensuring the families that regularly visit us feel safe. We will stay abreast of the situation and would be happy to answer any questions you have. Thank you for your support in this matter."

Adkins tried to run for a seat on the city commission this year, but did not collect enough signatures by the registration deadline.

Related: Adkins off city candidate list after B.C. consults with state Elections Bureau

He also tried to run for a seat on the city commission in 1999, about a year before he pleaded guilty to the sexual assault charge. 

Dian and Adkins said they signed a one-year lease with an option for three more years, but building owner John Hennink said Adkins is not on the lease.

"(Adkins) has no lease with me," Hennink said. "If Cindy wants out of the lease, I would be willing to do so. My lease is with her."

John Hart, the city's downtown development director, said he was not aware Adkins was opening a business downtown.

"Of course, we're concerned with the perception of the downtown being a safe place to live, work, play and invest in, but there's no real comment from us as it relates to someone's status with the law," Hart said Tuesday. "It only becomes a concern to us if there might be a situation with an owner that might rise to a police investigation.

"We don't pick and choose who opens a business," he added. "Society will decide by their pleasure or displeasure of an owner's actions whether they will frequent a store or not."

Adkins and Dian said their goal was to help low-income shoppers and others who need to make the most of their grocery money.

If opened, Cereal City Food Auction would have a platform and podium for an auctioneer and chairs for food shoppers. Each shopper would get a bidding paddle with a number on it. Shoppers would then bid for non-perishable food items, such as canned soups and fruits.

British inmates complain their blankets were made by sex offenders, and somehow it actually became news

I don't know which is worse-- hearing prison inmates whine about who made their blankets, or the fact that a mainstream media outlet felt it was worth reprinting. Well, I hope they like sex offender germs, the bloody wankers!

Original letter: http://www.insidetime.org/offensive-blankets/

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/prison-inmates-fear-blankets-made-13295765

Prison inmates fear their blankets are made by sex offenders
Concern raised that prison-issue blankets made in sex offender-only HMP Stafford

BY JOE THOMAS
10:34, 7 JUL 2017UPDATED10:41, 7 JUL 2017

Inmates at Walton prison fear they could be sleeping under blankets made by sex offenders.

The concerns were highlighted in a letter written by an HMP Liverpool inmate and published by prison magazine Inside Time.

The prisoner describes himself as “horrified” to learn a “sex offender’s hands have been all over my blanket” and questions why they are distributed throughout the prison system.

In the letter, the inmate claims to have discovered his blanket was made at HMP Stafford - a specialist prison that holds only sex offenders.

The institution, which was previously home to shamed entertainer Rolf Harris, is described as a closed training prison by the Ministry of Justice and has an industrial workshop complex on the site.

The prison has the capacity to hold 751 Category C sex offenders.

Writing in this month’s Inside Time, the prisoner complained: “I have just learned that the orange, prison-issue blankets are made in HMP Stafford, which means it was actually made by sex-offenders. I am horrified,.. How can the prison system distribute these sex-offender blankets throughout the prison population?

"I feel so angry that I cannot even sleep knowing that sex-offender’s hands have been all over my blanket.”

He then goes on to ask: “Can’t somebody do something to stop this happening? The blankets they make should stay within the sex-offender wings.”

The ECHO has attempted to contact the Ministry of Justice over the issue.

No price is too great to protect just one child, even if that price is putting them in jail, says LA DA

Oddly, folks who make false rare reports have spent less time in jail than those who were jailed as incentive to testify.

http://www.wwltv.com/news/victims-witnesses-jailed-in-new-orleans/430823680

DA: Sometimes a crime victim needs to be put in jail to get the criminal

Paul Murphy , WWL 9:28 AM. CDT April 13, 2017

New Orleans victims advocates are against the use of material witness warrants to force victims of domestic abuse and sex crimes to testify in court.

However, Orleans District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro says in some rare cases, it's necessary to put a victim or witness in jail to get a dangerous criminal or sex offender off the streets.

"If I have to put a victim of a crime in jail, for eight days, in order to...keep the rapist off of the street, for a period of years and to prevent him from raping or harming someone else, I'm going to do that," Cannizzaro said.

Tuesday, the judicial watchdog group "Courtwatch NOLA" released a report, taking issue with the use of material witness warrants.

