Kim Russell of WXYZ News in Detroit's misandry is showing.

After my recent ordeals, I'm far more sensitive to cases of false allegations. People unfamiliar with how the system works needs to be reminded of a few things. First, there are thousands of folks who have pleaded guilty to crimes because if you take a case to the box and you lose, you serve far more time than pleading out. Second, when you take a plea, you cannot deny any details of the allegations.

Most importantly, this is a reminder to be careful when you decide to speak out. You really need to research the person interviewing you. Just looking at the Twitter page of Kim Russell of WXYZ in Detroit, I would never have granted this misandrist, biased yellow BROWN "journalist" an interview.

If I've learned one thing in my decade and a half of dealing with the media is to never talk about your own case. Never, never, NEVER allow yourself to be interviewed about your past.

https://www.wxyz.com/news/region/monroe-county/convicted-sex-offender-speaks-out-as-he-opens-a-church-in-monroe-with-his-wife

Convicted sex offender speaks out as he opens a church in Monroe with his wife
Posted: 6:48 PM, Apr 17, 2019  Updated: 5:48 PM, Apr 17, 2019
  By: Kim Russell

MONROE, Mich. (WXYZ) — The Lighthouse of Deliverance House of Prayer just opened in Monroe in an old church building on Franklin Street. A man reached out to 7 Action News with concerns that a pastor there, who is a convicted sex offender, could be a danger to children who attend.

Gerald and Louise McWilliams, who have been married for more than thirty years, are both listed as pastors of the church.

WXYZ reached out to them about the concerns and both agreed to speak with us.

“My mistake was writing a letter,” said Gerald McWilliams of what he did wrong.

At the time of the interview WXYZ had only a copy of an information report filed with Monroe County Circuit Court. It indicated he pleaded guilty to fourth degree criminal sexual conduct, saying “defendant and victim were related by blood or affinity to the third degree.”

Court records also indicated the victim was underage.

The McWilliams tell WXYZ they raised their niece and, when she became a teenager, she didn’t cover herself up well, so he wrote her a letter.

WXYZ asked if Gerald McWiliams ever touched the victim.

“No. I never touched her. She even indicated that,” he said.

“It breaks my heart to know she plotted this against us. I have had this in my heart for 20 years,” said Louise McWilliams.

Louise said she wanted people voicing concerns on social media about her husband's past to remember that scripture says judge not, lest you be judged by God.

The couple blamed the victim for what happened and for WXYZ covering the controversial opening of their church, even when WXYZ explained the victim did not reach out to us.

“I don’t understand why this child would keep this going,” said Louise McWilliams.

Then 7 Action News obtained a police report, which tells a different story. It says there was touching, that Gerald McWilliams went into his niece’s bedroom. She woke to his hand approaching her privates.

The police report indicated he told her he wanted to have sex.

She moved away and told him to leave.

Then he gave her an obscene letter describing the sex acts her uncle wanted to do to her. It says McWilliams admitted to touching and the letter when he pleaded guilty.

WXYZ asked the couple if Gerald McWilliams is a danger to any families that bring young girls to the church.

“Right now you see this church. You see the window back there. It is the nursery. It will never be covered,” said Louise McWilliams referencing the fact there were no curtains.

She continued on, stating that the basement was not in use and would remain locked. Her husband interrupted her and told her he didn’t feel she had answered the question. She then said she does not think he is a danger to children who attend.

Gerald said he is not the true pastor of the church, so his history should not influence the success of the church. He said his wife is the true pastor. Church paperwork in the building lists them both as pastors.

Rachel DePompa and NBC12 Virginia is seriously doing their readers "hard" with their sweeps week scare story

This sweeps-week article in itself is Shiitake -worthy, but that typo "do them HARD" is the best screw-up I've seen for a while. To make matters worse, the article was updated two days later and the typo is still there!

http://www.nbc12.com/2018/12/12/sex-offenders-find-ways-skirt-facebooks-ban/

Sex offenders find ways to ‘skirt’ Facebook’s ban
Social network launches investigation, responds to findings

By Rachel DePompa | December 12, 2018 at 4:00 PM EST - Updated December 14 at 7:57 AM

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - One-and-a-half billion users are on Facebook every day. And among those profiles are people who are not allowed to be on the platform, according to Facebook.

Those are people like 56-year-old Robert Gale Wojda, of Richmond’s Northside. Wojda has been convicted of child exploitation offenses in Florida, Ohio and Virginia.

“Part of his probation was that he was no supposed to be on social media of any kinds, whatsoever," said Richmond Police detective Mary Gary Ford. And yet there he was using Facebook to engage in sexually explicit conversations with minors. “Thankfully his probation officer just checked and she found a Facebook profile for him with his photo and you could tell he was actively like posts."

According to Ford, court filings and the Virginia Attorney General’s office, Wojda admitted to sending explicit photographs through Facebook. Ford actually spoke with Wojda and got his consent to search his phone. On it she found sexual conversations with a 14-year-old girl in Georgia.

“It was a very traumatic experience for her and she was isolated and alone and kind of containing all this inside herself for along time,” added Ford. She says Wodja is far from the only predator using social media.

“The frightening part is the number of people doing what they’re doing and that’s just what’s being reported,” said Ford.

Facebook has a specific policy that bans convicted sex offenders, but in less than two hours NBC12′s investigation easily tracked down 16 different registered sex offenders in Virginia with what appeared to be active Facebook profiles. NBC12 only searched halfway through the letter "c" in the alphabet on the sex offender registry.

NBC12 found offenders of all races and of varying ages all with profiles active within the last year. Some of their criminal records included labels like “sexually violent offender.”

The investigation found offenders convicted of “rape” in Henrico County. Others convicted of “carnal knowledge of children as young as 13” and even a person accused of “enticing a minor to perform in pornography.”

Facebook immediately launched an investigation and disabled the accounts after NBC12 reported the findings.

A spokesperson said, “Facebook’s Terms of Service explain that we prohibit convicted sex offenders from using Facebook and disable accounts that violate this policy as soon as we’re aware. We respond to reports from our community but also take action and disable these accounts when we identify them ourselves. We disabled the accounts you shared as soon as we confirmed they were in violation of our terms of service.”

“You never know who you’re talking to on the other side of the computer,” said Briana Valentino, a forensic interviewer with Greater Richmond SCAN (Stop Child Abuse Now). “Kids are very accessible to people who mean do them hard.”

She often interviews the children abused by predators. And more often than ever before, she finds the abuse started online.

“What we tend to see for kids who’s experienced trauma online, it’s a lot of internalized behavior. Feelings of guilt, feelings of shame. That they are the one’s that have done something wrong,” said Valentino.

Ford often works with SCAN and is investigating multiple active cases in Central Virginia. She has the unenviable job of talking to child predators like Wojda.

“He indicated that looking at adult pornography just doesn’t do it for him," Ford said.

Wodja ultimately pleaded no contest to electronic solicitation of a minor and is now serving 20 years in a Virginia prison. His capture is a victory for investigators like Detective Ford.