"What kind of picture this paints for folks coming victims that are scared and want to come forward, to call police and talk to law enforcement if they know they are going to be incarcerated," Courtwatch NOLA Executive Director Simone Levine said. "We think this is a real disincentive."

The DA maintains it's a small price in the pursuit of justice.

"Steps have been taken to arrest that person, to indict him, to bring him to court and they say, 'I don't want to get involved,' in my opinion that is wrong," Cannizzaro said.

Victims' advocacy groups say jailing victims to force them to testify is not good public policy.

"When we arrest them, that's a punitive form of measure," Silence is Violence Executive Director Tamara Jackson said. "There are other ways we can reach our goals besides victimizing a victim again."

"As a survivor advocate, we really feel like no one should be under the threat of arrest for choosing not to cooperate with prosecution," New Orleans Family Justice Center Director of Program Development Eva Lessinger said. "It could have a chilling effect on folks coming forward."

DA Cannizzaro said his office just doesn't go out and say, "oh, I want to put a witness or victim in jail.  

"Is it more important for this witness to be inconvenienced for a very short period of time or is it better for the community to get the violent offender off the streets and keep him off the streets," Cannizzaro added.

Courtwatch NOLA cited 15 cases where prosecutors issued material arrest warrants to get victims and witnesses to testify.

DA Cannizzaro maintains of those 15 cases, only 6 of them actually resulted in the witness or victim going to jail.

Three Strokes You're Out? Jerkoff judge in Oregon gives LWOP sentence to guy jerking off on city rail

Maybe it seems silly to me to waste a life sentence on a guy who was flogging the bishop on a city train, but judging by the comment section, it seems a lot of people agree. This guy does have a history of the same behavior, but this IS a hands off offense... well, a hands off other people, not hands off himself. I feel in this instance, the Judge is the bigger jerkoff.

This is another instance of the failure of three strikes your out.

All I can say for those who agree with Judge Oscar Garcia is different strokes for different folks, I guess.

http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2017/03/habitual_sex_offender_public_m.html

Habitual sex offender, public masturbator gets life in prison for latest crime

Print Email Everton Bailey Jr. | The Oregonian/OregonLive By Everton Bailey Jr. | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on March 10, 2017 at 5:39 PM, updated March 10, 2017 at 5:41 PM

A sex offender with a long record and compulsion for public indecency was sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday for his latest offense -- getting caught masturbating on a MAX train.

Terry E. Iversen, 49, was sentenced after a three-hour hearing in Washington County Circuit Court in which Judge Oscar Garcia heard from the defendant's victims, current and retired detectives who investigated sex-related cases where he was either convicted or not charged, and a probation officer who advocated Iversen spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Iversen pleaded guilty to public indecency in January, a felony because of his past sex-related convictions. The true life sentence is permitted under a "three strikes"-like Oregon law aimed at predatory sex offenders.

"I think it was the right call," said Allison Brown, the county deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case and asked the judge for the life sentence. "He has continued to show that he won't benefit from treatment or rehabilitation, and at that point it's about protecting citizens and preventing him from crimes like this or worse."

She said Iversen had been sentenced to sex offender treatment at least five times but never completed it or stopped his behavior.

Terry Beach, Iversen's attorney, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. He wrote in a sentencing memo that he felt his client's punishment didn't fit the crime and suggested a prison sentence of eight years and four months.

The defense attorney argued Iversen's only conviction for a sex crime that involved physical contact was in March 1989 in Washington County for third-degree rape of a 15-year-old and second-degree sodomy of a 12-year-old girl.

Before Iversen was arrested in October, his most recent public masturbation conviction was in 2000, which was a felony because of his past sex crimes, Beach noted.

"(Iversen) took steps to satisfy a compulsion in a way that minimized the impact it would have on others," Beach said in a sentencing memo. "Such actions do not deserve a life sentence without parole."

A life sentence for multiple felony sex crimes is unusual in Washington County, Brown said, but it's unclear how typical it is statewide.

The Oregon Supreme Court last year overturned a life term as too harsh for a man convicted of public indecency, but it upheld life terms for at least two others in felony sex-related cases.

Court records show a string of past public indecency convictions for Iverson - in 1985, 1996 and 2000, including on public transportation in Washington and Multnomah counties. He also has been convicted of burglary, escape and drug possession.