But she knows there are more predators out there. That’s why she needs parents to help and have age-appropriate, non-judgmental conversations with their children and teens.

“They this is something that could happen. If it does, just stop what you’re doing, come to me. Talk to me. we’ll work it out together. You’re not in trouble," said Ford.

Ford says there are steps you can take to be proactive.

First, don’t let children have their phones in their bedrooms at night. And consider this rule: tablets and computers should only be used in open areas of the house.

Also parents should research and know the apps that are out there and what’s currently popular with teens.

To report a sex offender on Facebook click on this link. The site says you’ll need to provide one of the following types of information with your report:

A link to a listing in a national or state sex offender registry.
A link to an online news article.
A link to a court document. 

Someone should tell the Lafayette Daily Advertiser to stop letting their food critics write advertorials for the victim industry

This is Megan Wyatt. Megan is the "Food and Drink" writer for the Lafayette Daily Advertiser. Well, instead of serving up the latest about food and booze, she's serving up a steaming plate of bovine excrement. In fact, this is her ONLY non-food/booze related article than be found online. She should stick with eating, since that's obviously her real area of expertise.

There are so many mistakes with this article, it would take me all day just to debunk the entire thing. I'll just simply stick with the highlights:

1. It is NOT ILLEGAL for registered persons to use social media. The Louisiana law, however, IS illegal.
2. The report is written in a way to lead the reader to ASS-U-ME the two dozen confirmed accounts (out of 350) and the dozens they merely suspect were registrant are all engaging in soliciting minors. The "investigation" included anyone convicted of electronic voyeurism (a small amount and ANYONE with an offense against a juvenile (since this is Louisiana, you know some of those were also juveniles at the time of the offense)
3. There is no classification called "dangerous child predator." Louisiana has three tiers and only refers to the level. Interestingly, Voyeurism is only a Tier 1 offense, while a Romeo and Juliet case can land a teen as a minimum Tier 2 since LA is an AWA state. 
4. The article uses the SMART Office (or SOMAPI, a SMART Office propaganda report) but even then, she only cherry picks what she wants readers to think. She ignores the work of David Finkelhor, whose research (the top in the internet offender field) contradicts her claim that online offenders are all hiding their identities to commit more offenses. 
5. She focused on studies showing a higher recidivism rate, including the Harris and Hanson multinational study. (You can't look at the laws of other nations and use them to determine American reoffense rates.) 
6. Pretty much all her info came from a single, biased source-- Stacie D. Rumenap, President of Stop Child Predators. You know who is currently on that group's advisory board? Mark Lunsford, a guy very familiar to the Shiitake Awards. You know, the Mark Lunsford known for blatantly using his daughter's death to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars and was so acidic that other victim groups want nothing to do with him. 

The entire article is worthless.

https://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/local/2018/08/06/despite-ban-lafayette-louisiana-sex-offenders-active-social-media/819066002/

Despite ban, Lafayette Parish sexual predators still active on social media
Megan Wyatt, Lafayette Daily Advertiser Published 6:00 a.m. CT Aug. 6, 2018 | Updated 10:55 a.m. CT Aug. 6, 2018

About 10 percent of the most dangerous sex offenders in Lafayette Parish are using social networking sites in violation of a Louisiana law meant to protect children online.

The overwhelming majority are middle-aged men, many of whom used technology to commit their crimes — from secretly videoing someone changing clothes to using the internet to convince children to perform sexual activities.

A four-month Daily Advertiser investigation found a serious lack of oversight when it comes to sex offenders on social media.

Virtually nothing is being done to enforce the state law that prohibits these kinds of sex offenders from using social media.

The Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office is responsible for enforcement, but the law is “not currently being enforced,” according to LPSO spokesman Lt. John Mowell.

The reason is a perceived conflict between the Louisiana law and a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that makes prosecuting violators nearly impossible.

A complication: The advanced technology and enormous time it takes police to find offenders in a constantly evolving digital environment

"Louisiana has some of the toughest laws when it comes to sex crimes online," said Stacie Rumenap, who leads the nonprofit Stop Child Predators. "But if they're not being enforced, what good are they?"

We found two dozen sex offenders are using social media illegally

Louisiana law prohibits some convicted sex offenders from accessing social-networking websites, chat rooms and peer-to-peer networks.

Social networking giants such as Facebook and Instagram also ban registered sex offenders from interacting with users on their platforms, but they are still found on those websites, including:

A 57-year-old Lafayette man who brands himself on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube as a writer who found God while in prison — yet he’s been convicted of nine sexual offenses, including two involving juveniles, since 1987. His latest charge is for a felony obscenity that allegedly occurred in April.
A 65-year-old Carencro man whose Facebook profile says he stands for the flag and kneels at the cross. He was indicted on a child pornography charge, but was convicted in 2013 of indecent behavior with a juvenile through a plea agreement.
A 43-year-old Lafayette man who uses Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to brand his insurance company after being convicted in 2012 of using the internet to persuade a juvenile to engage in sexual conduct.
A 55-year-old Lafayette man whose Facebook profile photo is a selfie with a child. He, too, was convicted in 2012 of persuading a juvenile online to engage in sexual conduct.
At the time of our investigation, there were about 350 convicted sex offenders who lived, worked or volunteered in Lafayette Parish.

About 275, or 80 percent, are classified as dangerous child predators.

They have been convicted of any sexual offense involving a minor or video voyeurism — the videoing or photographing of someone without permission for a sexual purpose or the transferring of such images or recordings.

We found social media accounts for about two dozen of the 70 or so who were convicted after Louisiana's social media ban went into effect.

Keeping sex offenders off social media is as hard as keeping teens offline

Louisiana’s tough social media policy for most convicted sex offenders dances along the line of an acceptable restriction and an infringement of constitutional rights.

Former Rep. Ledricka Thierry, D-Opelousas, said she authored the bill to give law enforcement the ability to arrest sex offenders engaging in inappropriate online activity.

“I think it was the right thing to do,” Thierry said. “Law enforcement can only do things we need to be done when we have the laws necessary to enforce them.”

The law was drafted after a sex offender convinced a 12-year-old girl to meet him but was intercepted by Louisiana State Police at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge. Lawmakers found more than 600 Louisiana sex offenders on social media who were using their real names and photos when the bill was drafted.

The law passed unanimously in 2011, but it was thrown out a few months later by a federal judge for being too broad.

Lawmakers rewrote the law — which banned convicted sex offenders from almost any online activity — in 2012 to narrow the focus to specific internet usage.

“Slowly, other states started doing what we did,” Thierry said. “It brought awareness that there’s an issue going on.”

The problem is that other states were also challenged for violating the constitutional rights of sex offenders — primarily their right to freedom of speech.

Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a convicted sex offender who faced prison time for violating a similar law in North Carolina.

Although the court opinion acknowledged that a legislature could pass "valid laws to protect children" from "a most serious crime," it called North Carolina's law "a prohibition unprecedented in the scope of First Amendment speech it burdens."

If a convicted sex offender seeks to reform and pursue a lawful and rewarding life, the court ruled, he or she could benefit from accessing the world of ideas shared on social networking sites.

"On Facebook, for example, users can debate religion and politics with their friends and neighbors or share vacation photos. On LinkedIn, users can look for work, advertise for employees, or review tips on entrepreneurship. And on Twitter, users can petition their elected representatives and otherwise engage with them in a direct manner," the court opinion said.

Lt. Jack Lightfoot, criminal intelligence supervisor for LPSO, said the ruling was unfortunate for Louisiana since North Carolina's law was broader.

"North Carolina was a blanket law," Lightfoot said. "If you were a sex offender, you couldn't touch a computer, basically, whereas Louisiana's law was somewhat specific in that the law is meant to protect children from predators who prey on children, and for that reason, Louisiana narrowed the focus to convicted sex offenders whose crimes involved a juvenile."

The Supreme Court ruling is also why a 54-year-old convicted sex offender in Acadia Parish faced no consequences after he allegedly contacted an 11-year-old girl last year through the social networking site Musical.ly.

The victim’s father reached out to the Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office to report the crime.

The offender was arrested and charged with unlawful use of a social networking site, but the case was quashed last August because of the North Carolina case.

Policymakers have yet to address potential problems with Louisiana's social media ban.

"You can't enforce something that's not enforceable," Mowell said. "So to arrest people and put them through the process would be futile. It's not going anywhere."

Even before the North Carolina ruling, Acadiana sex offenders rarely faced consequences for social media use.

Only 12 people in Lafayette Parish were arrested between 2013 and 2017 for unlawful use of a social networking site.

"The way we learn about social media issues is it's reported to us," Lightfoot said. "There are 13,000 sex offenders in the state of Louisiana and potentially 80 or 90 different prohibited sites. I just don't have the technology to research all of that."

It works the same way in Acadia Parish, according to Sheriff K.P. Gibson.

“I wish I had someone who could spend full-time on that," he said. "I’d say half to two-thirds of sex offenders are on social media. It’s just a matter of finding them and getting them off.”

Complaints that come in are investigated, and when found to have merit, law enforcement will report the profile to the social network for removal and follow up with the sex offender.

"We’re not just telling sex offenders we’re not doing anything about this," Lightfoot said. "We are taking enforcement action. And I assure you that to everyone we’ve told, 'You’d better get your butt off of social media,' we’ve said it in such a way that they get the point."

Sex offenders online are motivated by sexual interest in minors

The internet enables sex offenders to groom victims quicker and easier than ever before.

“That process used to be done in person, and it used to take months and even years,” said Elizabeth Jeglic, co-director of the Sex Offender Research Lab at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “Now, that process can be done online from your own home, and that process is accelerated so that it can happen in days or weeks.”

Those who use the internet to commit sexual crimes don’t usually create fake identities.

"'They won’t say, ‘I’m a 12-year-old boy.’ They’ll portray themselves as an adult male,” Jeglic said. “They use the technology to select individuals who are vulnerable and more likely to meet up with them, and they’ll offer them things in exchange for meeting up with them. And they’re able to groom their victims that way.”

People who use the internet to commit sexual offenses are generally motivated by a sexual interest in children and adolescents, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Sex Offender Management Assessment and Planning Initiative.

The initiative identifies these characteristics of internet-facilitated sex offenders:

1 in 8 have an official record for contact sexual offending.
55 percent admitted to a history of contact sexual offending.
Child pornography offenders are likely to be pedophiles.
Solicitation offenders are primarily interested in adolescent girls.
It breaks online sex offenses into three categories:

Child pornography (possession, distribution and production).
Sexual solicitation (online interactions with minors for sexual purposes, including plans to meet offline).
Conspiracy crimes (collaborating with others to solicit minors or produce or distribute child pornography).
It’s tough to pinpoint how many sex offenders will reoffend.

Sexual recidivism rates range from 5 percent after three years to 24 percent after 15 years, according to Department of Justice records, but the rate is likely higher.

Only a small portion of all sex offenses are reported to law enforcement, and only a fraction of those are successfully convicted.

Sex offender treatment programs can reduce sexual recidivism, especially if they’re tailored to the individual offender, but they’re still not promising.

A 2015 study published in the Journal of Experimental Criminology found that about 10.1 percent of convicted sex offenders who underwent psychosocial treatment committed another sexual offense within about 6 years.

That’s just a 3.6 percent difference from the 13.7 percent sexual recidivism rate of untreated sex offenders.

There’s a small percentage of sex offenders who will learn from their crime, move forward and “do the right thing,” according to Rumenap with Stop Child Predators.

“The problem is that most of these offenders — because the type of crime they’re committing is so unusual — can’t help themselves,” she said. “Most will say, ‘Sure,’ to staying off of social media — until they do it.”

'Nothing really works. Nothing.'

Experts who work with sex offenders and their victims have mixed opinions about the value of laws that restrict internet usage.

The goal for research psychologists like Jeglic is to rehabilitate sex offenders back into society, and social media has become an integral part of today’s society.

“Obviously, if there’s a law prohibiting it and they’re doing it, that’s not good because they have to follow the terms of their release,” Jeglic said. “But it’s hard to say if these blanket laws make sense. Video voyeurism and social media don’t necessarily go hand in hand.

“A lot of these things, they may feel better to us, but the data actually shows that they’re not evidence based.”

The goal for victim advocates like Rumenap is to restrict sex offenders so they can’t target more people, even if the restrictions seem harsh.

“When you’re talking about people who have committed these kinds of sex crimes, it’s just a matter of time before it happens again,” Rumenap said. “Or it’s a matter of time before they’re caught again, I should say.

“The reality is that nothing really works. Nothing.”

And the goal for law enforcers like Lightfoot is to use limited resources to keep pressure on the most dangerous sex offenders.

"You get a feel for who you need to worry about," Lightfoot said. "Let’s put what resources we have on the problem ones, and then we’ll just do what we need to do to keep the other ones in line. Our feel is that the more we pressure the ones we’re worried about, we find we’re more successful with our services.

"And if we can keep them from touching a child, you know what, that’s the end goal."

https://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/local/2018/08/06/how-we-found-lafayette-parish-sex-offenders-social-media-illegally/826763002/

How we found Lafayette Parish sex offenders illegally using social media
Megan Wyatt, Lafayette Daily Advertiser Published 6:00 a.m. CT Aug. 6, 2018 | Updated 11:06 a.m. CT Aug. 6, 2018

It’s virtually impossible to determine how many convicted sex offenders in Lafayette Parish illegally use social-networking sites, chat rooms and peer-to-peer networks.

We sifted through a list of about 350 registered sex offenders in Lafayette Parish and narrowed the list to just fewer than 300 — those convicted of video voyeurism or sex offenses involving juveniles. These are the people who by law cannot have a presence on social networking sites.

We searched for the offenders on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter because of those sites' popularity and simple search functions that don’t notify the user.