He got out of prison last year after spending more than 12 years behind bars for assault and other crimes during a police chase that began when he was reported to be following young girls around a shopping center. He crashed into two cars and injured three people during the case in Cedar Mill.

Once out of prison, he was ordered to stay at the Washington County Community Correctional Center but got in trouble again, records show.

He masturbated while sitting behind a woman on a MAX train in Hillsboro in September, Brown said. The woman got off the train and called police, but they couldn't find the suspect.

In October, Iversen sat behind another woman while heading back to the community corrections center in Hillsboro and masturbated behind her. He placed his jacket next to him to block the view of anyone across the aisle, but the woman turned and saw him. Police later arrested him.

Surveillance video linked him to the earlier incident, Brown said, but he was never charged.

Beach said Iversen has been diagnosed with a mental health disorder that causes compulsive sexual behavior. He was responding positively to sex offender treatment after his latest stint in prison but couldn't avoid any of his triggers while on the MAX train in October so he "quietly masturbated," the lawyer said.

He has cooperated with police and taken responsibility for his actions, Beach said. He initially was scheduled to go to trial but opted to plead guilty instead that day to avoid having the victim testify in court, Beach said.

Beach cited the state Supreme Court's decision last year overturning the life sentence of Dennis J. Davidson, who was sentenced in Marion County for masturbating near women while behind a tree in a Salem park and again in front of police officers while standing at a fence in the area. He had three earlier convictions for public indecency.

The court concluded that because Davidson had no sex offense more serious than public indecency, a life sentence without parole would be unconstitutionally disproportionate under Oregon law.

"Unwillingly observing sexual behavior by another person is not a harm of the same magnitude as being specifically and personally subjected to unwanted physical sexual contact or sexual violence," the Supreme Court opinion said.

Davidson is scheduled to be resentenced in April. The prosecution plans to request a sentence of 16 years and eight months.

Brown cited two cases that the Supreme Court upheld last year:

-- The court concluded Douglas W. Sokell's life sentence was appropriate. He had been convicted in Washington County of first-degree sexual abuse for touching an 8-year-old girl's buttocks and hips in a public library. He had two prior sexual abuse convictions involving children.

-- The court noted that William M. Althouse's criminal history justified a life sentence. He had been sentenced for public indecency in Marion County -- his fourth conviction for a felony sex crime, which included two other cases that involved children. In the latest case, Althouse was spotted by a jogger sitting without pants near a popular running path and within 150 feet of a middle school.

The court noted that someone's inability to correct behavior after several opportunities could support a life sentence.

Oh, SNAP! Leader of SNAP resigns amid lawsuit over exploiting abuse "survivors"

This perp needs jail, too

And to think some of you folks dared to criticize me over the use of the term VICTIM INDUSTRY. So SNAP has **ahem** "allegedly" been exploiting their clients by sending them to their special lawyers in exchange for some kickbacks? Why am I not surprised? I wouldn't be shocked if SNAP also coached folks into telling stories that may be complete fabrications.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-snap-barbara-blaine-resignation-20170204-story.html

Barbara Blaine, leader of priest sex-abuse survivors group, steps down
Feb. 4, 2017
Chicago Tribune staff

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests told its volunteers on Saturday that its president and founder has resigned.

Barbara Blaine, who also describes herself as a survivor, founded the group in Chicago nearly three decades ago. Her resignation, effective Friday, comes a week after SNAP announced the departure of its national director David Clohessy, effective Dec. 31, 2016.

Both were named in a lawsuit filed in Cook County last month by a former SNAP employee, accusing the leaders of referring potential clients to attorneys in return for financial kickbacks to the group.

But Blaine said her leaving had nothing to do with the suit and "no bearing'' on her leaving.

Blaine, who describes herself as a survivor, expressed gratitude for her supporters in an emailed statement.

"It has been the greatest honor of my life to have found and been your president for the past 29 years. Change however is inevitable," Blaine said in the statement.

Mary Ellen Kruger, who is on the SNAP board, said in an emailed statement they are "grateful for her 29 years of leadership."

“Her contribution to the survivors movement is unsurpassed. Her tenacity and fortitude helped expose abuse globally during the past three decades. We will carry on her vision of SNAP as we grow in new ways to better meet the needs of survivors coming forward today and in the future. We wish Barbara the best," Kruger said in the statement.

It was a horrible feeling twenty-nine years ago," Blaine said in the statement. "Church officials would not keep their promises. My perpetrator remained in ministry but more importantly, I felt such immense pain that I was not sure I could continue to live," Blaine said. 

“I knew there were other survivors out there and wondered if they felt the same debilitating hurt and if so, how they coped with it. I thought they might hold the wisdom I lacked. I looked for other survivors and asked if they would be willing to talk.

"Somewhere in the past twenty-nine years you got involved and I want to thank you for doing so. To be honest, my heart is overflowing with gratitude to each of you. Words fail to express the extent of how grateful I feel," Blaine said in the statement.

Barbara Dorris, SNAP’s outreach director, has become the managing director, according to SNAP. The group said Dorris will work closely with the board of directors to continue to engage the group's volunteer leadership nationwide to help more survivors of sexual abuse and assault, and to stop further abuse, according to the statement.

Blaine and Dorris are defendants, along with SNAP and Executive Director David Clohessy, in a lawsuit filed last month by a former employee. In that lawsuit, former director of development Gretchen Rachel Hammond says she was fired shortly after asking superiors whether SNAP was referring potential clients to attorneys in exchange for donations.

“Please know that the recent lawsuit filed against SNAP, as the others in the past which have no merit, had absolutely no bearing on my leaving. The discussions and process of my departure has been ongoing, Blaine said in the statement.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-snap-lawsuit-met-20170119-story.html

Ex-worker sues priest sex-abuse victims advocacy group, says it exploited survivors 
Manya Brachear Pashman
Chicago Tribune
1/17/17

A former employee of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has sued the victims advocacy group, alleging that SNAP exploited victims of sexual abuse by clergy in return for financial kickbacks from attorneys.

According to a lawsuit filed this week in Cook County Circuit Court, Gretchen Rachel Hammond worked as a director of development from July 2011 until she said she was fired in February 2013, shortly after asking superiors whether SNAP was referring potential clients to attorneys in exchange for donations.

In addition to the organization, defendants named in the lawsuit are Barbara Blaine, its founder and president; David Clohessy, executive director; and Barbara Dorris, outreach director.

Blaine said in a statement that "the allegations are not true."

"This will be proven in court," she said. "SNAP leaders are now, and always have been, devoted to following the SNAP mission: To help victims heal and to prevent further sexual abuse."

Neither Clohessy nor Dorris could be reached for comment.

Though it did not name attorneys, the lawsuit said donations from several high-profile litigators across the country comprised a large percentage of SNAP's income.

Jeff Anderson, a prominent Minnesota attorney for victims of clergy sex abuse who was not named in the lawsuit, confirmed that he makes regular donations to SNAP, as well as other nonprofit organizations that advocate for the safety of children. But he said he does not do it in exchange for referrals.

"I have supported SNAP and a lot of other organizations that help survivors throughout the country, unapologetically," he said.

"The allegation is explosive because it's unethical," he added. "I've never done it nor would I ever do it."

According to the lawsuit, Hammond grew suspicious of SNAP's methods when she was not permitted to participate in an internal audit of SNAP by an accounting firm and was barred from attending survivors' meetings, group therapy sessions or counseling sessions to help generate material for grant proposals.

She also was given access to a list of lawyers who regularly donated to SNAP but was told to never tell anyone that lawyers donate to the organization, according to the lawsuit. At a news conference, Hammond said she raised more than $950,000 for SNAP during her 19 months there.

A Missouri judge ruled in 2012 to open more than two decades of correspondence with victims, lawyers, witnesses and journalists to shed light on whether SNAP had coached victims to fabricate claims of repressed memory.

Shortly after that, Hammond said, she was accidentally copied on an email from Clohessy to an attorney, asking when he could expect the next donation, the lawsuit said. It was then she began to ask questions and the workplace climate dramatically changed, she alleged in the lawsuit.

She said she began to collect evidence of what she believed to be a kickback scheme, copying reams of documents and downloading records on a flash drive she used to do work at home. When SNAP sent a volunteer to her apartment to collect the flash drive, she did not disclose that she had copied it, the lawsuit said. She was fired two days later, she said.