Our investigation:  Despite ban, sexual predators still active on social media

We searched for offenders by their full names and variations of their names, by known aliases listed on the registry, and by nicknames and email addresses found during background searches.

We conducted searches only while logged into reporter Megan Wyatt's personal social media accounts so search results would be consistent based on her connections, affiliations and location.

We took screenshots of suspected social media accounts and recorded our findings in a spreadsheet.

We rated our confidence of what we found on each sex offender on a scale of 1 to 10.

For every 10 — that’s complete confidence of at least one social media account — there were seven searches that yielded only partial confidence and two searches that yielded no results.

To be scored as a 10, a social media account had to have a name and photo that matched the registry and at least one additional piece of identifying information visible on the user’s public profile. This could anything from a unique tattoo or scar to a post about being released from prison made on the same date as the offender’s release date listed on the registry.

We determined through this system that a few dozen had active accounts at the time of our investigation.

About two dozen of those were convicted of video voyeurism or a sexual offense involving a minor after Louisiana's social media law went into effect.

Although we found possible accounts for dozens more, we weren't able to confirm them for different reasons.

Some privacy settings were too strict to confirm an identity. Some names were so common that a Facebook search yielded thousands of results. Some accounts appear to have been inactive since the person’s conviction date.

And, of course, someone could easily use a fake name and photo to create social media accounts.

To be fair, we chose to not name only the small number of offenders whose identities we could confirm.

WSB-2 I(diot) Team Investigation is a no-Winne sutuation

I don't have to do much to make fun of a backwater reporter most known for reporting out of both sets of cheeks, but this is as close as I can get to having NARSOL guest host the Shiitakes, since they posted a lengthy report on why this article is completely Shiitake-worthy. So you can just CLICK THIS LINK then come back and read this Shiitake-level reporting.

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/2-investigates/this-is-absolutely-ridiculous-20-convicted-sex-offenders-removed-from-georgia-registry/784742828

‘This is absolutely ridiculous': 20+ convicted sex offenders removed from Georgia registry
By: Mark Winne

Updated: Jul 10, 2018 - 8:40 AM

ATLANTA - Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan says 21 sex offenders who were on Georgia’s sex offender registry just weeks ago have now been removed from it.

Documents from the GBI indicate at least 15 of the cases involve child molestation or other crimes involving kids.

Keenan says his agency maintains the registry with input from Georgia sheriffs.

He says all 21 had previously received pardons or "restoration of civil and political rights" from the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, and not because they were innocent.

“They’re still guilty,” Keenan said.

Court ruling removes offenders from registry

Keenan says the 21 have been removed because of a ruling in May by the Georgia Supreme Court involving a man who pleaded guilty to aggravated sodomy of his 6-year-old daughter. The court basically found that because he obtained a pardon in 2013, he should no longer be on the sex offender registry. Keenan disagreed.

“These are sex offenders that should be on the sex offender registry so that the public can protect themselves,” Keenan said.

Pardons and Paroles spokesman Steve Hayes says in each of the 21 cases, a past board determined the offender had been rehabilitated and had served all his sentence.

“A pardon doesn’t expunge a criminal record,” Hayes said. “A pardon is an act of forgiveness by the state. It is a statement that gives that offender, in most cases, employment opportunities to go forward in life.”

Parole board toughens application process

Hayes says no registered sex offenders have been pardoned since 2013 and the board has toughened up the application process. Starting in July 2015, Hayes says, they now have one pardon application for registered sex offenders and one for everyone else.

The application process now requires a polygraph, a psychosexual evaluation, a 10-year wait from end of sentence and opportunity for input from the DA and victim, among other things.

“The board recognized that it wanted as much information as possible,” Hayes said.

Hayes says, in total, 132 sex offenders have come off the sex offender registry in the past 11 months or so as a result of actions taken by judges across the state.

Victim says she wasn’t notified

A victim of one of the 21 men says she was never notified by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles.

She was just 3 years old when she was molested by Tommy Hill Jones. She is now in her 30s, living in a shelter and still coping with what happened to her all those years ago.

“I was walking up and down the streets of Rome, Georgia, on drugs and alcohol wondering what man’s house I was going to sleep at next trying to heal that hurt,” she told Channel 2’s Mark Winne.

Six months ago, she moved into Cobb Street Ministries.

“I’m finally, at this point, being able to turn everything loose to God,” she said.

“When did you find out that he had been granted a restoration in 2012 of civil and political rights by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles?” Winne asked.

“When I spoke to you,” she said.

She says she was horrified when she found out.

“I don’t think a sex offender's name ever needs to come off the list,” she said.

One offender already back in jail

Keenan confirmed the number of offenders would be 22, except the GBI discovered one of the men, Andrew Johnson, was convicted again on child molestation and will stay on the registry.

A local district attorney says he doesn’t believe child molesters can be rehabilitated.

“Based on 35 years of experience and a lot of knowledge about research in that area, I don’t believe that is possible,” Clayton County District Attorney Tracy Graham Lawson said.

Of all the CWS hatemonger stories, it was hard to pick the worst of the worst. I present to you, Jon Taylor of SI

I could spend the rest of the year just posting the barrage of self-important sport writers hating on Luke Heimlich during Oregon State's baseball championship run. However, among this barrage of BS, one particular article files is higher and deeper than the rest. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Jon "Smiling Politely" Tayler. 

https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/06/26/luke-heimlich-kansas-city-royals-dayton-moore

There Is No Moral Justification for the Royals or Any Team to Sign Luke Heimlich

By JON TAYLER June 26, 2018

Across the 40 rounds of the 2018 MLB draft, stretching from the night of June 4 through the afternoon of June 6, 1,214 players were selected, from high school teenagers to college seniors—from the best amateur players in the country to guys who will be lucky to log even one major league inning. Not included among those thousand-odd names called was Luke Heimlich’s. The lefthander out of Oregon State has been one of college baseball’s best pitchers over the last two years of his career. He’s also a convicted child molester.

Where you fall on Heimlich’s future in baseball depends on which of those you give more weight to: his talent or his crime. Severely complicating that matter is Heimlich’s own repeated and public insistence that he is innocent despite having pled guilty to the crime, which he committed at 15, of molesting his then-six-year-old niece. That plea was something he did, he maintains, to avoid the pain and suffering of a court trial and having to put his family on the stand, not because he actually did anything wrong.

It’s easy to see why no major league team wants to be involved with Heimlich and the ugly particulars of his conviction and case. Teams may also prefer to avoid a person who denies a heinous action and, by extension, implies that his victim—a six-year-old child at the time she was molested—is lying.

But the Kansas City Royals have come out as one of Heimlich’s lone supporters—in particular, general manager Dayton Moore. Last week, in a televised interview with Fox Sports Kansas City (which was surfaced and partially transcribed on Tuesday by The Athletic’s Rustin Dodd), Moore told broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre, “We do believe in the player and the person, Luke Heimlich,” and that Heimlich “has earned an opportunity to play professional baseball.” A recent Kansas City Star column by Vahe Gregorian, meanwhile, has Moore quoted as saying, “We continue to seek information that allows us to be comfortable in pursuing Luke.” When contacted by SI.com, the Royals said Moore wouldn't comment any further on Heimlich.