Though she decided not to go to authorities at the time, the movie "Spotlight" renewed her concerns and she sought legal counsel. Hammond alleges she could not find employment that paid as much as she made at SNAP and is seeking compensatory damages, attorney’s fees and expenses.

Alt-Right once again caught spreading fake news by claiming Ft Lauderdale shooter was a registered citizen. But that's not even the most bizarre part of the story

Now look, we give the mainstream media here a lot of flak, and they make good cannon fodder for this award, but over the past year, I've had the chance to see (and deride) the alternative, specifically the "alt-right," who seemingly have less reason to fact check before publishing steaming piles of bovine excrement. 

I have pretty much figured out how this happened. You see, FloriDUH is one of only a handful of states that publishes their registry info in a way that comes up in a Google search. (Normally you have to go to a state registry website to pull up the information.) Some Alt-Right wacko googled the name, found some guy who just happened to have a similar name, and then use the first pic he found to create a fake news story. I believe whoever started this didn't make an honest and simple mistake in an attempt to be the first to post news, like the mainstream media may do. This was intentionally false in order to advance the Alt-Right agenda. 

My biggest worry is that someone targets the registrant because some Alt-Right schmuck believes the fake news propagated by the Alt-Right media. Remember the guy who shot at a pizza joint to rescue non-existent sex trafficking victims?

Snopes.com has already exposed this farce, too. 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/06/inside-the-alt-right-s-florida-airport-shooter-esteban-santiago-hoax.html

Alt-Right Frames Wrong Esteban Santiago for Shooting, Kickstarts Racist Conspiracy Theory

As soon as the Fort Lauderdale airport shooter’s identity emerged, so did the alt-right’s racist conspiracy hoaxes.

BEN COLLINS

01.06.17 5:40 PM ET

Far rightwing figureheads immediately invented an elaborate and racist conspiracy theory that CNN had lightened a photo of alleged Fort Lauderdale airport shooter Esteban Santiago shortly after the Friday attack.

In reality, CNN had yet to air a picture of Santiago, let alone lightened a picture of him. The conspiracy also used a picture of an entirely different man named Esteban Santiago—not the alleged shooter.

Still, writers at websites like InfoWars and Gateway Pundit tweeted about CNN’s nonexistent Photoshop job. Former Republican Florida Congressman Allen West, who represented Fort Lauderdale itself, even tweeted about the conspiracy and linked to an article about it on his own website.

“Why is CNN attempting to make the shooter look more white? Bizarre,” reads InfoWars editor Paul Joseph Watson’s tweet, which had 3,500 retweets at press time.

Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft even wrote a story about the so-called incident, titled “Look How CNN Doctored Photo of Ft. Lauderdale Shooter Esteban Santiago,” which had 2,500 shares in its first hour on Facebook, according to BuzzSumo.

“It appears CNN doctored the photo to make the suspect look more white,” wrote Hoft. “Sad.”

The attached picture, which was neither aired nor lightened by CNN, is of a 39-year-old Esteban Santiago, who lives in New York state. The image was pulled from a Florida sex offender registry.

Instead, the Esteban Santiago who shot 13 people and left five dead in Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport on Friday was born in New Jersey and spent the last several years living in Anchorage, Alaska. According to officials, he is 26, not 39, and is currently in police custody.

A real image of the shooter circulated on the internet hours later, confirming that he is not the 39-year-old Santiago showed in Watson’s tweet and Gateway Pundit’s article.

Alt-right Twitter accounts appear to have helped create the confusion. After media personality Tariq Nasheed tweeted, “there are reports that the identity of one of the Ft. Lauderdale shooting suspects is a white Hispanic named Esteban Santiago,” verified alt-right Twitter user @BakedAlaska tweeted a screenshot of Nasheed’s tweet, along with a picture of the wrong Santiago.

“Esteban Santiago is not white. He’s hispanic,” wrote @BakedAlaska, whose real name is Tim Treadstone and recently made headlines for anti-Semitic comments.

Hoft’s story links to a tweet by the user @alphakangz, whose account has only existed since November.

“UNDOCTORED PHOTO vs. photo @CNN USED PHOTO of Esteban Santiago, the alleged FLL airport shooter #FortLauderdale pray for the victims,” the account tweeted.

Minutes later, a copy of the lightened photo of the 39-year-old Santiago, falsely claiming CNN attribution, appeared on Watson’s Twitter feed.

Update 6:31 p.m.: Gateway Pundit's Jim Hoft emailed The Daily Beast about an hour after this story's initial publication.

"I pulled the post," he said.

"UPDATE — THIS MAY BE A DIFFERENT ESTEBAN SANTIAGO," the story now reads.

The Daily Beast reached out to Watson for comment. His tweet is still visible on his account.

So now the B in FBI stands for Best Buy? The FBI makes our list a second year in a row for dubious investigation practices

I might have to stop spending my money at Best Buy. Apparently, the FBI has given the minimum-wage zit faces working the Geek Squad $500 to help the FBI find CP. So now you have yet another private agency acting as a government agency.

UPDATE (1/11/17): Now it seems the recovered picture may not even be CP after all, so now FBI must be shorthand for Fucked up BIg time

http://www.ocweekly.com/news/best-buy-geek-squad-informant-use-has-fbi-on-defense-in-child-porn-case-7794252

Best Buy Geek Squad Informant Use Has FBI on Defense in Child-Porn Case
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2017 AT 2:59 P.M. BY R. SCOTT MOXLEY

FBI agents and prosecutors usually strut inside Santa Ana's Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse, knowing they've focused the wrath of the criminal-justice system on a particular criminal. But an unusual child-pornography-possession case has placed officials on the defensive for nearly 26 months. Questions linger about law-enforcement honesty, unconstitutional searches, underhanded use of informants and twisted logic. Given that a judge recently ruled against government demands to derail a defense lawyer's dogged inquiry into the mess, United States of America v. Mark A. Rettenmaier is likely to produce additional courthouse embarrassments in 2017.

Rettenmaier is a prominent Orange County physician and surgeon who had no idea that a Nov. 1, 2011, trip to a Mission Viejo Best Buy would jeopardize his freedom and eventually raise concerns about, at a minimum, FBI competency or, at worst, corruption. Unable to boot his HP Pavilion desktop computer, he sought the assistance of the store's Geek Squad. At the time, nobody knew the company's repair technicians routinely searched customers' devices for files that could earn them $500 windfalls as FBI informants. This case produced that national revelation.

According to court records, Geek Squad technician John "Trey" Westphal, an FBI informant, reported he accidentally located on Rettenmaier's computer an image of "a fully nude, white prepubescent female on her hands and knees on a bed, with a brown choker-type collar around her neck." Westphal notified his boss, Justin Meade, also an FBI informant, who alerted colleague Randall Ratliff, another FBI informant at Best Buy, as well as the FBI. Claiming the image met the definition of child pornography and was tied to a series of illicit pictures known as the "Jenny" shots, agent Tracey Riley seized the hard drive.

Setting aside the issue of whether the search of Rettenmaier's computer constituted an illegal search by private individuals acting as government agents, the FBI undertook a series of dishonest measures in hopes of building a case, according to James D. Riddet, Rettenmaier's San Clemente-based defense attorney. Riddet says agents conducted two additional searches of the computer without obtaining necessary warrants, lied to trick a federal magistrate judge into authorizing a search warrant, then tried to cover up their misdeeds by initially hiding records.

To convict someone of child-pornography charges, the government must prove the suspect knowingly possessed the image. But in Rettenmaier's case, the alleged "Jenny" image was found on unallocated "trash" space, meaning it could only be retrieved by "carving" with costly, highly sophisticated forensics tools. In other words, it's arguable a computer's owner wouldn't know of its existence. (For example, malware can secretly implant files.) Worse for the FBI, a federal appellate court unequivocally declared in February 2011 (USA v. Andrew Flyer) that pictures found on unallocated space did not constitute knowing possession because it is impossible to determine when, why or who downloaded them.

"The government concedes it presented no evidence that Flyer knew of the presence of the files on the unallocated space of his Gateway computer's hard drive," declared judges at the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit before overturning that conviction. "The government also concedes it presented no evidence that Flyer had the forensic software required to see or access the files. . . . Deletion of an image alone does not support a conviction for knowing possession of child pornography on or about a certain date within the meaning of [federal law]. No evidence indicated that Flyer could recover or view any of the charged images in unallocated space or that he even knew of their presence there."