Moore’s language is telling. The information already out there paints a simple picture: Heimlich is guilty of molesting his niece and admitted as such in a court of law. Barring a sudden statement otherwise from the victim or her family, those are the facts on record.

What Moore wants instead is something that can help him sell this in a different way. He wants “information” that will show Heimlich not as a convicted and unrepentant felon, but as a young man who made a mistake and served his punishment and is a better person than what’s been portrayed. “Not only did he achieve athletic excellence, he achieved academic excellence along the way,” Moore told Fox Sports Kansas City of Heimlich’s time at Oregon State, adding later, “Do I believe that he has earned an opportunity to play professional baseball? I do, because of his character over the last four or five years.”

The takeaway from Moore’s comments is obvious: He’s laying the groundwork for a potential signing. If he and the Royals can successfully minimize his actions and flip the public sentiment on Heimlich, then they can land themselves a top-flight talent on the cheap. (Had he been a first-round pick, Heimlich would’ve signed for anywhere from $2.3 million to nearly $8 million; as an undrafted free agent, he’ll get a few thousand dollars.) But to do that, fans and media have to be convinced that Heimlich isn’t a bad person, and that he’s grown or matured or reformed. So here’s Moore, publicly talking up Heimlich’s accomplishments and character and how his team believes “in giving players second chances.”


It’s a strategy as transparent as it is offensive. The question of how one earns redemption and who deserves it is fraught and difficult to answer, but at a minimum, it should include some form of penance or contrition or remorse. Nothing that Heimlich has publicly said or done aligns with what Moore has said of a player who is of high character or deserves any kind of MLB opportunity. He has repeatedly denied his crime to anyone who will listen. When Sports Illustrated’s S.L. Price asked Heimlich if his assertion of innocence meant that his victim was telling a false story, he replied, “Yes.” Moore wants us to believe Heimlich has taken responsibility for what he did, but Heimlich refuses to do so publicly. So why should he be afforded redemption?

For a team to sign Heimlich is to wade into a whole mess of issues: questions of restorative versus retributive justice, of the normalization of what he did, of the damage he inflicted upon his victim and the pain she will have to live with. Heimlich’s supporters, Moore apparently included, will say that he did everything required of him post-conviction, and that no one should be judged forever. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, mistakes that could have disrupted my career path and put me in a whole different area,” Moore told Fox Sports Kansas City. The comparison is clear: We are not the worst decisions of our lives, and they shouldn’t shape their entire course.

But why does Heimlich deserve the opportunity to move on if he won’t accept what he did wrong? And even if he did own up to it, why does that entitle him to a baseball career? Being a professional athlete is a privilege, not a right, and one that talent alone doesn’t and shouldn’t confer. The concept of sports leagues as punitive and restorative bodies is complicated, but this is straightforward: If you plead guilty to child molestation, why should you be afforded a career and the reward that comes with it?

For Moore and the Royals to defend Heimlich or attempt to clean up his image is to become complicit in his crime. To ask the public to see him as a man who deserves another chance is to ignore that he never atoned for his actions, and to whitewash what he did. That this is coming from a man in Moore who is strongly and obsessively opposed to pornography on moral grounds makes his support of a convicted child molester all the more galling and hypocritical. There is not and should not be room in the major leagues for men like Heimlich, and it should be completely unacceptable for the Royals to sign him.

There is no debate on this matter, no gray areas or ethical soft spots or moral compromises. Luke Heimlich isn’t owed a career with its attendant spotlight or platform, nor a second chance and the promise of unearned redemption. Unlike the 1,214 men who were selected in the draft and the countless more who signed after it, Heimlich’s story doesn’t deserve a new chapter as a big leaguer.

Jennifer Holton freaks out over properly owned by a registered person being used in a film

So, is the housed cursed and molests kids somehow? If not, why is this news?

http://www.fox13news.com/news/local-news/sex-offender-owns-lakeland-house-used-in-disney-movie

Sex offender owns Lakeland house used in Disney movie

By: Jennifer Holton, FOX 13 News
POSTED: JUN 22 2018 10:39PM EDT

VIDEO POSTED: JUN 22 2018 10:11PM EDT
UPDATED: JUN 22 2018 10:47PM EDT

LAKELAND (FOX 13) - A little yellow house, surrounded by a white picket fence, under a canopy of trees is picture-perfect for the Disney movie being filmed in Lakeland.

On the big screen, the house will be home to one of the movie’s main characters.

In real life, however, the home is owned by a registered sex offender.

Residents of Lakeland know, once the scene of a movie set becomes a piece of pop culture – like the arch at the Southgate Shopping Center, which was featured in the film “Edward Scissorhands” – there will be a steady stream of tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of movie history.

Because this movie is meant for children, the owner’s status concerns some parents.

Disney's “The One and Only Ivan" is about a gorilla’s escape from the mall where he was held in captivity.

The film's big star, Bryan Cranston has been shooting scenes outside of Southgate Shopping Center.

Movie crews also filled the yard and roadway of the little yellow house where Cranston’s character lives in the movie.

The home was scouted out and rented for the movie by Disney.

"Being Disney, being a Disney movie and Disney being more geared toward children, using a house that’s owned by a registered sex offender is kind of crazy,” father and Lakeland resident Dustin Finn told FOX 13. “It’s just nuts, for a multi-billion-dollar corporation.”

The home’s owner, Gary Davis was charged with lewd and lascivious behavior on a minor in 1991.

FOX 13 News reached out to Disney for comment, but their representative did not respond. It was unclear if Davis was or would be at the home when child actors were present.

A relative of Davis said she didn’t want to comment other than to say she would like the focus to be on the house and not the person who owns it.

Fearmongering Business Report writer Caitie Burkes uses scary headline and a nonsensical term

Say it with me, folks-- you cannot be "convicted" of "pedophilia."

https://www.businessreport.com/article/convicted-pedophiles-run-public-office-louisiana

Convicted pedophiles can run for public office in Louisiana
CAITIE BURKES
JUNE 7, 2018
 
Can a convicted pedophile run for public office in Louisiana? The answer: yes.

The question arose earlier this week after a change to the voting rights law in Virginia made it possible for an admitted pedophile to announce his intention to run for Congress. Why it can happen in Louisiana is because of a 2016 Louisiana Supreme Court decision that ruled a convicted felon has the right to seek public office without a cleansing period.

Lawmakers are giving voters a chance to change this—slightly—with a constitutional amendment that will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Should the measure by state Sen. Conrad Appel, R-Metairie, pass, a convicted felon would have to wait five years before becoming eligible for elected office. Appel originally sought to reestablish the 15-year cleansing period that had been state law until the state Supreme Court ruled it invalid two years ago.

Some attribute the situation in Virginia to a law that expanded felons’ voting rights there. However, a law passed, and signed by Gov. John Bel Edwards, during the legislative session expanding voting rights to more felons would not have “any effect whatsoever” on their right to run for public office, says Rep. Patricia Haynes Smith, D-Baton Rouge, author of the bill.

A felon’s right to run for public office and the right to vote are two separate issues.

Under the newest law, convicted felons who have been out of prison for five years but remain on probation or parole can register to vote beginning in March 2019. Currently, only those who have completed their probation or parole can regain their right to vote.

“Some people have received life parole—they’ve been working, paying taxes and raising their families ever since they’ve been out of prison,” Smith says. “That’s taxation without representation.”

If those individuals end up going back to jail for any reason, that five-year period starts again, Smith says.

Hey folks, the May Sweeps are here, so NBC 5 Shitcago wants us to look at this scary chicken pox map of RSO Hotels. Boo.

Check out all these scary red dots, folks, because we all know what these dots are supposed to represent.

Few things stand out more in May Sweeps than a scary map with big red dots.

https://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/What-to-Do-to-Make-Sure-Your-Family-Doesnt-Rent-a-Motel-Room-Next-to-a-Sex-Offender-481976461.html

What to Do to Make Sure Your Family Doesn't Rent a Motel Room Next to a Registered Sex Offender
By Katy Smyser
Published at 7:01 PM CDT on May 7, 2018 | Updated at 11:03 PM CDT on May 7, 2018

Remember that a sex offender’s residency at a motel or inn is completely legal, and there is no obligation on the part of any establishment to research the background of a guest, or alert other guests to someone’s criminal history. There is also no specific obligation of any police agency, in the states we checked, to give notice directly to hotel or motel guests, about a sex offender who has reported his or her residence there.

So the best way – and likely the only way – for a family to try to take steps to make sure they do not check in to a motel room next to a sex offender is to get the address for the motel, and then cross-check the readily available sex-offender databases for that address. But even that will not work one hundred percent of the time:

https://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/Unintended-Consequence-Sex-Offenders-in-Motels-481977191.html

Marion Brooks lookin' like a big red dot herself

Unintended Consequences: Sex Offenders in Motels
Next time you take a road trip with your family, you could be checking in next door to one or more of hundreds of sex offenders we’ve found living in brand-name motels — often because state and local restrictions give them few other places to live
By Marion Brooks and Katy Smyser
Published at 6:59 PM CDT on May 7, 2018 | Updated at 11:13 PM CDT on May 7, 2018

In April of 2014, a 5-year-old girl was playing with her brothers on the grounds of the Econo Lodge in Terre Haute, Indiana, where she was staying with her family, when a man grabbed her, took her into his motel room, hit her, pulled off her clothes, and molested her.

Court records show that the man, Timothy Blazier, 50, was a recently paroled, twice-convicted child-molester. He’d been living at the Econo Lodge for three months when he molested the 5-year-old girl. He’s now back in prison, serving a sixty-year sentence for the attack — his third conviction involving the sexual abuse of a child.

The incident spurred protests from some Terre Haute residents when they learned that the Econo Lodge — part of the Choice Hotels International chain — had been home not just to Blazier, but to 12 other convicted sex offenders who, according to local news reports, had been housed there at state expense because the motel was one of the few locations that lay outside the town’s prohibited zones for sex offenders.

Following the attack, Choice Hotels cut its affiliation with the motel, which closed a few months later. Choice Hotels International has not responded to several emails from NBC5, asking for comment on the 2014 incident.

—

In a six-month investigation, NBC5 Investigates found 667 sex offenders who reported that they were living at 490 motels and hotels throughout Illinois and nine surrounding states. Though many offenders appear to have checked in to these motels for just a few weeks or months at a time, approximately half of the offenders that we found, reported staying there for at least six months or more — and sometimes for years.

(We used two hotel guides to check all addresses in a 10-state region -- Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin — and then cross-check those addresses with each state’s sex offender registry, to find sex offenders who listed their home address at motel. We did this twice – once in the fall of 2017, and then again in the 2018, for all 10 states – though it should be noted that, for the most part, Minnesota does not list offender addresses on its registry, so there are very few results from Minnesota.)

With few exceptions in just a handful of towns across the country, it is perfectly legal for any registered sex offender to take up residence at a hotel or motel, as long as it is outside restricted zones. Often these offenders have few other places where they can legally reside, because — depending on where they live — they must keep 1,000, 2,000 or even 3,000 feet or more away from parks, schools and a variety of other places where kids might be — places which dot most residential neighborhoods. Motels and hotels are usually not part of those restrictions.

For their part, motels and hotels are under absolutely no obligation to check the background of any guest — short-term or long-term. They’re also under no obligation to notify visitors about anyone else staying there. And registered sex offenders aren’t required to tell hotels and motels about their criminal histories. Laws vary somewhat from state to state, but in essence sex offenders are mainly obligated to notify local police, any time they move to a new residence or start a new job. It’s then up to the police to decide how or if they want to follow up on that information. So no one — not the motels, not the police, not the offenders — are breaking any laws or rules. In fact it may be that the only way an offender can follow the law is to live at one of these motels along the highway on the outskirts of town.

—

Registered Sex Offenders Who Reported Their Home Address at a Hotel or Motel

Click on this map to show the areas where NBC5 Investigates and Telemundo Investiga found registered sex offenders who – at some point between the fall of 2017 and the spring of 2018 – reported their home addresses at a motel or hotel in a ten-state area.

Each circle on the map describes a general area where the offenders were found (for example, a single highway interchange); how many hotels and motels in that area were listed as homes to sex offenders at some point during the time period we checked; the total number of sex offenders found; and – within that total – the total number of child sex offenders.

As seen on the map, the majority of these motels are at highway interchanges. Because each state has laws that restrict where registered sex offenders can live (they’re prohibited from living near schools and parks, for example), often the only legal place where some offenders can live is in a motel at the edge of a town or along an interstate -- ironically, the same type of place where travelers check in, during a road trip.

We checked each motel twice – once during the fall of 2017, and once during the spring of 2018 – and found that some offenders moved out between checks; others moved in; and many offenders were living at the motel throughout the two time periods we checked. This map only represents the offenders counted during the two times when NBC5 and Telemundo checked each address.

Motels are not under any obligation to check up on a guest’s criminal history; nor are they required to inform one guest about the presence of another. Registered offenders are not required to inform motels about their status. Their only obligation is to inform local police, whenever they change residences.

A total of 314 of the motels we found, where registered sex offenders reported their residences, were mainstream motels with their own websites for online reservations, and most of those were affiliated with well-known chains — places where families and other travellers are likely to stay. We also found that a significant number of the motels were in well-travelled areas — at interstate exchanges (where families often stop overnight on road trips), for example, or in university towns (where families often visit students or attend sporting events).

Increasingly, many law enforcement officials and attorneys argue that this is what society essentially asked for: Because most states and communities have imposed such strict limits on where released sex offenders can live (while still requiring them to live in the town where they committed their offense), often an offender's only legal choice is to live on the margins of towns, often in "clusters" in apartments or motels at highway interchanges — where, ironically, they may be in closer contact than ever to families and children.

“I think we all have a shared interest in safe communities and crime prevention, but residential exclusion zones are nothing other than legislative gimmick,” says Adele Nicholas. She’s a Chicago civil rights attorney who — along with fellow civil rights attorney Mark Weinberg — represents convicted sex offenders who are trying to find legal places to live.

"People are living in these hotels and motels because they're out of options," Nicholas says. “They’re oftentimes pushed to the margins of society and facing potential homelessness, which causes them to have to take up residence — short-term or long-term — in a motel." In other words: The "unintended consequences" of buffer zones.

Nicholas cites several studies that show that residential restriction zones do not reduce crime. She argues that we all need to re-evaluate the conventional wisdom concerning sex offenders and safety: “I think that creating conditions so that people can successfully re-integrate in society — through productive work, through stable housing, through important community connections to their families and loved ones — are good both for someone who committed an offense in the past, and for the safety of society in general.”

—

In several areas of the 10 states NBC5 Investigates looked at, during the fall of 2017 and/or during the spring of 2018, we found sex offenders who reported living in motels that are just off major interstates and highways — on the margins of the community where they're required to live — but also the exact places a family might pull into, during a road trip.

Take a single interchange in Madison Wisconsin. Last fall — when rooms were at a premium during the University of Wisconsin’s football season — NBC5 Investigates found six separate chain-affiliated motels at that one interchange listed as housing a total of nine sex offenders, convicted for such crimes as sexual assault of a child; aggravated child molestation, child pornography, and rape.

Or take another interchange in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, near Illinois State University. We found five brand-name motels listed as housing a total of six sex offenders over a six-month period between fall of 2017 and spring of 2018 — all of them offenders against teen-aged children. Four of the five motels are clustered at the interchange. And all five motels are listed on the “visitbn.org” website, which ISU links to for suggested hotels for students and their families to stay in while they are visiting the campus. Again, neither ISU nor “visitbn.org” would ever have any obligation to check to see who might be staying in those motels, and no reason to know that some convicted sex offenders may be residents.

These interchanges aren’t unique:

• In Columbus, Ohio (not far from The Ohio State University), we found four motels at a single highway interchange where ten sex offenders said they were living, over the past six months.

• We also found two sex offenders — including one offender against children — who said they were living in two motels listed on the website “visitchampaigncounty.org,” which is the link that the University of Illinois provides for people planning to stay overnight while visiting the Urbana campus. (Once again, neither U of I nor "visitchampaigncounty.org" has any obligation to check on other guests at those motels.)

• NBC5 Investigates also found large clusters of motels at other interchanges where you might likely pull off for a night’s stay, such as one interchange in Merrillville, Indiana (four motels housing nine sex offenders); an interchange in Seymour, Indiana (six motels housing nine sex offenders); and a single interchange in Cleveland, Tennessee (four motels housing four sex offenders).

• Then there’s a single interchange in Murfreesboro, Tennessee: We found residents who reported their addresses at two popular motel chains there. One was listed as the home of six sex offenders, and another was listed as home to fourteen more: Twenty total registered sex offenders in just two name-brand motels at one well-travelled interchange. Add fourteen more sex offenders who list their home at a smaller motel at the same location, and that's a grand total of 34 sex offenders at this single interchange – nearly half of them child sex offenders — all who reported that they lived in this cluster of motels on the edge of town.

Adele Nicholas hopes that these "unintended consequences" of restriction laws might spur the general population to re-evaluate what really might help this admittedly-unpopular group of people. Living in a motel, she says, hampers — not helps — an offender's chance at rehabilitation, "by making it more difficult for them to obtain stable housing; to have the sources of community support that they need, and to have gainful employment and access to transportation -- all things that contribute to people having law-abiding lives."

"And that's not good for anyone," she adds. "Not just someone who committed an offense — but for society in general."

Kyla Galen of ColoraDO'H writes one nasty headline

"Vanessa" in this story is a piece of crap, but this reporter is absolutely disgusting. This is the ugliest headline from a mainstream outlet in a while.

http://www.kktv.com/content/news/11-Call-For-Action-investigates-Registered-sex-offender-living-on-public-dime-478289563.html

11 Call For Action investigates: Registered sex offender living on public dime

By Kyla Galer | Posted: Thu 8:16 AM, Mar 29, 2018  |  Updated: Thu 9:10 AM, Mar 29, 2018

A 13-year-old girl unwittingly made the discovery after learning about sex offender registries at school one day. At her teacher's prompting, she typed in her own address when she got home from school.

"She yelled, 'Mom!'" mother Vanessa (last name withheld) told 11 News. "And I went in there and she said, 'This is our address.' She says, 'Oh my gosh, isn't this our neighbor?'"

Vanessa and her four children live in public housing on the southwest side of the Springs. Under the Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, handbook, owners of these homes are supposed to prohibit anyone on the sex offender registry from renting.

But despite the law, sex offender registration records show Christian Garcia's address listed as the very apartment complex Vanessa and her children call home.

"It's super scary," Vanessa said.

Vanessa now wants to know how this could have happened.

"It makes me wonder how did everyone else in charge not realize that this was going on? And if they did know, why was nothing done? ... Somebody dropped the ball somewhere and it's absolutely appalling that something like this would fly under the radar."

Vanessa -- a survivor of domestic abuse -- says one of the reasons she chose to live in this particular complex is because of the locks on all doors leading outside.

"Unfortunately, as it turns out, we were locking a criminal inside every night."

One of Vanessa's neighbors says the address Garcia listed is actually her own.

"He does not live here at my apartment at all, it's just me and my kids," Jamie Busch said. "In actuality, his address is on the third floor."

11 News reporter Kyla Galer knocked on that address, but no one answered. She later inquired with apartment management how Garcia could have been living at the complex for six months. Management refused to talk on camera, but very briefly spoke to Galer on the phone before hanging up on her. They said they had no idea he was living there.

The El Paso County Sheriff's Office said sex offenders are checked on once a year.

"It really is incumbent upon the person who is renting the properties to make sure that that person is not a registered sex offender, especially if it is HUD housing," said spokesperson Jacqueline Kirby.

For Vanessa, none of these answers are reassuring.

"I feel like this guy needs to be exposed for the liar that he is," Vanessa said.

The sheriff's office says that just last week, Garcia listed a new address in Colorado Springs. But neighbors say they've still seen him hanging out at the complex in recent days.

Even if he's gone, Busch said she no longer knows if this was an anomaly.

"It kind of makes me wonder how many people now live here that are registered sex offenders with all the kids that run around here," Busch told Galer.

11 News is told it's unlikely Garcia will face charges, but he could get in trouble with his probation officer.

Could someone please tell Tom Holm of the Lewiston Tribune that the Constition is NOT a "loophole"?

I'm getting real tired of the media using the term "loophole" in an attempt to propagate fear and misinformation.

I am not going to publish the entire piece, just the relevant passage.

http://lmtribune.com/northwest/chilling-loophole/article_1a63dd48-3e1a-56bb-bb58-f4fb24847877.html

Chilling loophole
Two-time sex offender convicted one day prior to retroactive sex offender registry won't be added to list if he is released
By TOM HOLM of the Tribune Feb 25, 2018

The loophole

The sex offender registry doesn’t include many loopholes. But John Mebane could fit through this one.

The registry was adopted by the Idaho Legislature in 1998. It states that those convicted of some sex crimes will be added to a lifetime registry if convicted on or after July 1, 1993.

John Mebane was convicted of molesting the 4-year-old boy on June 30, 1993, just one day prior to the retroactive date of the registry.

Sen. Dan Johnson, R-Lewiston, said in an email he corresponded with colleagues in the state Senate and found that modifying the law to be infinitely retroactive would be unconstitutional.

Any attempt to retroactively include offenders prior to July 1993 would be deemed “ex post facto,” and such laws are unconstitutional. The rule is meant to prevent previously legislated criminal sanctions from being retroactive or increasing punishments. Idaho law conforms with federal code in this circumstance. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has found in two cases that publishing the registry online – in 2003 prior to its ubiquity on the web – was permitted since it was not considered an increased punishment.

Mike Mebane said he’s called each of Idaho’s congressmen trying to compel them to make the registry infinitely retroactive, but without movement on the federal level or a U.S. Supreme Court opinion it’s unlikely to change.

Dennis Dodd is putting the BS in CBS and the ANAL in Analyst

I see BS, a LOT of BS, in this article. Stick with plain old sports writing, Dennis.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/oregon-state-silent-as-luke-heimlich-is-somehow-allowed-to-return-to-the-diamond/

Oregon State silent as Luke Heimlich is somehow allowed to return to the diamond
The Beavers' star pitcher pleaded guilty to felony child molestation at age 15

by Dennis Dodd
 @dennisdoddcbs
Feb 16, 2018 • 4 min read

At some point this weekend, Oregon State will begin its baseball season with an admitted child molester on the mound.

Luke Heimlich is in the Beavers' rotation the same way he was last June when The Oregonian broke the story that one of the nation's best pitchers had pleaded guilty to a count of felony child molestation.

At age 15, Heimlich molested a 6-year-old female relative, according to the report. While Heimlich reportedly denied the allegations, he still pleaded guilty, preferring to avoid a trial.

His probation is over. The case was sealed in August after a five-year period. Amazingly, he is still on the team.

A big reason we know any of this is the state of Washington, where the crime occurred, doesn't necessarily seal juvenile files. Thank goodness. It was only after digging last year by The Oregonian that these questions became relevant …

When did the school and coach Pat Casey know of Heimlich's crime?
Did Heimlich and his family conceal his situation from the school and Casey when pursuing a scholarship?
Upon revelation of his situation, why wasn't Heimlich suspended/kicked off the team?
And why, eight months later -- after ultimately removing himself from the lineup last postseason -- is he still on the team?
Everybody deserves a second chance, but in any rational society there is a line that can't be crossed. Heimlich's admitted actions are intolerable, heinous. His privileged presence on the mound mocks every victim of sexual violence.

I'm not saying he shouldn't be in school -- somewhere. It's the same argument that haunted Oklahoma when it enabled Joe Mixon. The tailback was suspended for a year but still allowed to complete his career after punching a woman.

Oklahoma should stand for something better than that. One would hope Oregon State does, too.

I'm agreeing with my friend Brenda Tracy, an activist and rape victim.


Brenda Tracy
✔
@brendatracy24
I don’t think athletes with sexually violent histories and criminal/felony records should get to play sports. Period.

If you have a problem with that then you are the problem.

5:26 PM - Feb 14, 2018
198
38 people are talking about this

Some administrator somewhere has to take a stand. Athletes with sexually violent histories simply should not be allowed to play college sports. It's possible. Indiana and Utah have such bans at their schools. The SEC and Pac-12 ban transfers with "serious misconduct" in their backgrounds.

Playing sports is a privilege, not a right -- and certainly not a legal volleyball to be batted around.

When I asked one Power Five athletic director about kicking Heimlich off the team, he portrayed the situation to me this way.

"I'm sure [Oregon State's] looking at him saying, 'We're going to get sued because he'd done his penance.' I would rather get sued by him."

And as long as we're asking pointed questions, here are a couple of others …

If Heimlich were a low-level walk-on, would he still have a spot on the team?
If you were absolutely innocent -- as Heimlich contended, according to reports -- how many of you would plead guilty to felony child molestation simply to avoid trial?
Thought so.

Casey did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Oregon State president Ed Ray said he "is not available for Luke Heimlich questions." The spokesman resent to CBS Sports a statement by Ray released last June.

In it, Ray supported Heimlich, "rejoining the baseball team next season." He also hinted "admission criteria" could be revisited beginning this fall. That's too late for the victim who must endure Heimlich's notoriety and success. Reports say she is 12 now.

Ray is hard to figure out. As chair of the NCAA Executive Committee, he admitted to not reading the Freeh Report, the basis for those crippling penalties at Penn State. In 2015, Ray advocated for that Pac-12 transfer ban. It seems beyond hypocritical, then, he has a sex offender on his baseball team.

I reached out to three FBS athletic directors to get their anonymous takes. I asked them: Would Luke Heimlich be on your team under these circumstances right now?

Athletic director A said, "[I] cannot imagine playing him."

Athletic director B said, "Hell no, but these days it doesn't seem that easy."

As the Power Five AD mentioned earlier, athletic director B brought up the possibility of a lawsuit by Heimlich. That would scare everyone in administration. But so should having an admitted sex offender in your midst.

Or should we be surprised at all? Oregon State doesn't ban felons from competing as athletes. Neither does the NCAA.

"Everybody, most of the time, deserves a second chance. I get that," athletic director B said. "[Heimlich] went through his counseling, but it was a 6-year-old child … You've got little girls coming to your games. You can't have that as an image with your program with Larry Nassar and all those things going on. Really?

"You just have to say, 'I'm sorry, young man, you can't play for us.'"

That last sentence is where all this has to change. Heimlich had his due process. His victim will have to live with his admitted actions for the rest of her life. It remains disgusting Heimlich had to remove himself from the NCAA Baseball Tournament last year not wanting to be a "distraction."

What's changed now that he is back?

Heimlich, the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year, went undrafted. He had been projected as a first-round pick. Major League Baseball spoke volumes without saying a word.

If somehow Heimlich thinks the whole thing will blow over by this June's draft, that's misguided, too. This will follow Heimlich wherever he goes for the rest of his life. As it should.

You think he won't be a distraction now over a full season, traveling across the country with one of the nation's best college programs?

Get ready for ugly chants from the stands. Get ready for more columns like this one wherever Oregon State plays. Get ready for one of the more distasteful College World Series in memory if Oregon State qualifies again with Heimlich pitching.

As for now … play ball?