That ruling, made a year before the launch of the Rettenmaier case, left the FBI in a quandary. Agents noted among themselves in an email thread that "our [assistant United States attorney] won't charge on carved images." In hopes of overcoming this obstacle, they performed a sleight-of-hand maneuver, according to Riddet. The agents simply didn't alert Judge Marc Goldman that the image in question had been buried in unallocated space and, thus, secured deceitful authorization for a February 2012 raid on Rettenmaier's Laguna Niguel residence. "The omission was critical because the mere presence of child pornography in a computer's unallocated space is insufficient to establish knowing possession as a matter of law," Riddet wrote in a November 2016 brief. "And the unwitting possession of child porn will not support probable cause [for either a raid or charges]."

But Assistant U.S. Attorney M. Anthony Brown, who specializes in sex-crime cases and is handling prosecution duties, claims the omission was not legally important or malicious. Brown believes the "Jenny" image shouldn't be suppressed because it's only "wild speculation" that the Geek Squad performed searches at FBI instigation. To him, the defense is pushing a "flawed" theory slyly shifting focus to innocent FBI agents; he maintains that Rettenmaier—who is smart enough to have taught medicine at USC and UCLA—was dumb enough to seek Best Buy recovery of all of his computer files after knowingly storing child porn there.

The case is presently so tenuous that Riddet, who has 47 years of court experience, believes the Geek Squad search was extracurricular to required repairs and suggests that federal officials sloppily pushed for an unnecessary arrest. He has demanded to know if agents showed the photo evidence to Assistant United States Attorney Anne Gannon before she initiated charges. The defense lawyer is suspicious because FBI records reviewed by OC Weekly contain discrepancies about the picture and offer conflicting narratives about the agency's actions against his client. He also wants additional records, which he believes have been hidden.

On Dec. 19, 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney highlighted the discrepancies, noted odd memory losses among agents, and called Brown's arguments for blocking Riddet's inquiries "unavailing" and "perplexing." Carney ordered government officials to conduct a new, "diligent" search for evidence and compelled Gannon's future testimony about whether she saw the "Jenny" image before approving the search warrant.

But the biggest issue remains whether Geek Squad technicians acted as secret law-enforcement agents and, thus, violated Fourth Amendment prohibitions against warrantless government searches. Riddet claims records show "FBI and Best Buy made sure that during the period from 2007 to the present, there was always at least one supervisor who was an active informant." He also said, "The FBI appears to be able to access data at [Best Buy's main repair facility in Brooks, Kentucky] whenever they want." Calling the relationship between the agency and the Geek Squad relevant to pretrial motions, Carney approved Riddet's request to question agents under oath.

The defense lawyer believes the case was built on a false premise that should frighten all Americans. "While it may be that 'Jenny' appears in other photos which are child pornography, none of those photos, if indeed they do exist, were observed on [Rettenmaier's] hard drive," Riddet observed. "The critical point here is that the image which was viewed and described in the search warrant is not an image of child pornography."

That assertion will be debated at future hearings.

[UPDATE, Jan. 4, 5:20 p.m.: Jeff Haydock, a Best Buy vice president for communications, provided the Weekly a reaction. "Best Buy is required by law to report the discovery of certain illegal material to law enforcement, but being paid by authorities to do so would violate company policy," Haydock said. "If these reports are true, it is purely poor individual judgement. If we discover child pornography in the normal course of servicing a computer, phone or tablet, we have an obligation to contact law enforcement. We believe this is the right thing to do, and we inform our customers before beginning any work that this is our policy."] 

R. Scott Moxley
R. Scott Moxley’s award-winning investigative journalism has touched nerves for two decades. An angry congressman threatened to break Moxley’s knee caps. A dirty sheriff promised his critical reporting was irrelevant and then landed in prison. Corporate crooks won’t take his calls. Murderous gangsters mad-dogged him in court. The U.S. House of Representatives debated his work. Pusillanimous cops have left hostile messages using fake names. Federal prosecutors credited his stories for the arrest of a doctor who sold fake medicine to dying patients. And a frantic state legislator literally caught sleeping with lobbyists sprinted down state capital hallways to evade his questions in Sacramento. Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club and been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists.